How is your Winter sowing going???

I have a bunch of things beginning to sprout.
Dianthus
4 O'Clocks
Bachelor Buttons
Castor Bean
Moon Vine
Cranesbill Geranium
etc.

I'd post pix of mine, but you'd think it was an overexposure for all the white in the pic. LOL I think there are some milk jugs whose openings are visible, though. I guess they're freezing today. Yours look pretty happy in that sun. No fog this time of year, Mark? I'm a tad envious.(I used to work in the Safeco bldg in the U District, 15th floor. This should be mole season. Go to work in the dark, come home in the dark, and clear weather maybe between noon and 4???)

My winter sowing's under snow right now, but I started it a bit late, and, nothing would be coming up yet anyway in my zone. I have sowed (this is my first time, so kept it small):

Purple asters
Prarie coneflowers
Lychnis
Passiflora caerulea

Mickgene, the fog rolls in very early AM and again around 9:00 PM these days.....the mole time of year has just past, as it is now lightish when I get to work and stays light for about an hour after I return home.....so I know for a fact Spring can't be far away now :-)
Hope your snow goes away soon Mickgene and ceedub............................................

Actually, I love the snow! Just finished a few sledding runs before the driveway's plowed. But the plow's broken at the moment, so I'm hoping for a reprieve until I can get in a few more runs after lunch.
The plants I have need it, too, for the most part. We haven't had nearly enough this year, but we're supposed to have a little more today and later in the week. So I'll just keep up my winter sowing (this is my first try) since I have some things to do every week this month (the less and less hardy plants, as the month progresses.) I don't know if that's really how it's supposed to work (successive sowing of different plants, that is) but I'm experimenting. And I started tomatoes and peppers in the basement yesterday, and I really need to get back to the 2nd try on my hypertufa effort (first one failed.)
Have you grown Castor Bean before, Marc? I'm just trying it for the first time this year. I was a little afraid when I ordered the seeds of getting on a terrorist list, but the foliage is to cool for me to worry about that too long. I'm concerned that I might miss deadheading one pod and end up with a dead dog who has to put everything in his mouth!
Which Dianthus did you sow? I'm trying Rainbow Loveliness for the first time. That's what the hypertufa's for, since I'm not sure the dianthus will thrive in my soil.
Do you not have to keep your winter sowed items covered?

I use to like snow too Mickgene, but the older i get the less tolerant I am of the cold.
I have grown Castor one other year, but didn't have great success with it, as I don;t believe it was getting enough sun....this year should better. I have not been worried about ending up on a Home Land Security list, as I have only ordered a very small amount of seed.....now I I were ordering a 50 lb sack they might have cause to watch me :-)
I wouldn't be overly worried about your dog eating a seed pod either, as they are nicely covered in spikes and I'm sure not the easiest to bite down on.
I have about 5 different Dianthus sprouting, thier names escape me at the moment (all but Arctic Fire).
I keep my cold frame/Winter sowing covered at night, but with our 60* days I open it for ventilation, and close it again around sunset. Today it is closed as we are getting some very much needed rain.

I was going to get my daylily seeds (first season :)) going months ago. Was on my round to it list in Feb..hope to get going with them so that I can see if anything pretty has come from my efforts (maybe in a season or two.)

Oh good luck Marcia.....growing DL from seed is fun and addicting. I should be getting some bloom off of some of my seedlings this year (I hope).

Riker Bear - hopefully you are still around to see this post - I noticed in your pic that you use cinderblocks...is this to create a raised bed? I was thinking of ways to use the idea in my garden

~Anita

I'm still around for now Anita :-)
Yes we used cinder blocks to build a couple raised beds.....my though was that as I grow older and my back pain increases I can simply add more layers of blocks to raise it even higher so I would need to bend even less.
They were very easy to build, if not a bit tedious (hate concret work).

Marc

Riker,
So glad you posted your pics. I am thrilled to see I'm not the only one that winter sows in lots of different size pots. I also noticed you don't cover yours either, unless I am just not seeing them. I try to simulate nature as much as possible.

I cover the bed with old single pane windows....just removed them for the pic.

Marc

Well then I guess I am the only one that doesn't cover their containers- LOL!

If I didn't they'd all get wasted out of their pots and containers....way to much rain in Winter here. :-)
I do however tilt the lid each morning and lower at night.

Marc

Riker bear I was describing my plans for winter sowing using my cold frame and was roundly corrected for planning to close it up. But it seems to me that's what you do. Putting a pane of glass on the seedlings is essentially creating a cold frame, is it not? I guess I'm really trying to get out of fashioning a lid for every pot (lazy!). I wanted to use used nursery plastic and also some clay pots, but I also got the message that the clay would dry out. And I wouldn't use clay if I were not going to close the cold frame, they'd freeze and crack, no? Still not sure how exactly to proceed.

Riker, what your doing is great and it reminds me to think before I proceed... Do I want to cover lots of containers and have to uncover each one daily or make it so that there is one large cover that is easily removed. I vote for one! Thanks for the picks!! :)

Susan

I alwasy close mine at night, and keep it closed during the real rainy weather....I couldn;t imagine having covers on every single pot (would drive me crazy)....the cold frame (sort of) that I use works just great!
I agree clay pots wouldn;t be my first choice as they just need to much watering, and yes the do indeed crack during temp changes.

Marc

Good Morning!

I sewed a mess 'o seeds back on the 12 and 13th. Already have agastache rugosa,"Golden Jubilee","Licorice Blue","Licorice White",coeropsis"Double Sunset",foxgloves,"Camelot" and "Excelsior Hybrids",hollyhocks"Chamois" and"Cream de Cassia",redosier dogwood,buttonbush and smoke tree sprouting. Watching the trays almost on a daily bases and many,many more seeds to sew.


Have a good one!

P

way to go red!

oh how exciting!! I'm getting reved up.. trying to get ahold of some things I need and I will be sowing very soon :)

Susan

I did my first "wintersowing" today, and clearly, the rate-determining step is going to be FINDING CONTAINERS. We just don't buy that much stuff in plastic containers.

I far prefer individually covered pots for WS. The only time I even cover a group of pots under one cover is if I sow different types of one seed family: things that have the same requirements and will begin growing at about the same time.
I find this especially important in climates where things heat up in the spring pretty quickly. Some pots will dry out, some will stay too moist. Some need to be moved to shadier locations so they won't fry, some will need more sun.
Also, many of the seeds I like to sow need constant, ambient moisture or they just won't germinate. I can't rely on any snow cover, and we often get way too much rain.
I think everyone eventually tweaks their WS practices to what works best for them. This is my 5th year WS, I think I've finally got it down fairly well for the type of seeds I like to sow.

GGG

GGG
I also live in zone 8 and we usually get lots of rain in the winter months.
Do you have a problem with your containers getting waterlogged?
And what would you suggest as a solution and/or prevention?
Thanks for any advice you can share!
Debbie

I don't have many containers, but I definitely have a favorite already: 500mL Fiji Artesian Water bottles of clear plastic. They're square, 2" by 2", and they go absolutely straight up for 5" before tapering up to the cap.

My favorite way of making holes in plastic containers is to use a metal kebab skewer, heated on the stove top. Somebody mentioned on another forum using a cheap soldering iron in a similar fashion. You can even nest containers together and do a bunch of them at once.

I've also heard that it stinks!!! You may want to do it outdoors or near an open window.

Just set out my first batch. Used soda & milk plastic bottles. I used a drill to put in drainage holes. Worked fine. Used scissors to make slits which I could only do from the edges of where I cut the bottle in half.
Anyone have a better method for cutting the slits?

I use a box cutter

We're having another mild winter so all but a few of those seeds I sewed back on the 12 and 13th are up. Here's hoping we don't have some weird weather(snowed about 6inches, 2/14/04) late that'll kill them.Jacob's ladder, columbines and chives yet to pop up.

Of course most of the native shrub and tree seeds are still putzing around and I'm hoping the mild winter doesn't keep them from breaking dormancy.This will be 2 second year I've had dove tree seeds potted up and I'm afraid this mild winter will keep them from sprouting this year too.

Got my variegated jewels of opar,columbine"Roman Bronze" tomatoes,Celebrity Bush,Brandywine,Box Car Willie,Pineapple,Garden Peach,yellow pear and 3 or 4 var. of peppers sewn yesterday.Ordered two more var. of tomatoes from Baker Creek. Like the commercial says "we'll eat all we can and sell the rest"..LOL

Still loads and loads of seeds to sew.

P

I think I will pot up some tomato today and look through to see what other hard annuals I have. I think the rest will wait until March.

I was reading that you may not have to worry if what sprouted was a perennial - annuals on the other hand, I guess we will have to see. I am guessing if they 'volunteer' in your garden normally - then they might be ok.

What do you think?

If plants that sprouted from volunteer seeds germinate, then they are perfect for Winter Sowing! This will be my first year for WSing tomatoes. I'm going to experiment with a few tomato seeds. Some I will sow in February and some in March. I want to see if the ones that I sow in February will germinate any earlier than the ones that I sow later on. I'm looking forward to doing this outside this year! It takes up so much room indoors under lights!

Will the seeds just sit there until the weather gets warmer? However, we've been having incredibly warm temps during the daytime. Yesterday, it was in the 60's! Springtime in January!!! Doesn't Mother Nature know it is Winter???

GGG
I'd love to talk to you further about what your doing in our area to make this happen. I'd like to know which seeds you start, which you move to shade and which you leave out in the sun, if tyou keep them mostly uncovers......please d-mail me if thats possible. This will be my first year and I'm really wanting to do this well. So far, I have taken huge thrown out nursery pots and sawed them down to 8 inches tall. They look like tubs now. I had planned on filling them with 6 inches of soil and maybe some water polymers to keep them moist. I had planned on covering them with a plastic tent held up with PVC or bamboo. And of course I would be letting in air vents and I also have an irrigation system I could set up if needed to keep the seedlings damp.

Susan

Mine was an utter disaster this year because of day's in the 70's. Almost everything started sprouting. I finally said to heck with it and moved it all into the greenhouse.

Last year was super! Too super in fact. I ended up with so many marigolds that everyone on my street had marigolds in their yards.

X

hahaha about the marigolds, xeramtheum. I've noticed just in the last 3 years that my grape hyacinths scatter farther into my neighbor's lawn. She hasn't said anything yet. I'm hoping that's a good thing!

Oh who couldn't just love all the marigolds and grape hyacinths!! :)

Susan

I'm assuming malcomia maritima (Virginia Stock) is a good candidate for winter sowing. Anyone try it?

Here is a link to my website - http://www.lakehousecreations.com/winter_sowing.htm - on it there is a download link to a file that contains plants that were wintersowed in various zones. I hope this helps

Last Friday I put my sweet pea seeds in a sandwich baggie, on a folded up paper towel, drenched with H2O2 solution. Today (Wednesday) over 75% have sprouted. All the liitle roots (I'm assuming) are 1/4 to 1/2" long! How long should I wait before I plant them outside?

Only one year out of my life as a gardener have I been able to grow a nice crop of sweet peas, which I adore. Except for that one year, I have had heartbreaking failure after failure. I am not even trying this year.