Winter Sowing... What's sprouting #3

Anita water those babies!

Jnette LoL I did water the babies with the special tonic. Hopefully, that will perk them up!!!

Anita, could just be that particular little clump of seedlings had a little root damage in transplanting, but keeping a close eye on them for a week or two should do the trick. Speaking of Cherry Brandy, I gotta get mine in the ground today, as well as a bunch of other things.

Yesterday I split my garden time between planting Dahlia tubers and WS seedlings. Got about 40 Dahlias planted and 4 jugs of seedlings. It's such a wonderful time to be in the garden- loads of Irises budding, Peonies are all in their 3rd or 4th year and have established enough to bloom nicely, and sweet scents wafting all around from Lilacs and the blooms of wild Locust trees.

Thanks Neil! I agree it is nothing like planting and watching everything grow. I am such a visual person I cannot wait to see what everything looks like once its in bloom.

Seeing things from last year blooming, or in some cases having waited 3 years to see blooms, is such a motivation for me to be out there planting more. When I'm up close digging, I really notice the daily changes in the garden. Today I made great headway getting wintersown seedlings planted, about 20 jugs. The weather was ideal.

This is when I'm bad about forgetting to check ungerminated jugs. With so many ready to go in the ground, I'm constantly distracted with them.

That's one nice distraction to have LoL

I've been so busy with inside seeds for our garden plant sale that I'm afraid my poor babies are on there own.... I did get about 4 milk jugs planted only because the plants were growing out the tops of the openings begging to be transplanted....LOL

If I can just get through this weekend (plant sale) then I can go back to my things.....hurrrayyyyyyy

Janet

Hooray for WS!

Have over 100 WS plants in pots for our Lions Club Mother's Day plant sale! Thanks for all the enthusiasm and support from you all.

Now........what to do with all the chia's............Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........will be a very bright summer here!!

:::clapping:::: sounds like you did a good job

do you believe we have a frost warning for Sunday & Monday nights... just when you think it's over

It has been freezing and below every night for the last night. Most of my jugs have sprouted, but nothing that looks like a chia.


edited to add:

How about some pictures clpgirl?

This message was edited May 6, 2010 7:33 PM

I only have a couple of jugs that looked like chias. Most of my jugs only had a few sprouts. I'm wondering if I am transplanting my seedlings too early. I've seen some post that indicate their seedlings were growing out of the top of the jug. None of mine are nearly that tall. I probably opneed my jugs too soon???

Anita, I am same zone, 5, and a long way from transplanting mine. But yours came up earlier than mine. I have mine in a mini greenhouse on my deck. Just too cold.

At least they are starting to germinate. I was about to give up on them. However, I doubt many of them will bloom this year.

I've got my trusty (and now somewhat rusty) LOL bedsheets at the ready for the first sign of frost warning which may be Sat. night here! Worked so far, fingers crossed.........

Clpgrl, we are getting low on Sat and Sun nite. Its so tempting to plant on Moms Day but every year we get frost afterwards.

Jnette where did you find ur mini greenhouse? I saw one at Menards. I had to walk away. LoL I have a plant shelf that is perfect for a gh but I need plastic to increase humidity. I would lo ve to have one in my garage and one inside during the winter. LoL

Anita, I end up cutting a lot of the tops off way before the seedlings reach the top too. A lot of them seem to appreciate the air circulation and increased light. Although there's one I wish I'd left the top on, Canterbury bells- I think I've lost all of them now. First we had close to frost temps one night, and they were the only thing that showed damage and it looked like about half of them were goners. Then we had the torrential rains last weekend, and again they were the only ones damaged, and I think the rest are goners now too.

clpgirl, I have a few...well, several Chias too. Sometimes I had a bunch of seed and just didn't want to deal with holding on to the extras, so I dumped them liberally. I use pretty good sized hunks when I plant some of those. It was mostly various types of Dianthus I sowed that thick, and they seem to do well planted that way.

Just finished a few day stretch of work on an event for the venue were I work, a Chamber of Commerce awards banquet for 300. First the floral centerpieces and decorating, then worked in the kitchen cooking. It all went very well, but I'm glad its over. Looking forward to getting back out in the garden tomorrow and getting some more seedlings planted.

I had another seedling in a container from last year show up! Its a Callirhoe involucrata, Wine Cups. Thought it was probably a weed, till one showed up in the jug I sowed this year and its a match.

You sound like the Jack of all Trades, growing and arranging flowers, decorating and cooking??? You were very busy!

Well, for the most part its been horticultural endeavors over the years, although I've always enjoyed cooking and know my way around a kitchen pretty well. Over the last year I've been helping in the kitchen for events. Its a lot of work, but I have always had an interest in catering, so its been a nice learning experience. Today I'm finding it hard to move, LOL- hope I can recover enough to feel like planting today!

I'm feeling the same! We got rain early this morning and even hail for a few minutes. I could not believe it.

the rain is really coming down now.

I did a bit of planting out yesterday, knowing the rain was coming.
Ran out with an umbrella to check on all the plants... they all looked pretty good... a few Amaranthus looked a bit 'leany' but i just pressed them a bit more into the soil... they will be fine.

I checked our forecasted temps for the next week... only one cool night in the low-mid 30's ... so i'm not sweating any plant loss.

Did get 4 of my 7 tomatoes planted ... I should be getting some 'veggie cages' by Monday ... then i can get the rest planted too.

My WS"ed 'mater seeds never germinated... so i can not do the comparison between WS and indoor sown. I'll try again next season.

Hey, Ya'll!

I've got a DGer over in the tomato forum that I'm trying to convince can WS tomato seeds in Zone 5a. He/She would like to "see" that someone else in Zone 5a successfully WSed tomato seeds.

Have any of you done so with success? If so, please could you post some "proof" pics of what you got or at least offer testimony of any success you had?

I STILL believe in WSing! Please help me help others learn about this fabulous method!

Thanks!

Linda

I think Karen has had success. I've read about it, but just have not had germination... though this was my first year trying.

I'm a believer! I was trying to explain WSing to people (friends/family/co-workers). They all thought I was nuts. Now I most of my jugs with green seedling growing and everyone wants some for their yard. LoL I'm saving them all for my newly established garden! Hopefully, I will have pictures to share.

D,
Great news! Did you sow any veggie seeds in your last batch? That's what the nay-sayers wanna see, particularly WS TOMATO seeds. They question whether you can successfully WS tomato seeds in such a cold environment in time for plantout in Zone 5a.

Thanks!

Hi all I have been lurking and reading for months.
Diamond my DH and everyone thought I was nuts aso. I have to admit I was also skeptical, because I have never been able to grow anything from seeds, they were always really spindly if the grew at all. And never made it after transplanted.

I didn't get started WS'ing until February and to my amazement I have several of my jugs sprouting. I also am now a believer.
Some annuals I WS'ed 3/14/2010 and they are sprouted also.
Even this cabin tomato. I only planted 2 or 3 seeds in this jug so was thrilled to see even one plant.
edited to fix date

This message was edited May 7, 2010 9:50 AM

JJ, you are so funny! Looks like you have a healthy mater plant! I thought WSing was so easy, that I would do something goofy to mess it up. I dont think I have many more sprouts coming up, however, the majority of my jugs germianted. A couple I think will require one more winter (clematis) and for others it may have been the containers I used. I moved some from the north sun to south sun and the germination increased alot!

I think I will ws from now on just because it's so easy.

Anita, I got it from Charley's Greenhouse last year. On line. It did not have any shelves. Just the framework and plastic with the front zippered.

Then I also have one of the 4 tier I got on line and even with shipping it was under $40. That was 2 years ago. Everyone else sells them for up tdo $89!! Same thing.

LeBug gets the mini greenhouses I think she said from Home Depot. So you might check there too.

I don't understand what the reason is to start WSing so early. Someone said they didn't get started until February. If you can't plant until now anyway, why is it so necessary to plant so early. I guess if you are going to have hundreds of jugs? Or, maybe you guys plant before now? I know a lot of you in the South plant earlier than we do, but I guess it sounds like most of you are just getting ready to plant.

Jnette, u got a steal! I think the purpose of WS is to allow the seeds to go through the necessary stratification but protected from critters and birds in the jugs...I think???

Jnette, it kinda depends on the seeds you sow. I'm finding with a lot of the perennials I like to grow, the cold period seems to help germination. A lot of those typically don't bloom till the 2nd year anyway, so its just easier in many cases. I usually separate my seeds in groups of when to WS, with Columbine, Primroses, Penstemon, Hollyhocks, Wallflowers, and trees and shrubs (and others) being among those I like to sow earliest. A lot of annuals I don't worry with till March or April.

Anita, that's why I use jugs for Sunflowers and Zinnias, seems whenever I direct sow them slugs munch them down before they can get established.

I wonder if slugs are eating my young ruds? I have seen damage to some of my hostas already but I have not seen any slugs??? LoL I may just buy them a can of beer anyways.

Neil, you WS your tender annuals after danger of frost? I may need to WS mine the end of the month. I think May 15th is our last frost date. DG's forecast said May 9th and the temperature is supposed to get down to the mid 30's

Usually I WS the tenders toward the end of March or first of April. They get some protection from the jugs, and if they haven't sprouted yet, there's no fear of cool nights bothering them. I try to aim for having the seedlings ready to set out by the end of May.

After danger of frost?

Yes, I know all about stratification. Well there is stratification and there is down right freezing every night which is what mine were. Blocks of ice.

I finally decided that they just needed a little more warmth than they were getting. They would heat up with the sun and freeze into those blocks every night.

I have never seen weather like we have had this year. It is stil in the 20s at night. And, our last frost date is suppose to be next week. I don't know what they mean by frost date but I would like to see an end to this freezing every night. I could cover them for frost.

I haul my brugs out every day around noon and drag them back in at night. I am getting tired of it.

Yep, and after the soil has warmed up well. Things like Zinnias, Dahlias, Salvias, and Sunflowers enjoy heat, and don't really do much till it feels like summer (kinda like tomatoes), so I try to time it so they're ready to go in the ground by Memorial Day. Several years ago, our frost safe date was May 15, but I've heard that's been changed to sometime at the end of April. I don't really trust that just because of several years of last frost being in April, so I play it safe (and I'm not really good about covering stuff, LOL). I'll never forget that week of temps in the low 20s we had in late April a few years ago that turned the whole garden to snot- aint taking that chance, LOL.

LOL, that week of low 20s has been the story of my life this year all winter long. Except when it was colder than that in Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, My electric bill shows it.

Oh, but it was after an early warming in March and the first of April, all the Lilies, Hostas, trees and shrubs were all leafing out and big, and everything was damaged. Nobody in the whole area had any fruit that year. I had even covered a bunch of Lilies, but it didn't help. I hate cold any time, but after everything is growing, to have winter return like that was the pits.

Yes, I have planted out a couple of years on Mother's day only to have a frost come along and kill everything. So now, Neil, I too plant Memorial Day weekend of the first of June. My garden plans always start after June 1st. I'm hoping I can get my beds together by then. I have been wanting to have compost delivered but the piles are too wet and heavy. Maybe next week???

Hi all,
Those of you who have accompanied me on this journey know that I WS'd at the end of Feb. put containers out in 3 ft. of snow, and had 3 ft. that night. I mostly WS'd tomatoes because I was following the info on WinterSown, and they sent me packs of tomato seeds to WS! I also received some heirloom varietes, ordered. Didn't know NOT to try them! The other reason was, because we have such a late frost date here, it appealed to me that they would potentially be sturdier, and already hardened off. Also not prone to damping off, or as leggy. For me, that was the truth. Right after my little seedlings emerged, beginning of April, I believe, some variation by type possibly, we had an ice storm, 3 inches. Still had the tops on the containers and they did fine. About 3 weeks ago took the tops off permanently after a week of take off daytime and on at night. Got down to freezing and they just had a bedsheet over them 10 days ago, took 80 some seedlings, out of 22 types, and potted them as shown to get ready for a sale tomorrow. They've been through thunderstorms, heat, low 40's in the past two weeks, and here is how they look today.

I'll WS tomatos next year cuz it WORKS, and was NO hassle compared to lights, fertilizers in and out the GH etc. They are living where they've been since they were seeded. I provided soil and container. Mother Nature truly did the rest.......

Close up

those look wonderful.

I will have to try again next year.

were most of yours in clear 2ltr containers?