How is your Winter sowing going???

LOL! I had to make a list, because my backup labeling method is to number the containers on the bottom where the numbers won't fade away...

I'm amazed at everyone's efforts here! I had a longer list last year, but I'm trying to concentrate on the poppies & columbines this year. It's fun to follow along on this thread & see what everyone's up to... gardening in winter! Woohooo!

Tabasco... I really need guidance as to cover or not to cover.. I had thought not to at first, but now I'm wondering if I should cover for the humidity. I would uncover after germination unless there was a frost coming. They came from two nurseries that throw them out and they were by the trash. We sawed down, almost in half, so they are perfect for doing this.

Susan

Susan, I think covering might help keep the seeds moist, which would help them to germinate. But you could also supplement your rainfall with an occasional spray from the hose...

As far as protection from cold, I'm thinking the easiest thing might be just to put a length of poly row cover along your row of containers.

That's an impressive array, and I think those big containers are just fabulous for this! Makes my efforts look mighty puny, LOL.

Well, Susan,

I am far from an expert, but I thought the point of covering the containers (with ventilated covers) was to maintain the humidity to keep the planting medium evenly moist for seed germination. And yet let the rain and snow moisture in for 'natural' watering. (Sort of an 'easy maintenance' approach--that's why I did it)

And the plastic cover (with slits for transpiration) was also used to provide some shelter from torrential rains, winds, birds, and the last frosts that might occur after your seedlings are up.

I think the covering usually stays on throughout, with wider/bigger slits added to give growing room and more ventilation as needed until the last phase when the seedlings are ready to transplant and the covers are off.

That's what I understand and what I have done in the past, but others may have other thoughts.

I do love your black pots (!) and the row cover idea sounds quite adaptable and definitely something to try out. Especially if you can work out a way to let rain in to do the watering for you.

No doubt other variations may work well in your climate as experience will tell. It will be intersting to learn about how everything turns out.

Rain will get through row cover just fine, but row cover doesn't do nearly as good a job as plastic at keeping moisture in.

Okay, thanks.. I'm out to sow more and cover! :)

And if I were not already out of my mind, I just got the heirloom seeds catalog and I'm going nuts about certain varieties and yes i'm going to get a few veggies I don't have!

Susan

Scarlet flax, lobelia cardinalis, and delphinium (carmine!) have germinated.

Yipee!!

Isn't that great Miss G.! :)

Seeds are 10 packs for a $1. at Walgreens this week with coupon. More in frugal living forum!!

Thanks for the guidance Critter and Tabasco. These pots are all sown and covered now. The one closer one was covered yesterday and I cut some small slits in it. I went out and put my finger inside and it was way to hot so I cut larger T's in the plastic and some more on the sides and it was still warm by evening but not oven-like, as it was before. I finished sowing the rest of the pots and covered them up as well. I think I need to get a soil temp reader and maybe an air temp too.

Then I went on to propagate the heck out of these two sedums I got at Home Depot today. They said no asexual reproduction on the tag, so somebody will probably arrest me soon! I will cover those with plastic as well so they can stay humid. I told my husband that I like this much better than having a green house and that if I did have a greenhouse, it certainly wouldn't be large enough to do this!

Susan

I still want a greenhouse and a conservatory!!!

I got another dozen quart containers sowed yesterday! :-)

If I had a greenhouse & conservatory, I would never get anything done that didn't concern plants! (But it still sounds grand to me, LOL.)

Here's the list (for some reason, I gave these letters rather than numbers):

A Campanula persicifolia
B Columbine, Maroon & Cream
C Columbine, Double Pale Blue
D Dwarf Hollyhock 'Queeny Purple'
E Hollyhock, mix of pinks from The Box
F Holllyhock, dark purple
G Malva mix
H Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina'
I Corn COcke
J Cypress Vine
K Purple Hyacinth Bean Vine
L Echinacea, 'Magnus' & 'Bravado'

Well I have finally managed to get alot of containers done. I am about a month behind on my ws too much life interference but now I am sowing with a frenzy. So far this is what I have ws
1. Agastache - honeybee blue
2 Agastache - honeybee white
3. Agastache - Pink Pop
4. Agastache - Golden Jubilee
5. Bachlor Buttons- Black Ball
6. Bachlor Buttons- Blue Boy
7. Double Red Peony Poppy
8. Heliopsis - Lorraine Sunshine
9. Flax - Scarlett Red
10. Flax - Blue
11. Rudbeckia - Toto
12. Rudbeckia - Irish Eyes
13. Rudbeckia - Prairie Sun
14. Rudbeckia - Chocolate Orange
15. Rudbeckia - Indian Summer
16. Godetia
17. Campanula - Blue Clips
18. Campanula - White Clips
19. Dianthus - Spotty
20. Dianthus - Knappii
21. Dianthus - Siberian Blue
22. Balloon Flower - Pink
23. Balloon Flower - Blue
24. Joe Pye Weed
25. Malva - Braveheart
26. Malva - Zebrina
27. Salvia - Blue Queen
28. Salvia - May Night
29. Salvia - Purple Knockout
30. Allium - Purple Sensation
31. Dianthus - Rainbow Loveliness
32. Nigella - Blue
33. KMOTGG
34. Aster - Crego
35. Aster - Pavlova Blue
36. Baby's Breath - Pink
37. Baby's Breath - White
38. Poppy - Lemon Queen
39. Poppy - Persian Blue
40. Poppy - Persian White
41. Poppy - Patty's Plum
42. Poppy - Victoria Louise
43. Poppy - Peony White
44. Poppy - Peony Pink
45. Columbine - Crimson Star
46. Columbine - Ruby Port
47. Columbine - Oragami Yellow
48. Columbine - Rocky Mountain Blue
49. Columbine - Winky Maroon
50. Blanket Flower - Dazzler
51. Blanket Flower - Burgendy
52. Penstemon - Chocolate Drop
53. Penstemon - Apple Blossom
54. Penstemon - Huskers Red
55. Penstemon - Violet Dusk

Plan on doing another 50 before the end of next week. Need to get some more soil. I can't wait til all of this starts to sprout. I know that I will have some many plants that I will be walking around my gardens all summer trying to find spots but thats ok. It is just so much fun to do!
Michelle

Arcticfire: MY GOD! You go girl! That is some list.
Dave

boy, I'm jealous that everyone has time to do this during the week! I can only do it on the weekends. By the time I get home from work, I don't feel like getting everything out and then cleaning up again.

Dave,
I am actually trying to keep the container count down for me this year. My nursery bed is already full from the last 3 years of ws plants. Need to spend most of the spring fitting the plants into my garden and creating new beds. But once I started I thought well I want more of this plant and lots more of that plant. Hence the long list. Oh well, what I can't find room for I will give to my family and friends who are always glad to take plants off my hands. lol Have to finish tidying up the house this morning then I hope to get another 20 or so containers done and outside.
Michelle

Spring peepers (frogs) started up yesterday. This is way early. Folk wisdom has it that after the peepers start up, we will have 3 more frosts. Well, our average last frost date is about May 3, so I don't think the frog forecast is going to be accurate this year!

I have12 containers started about 2-3 weeks ago. (i knew i should have written it on the calender). I figured it was too late to start more but from what i'm hearing here, people are still sowing in my zone! Am i right ? When should i stop sowing? Does it really matter? Is it safe to sow MG and other annuals now? (i'm in zone 6a.

Also, my method for ID was this: I wrote on the container a no. then just wrote the corresponding no. on the seed packet. This was to be temporary until i wrote it down in a data base. Well at least i know whats out there so far. lol

By the way , Freezing rain here today, with a bit of snow (less than a half inch). Hope my babies are ok.

Here's my list;

#1 Echinacea purpurea - Purple Coneflower
#2 Rudbeckia hirta- Black Eyed Susan
#3 Chrysanthemum superbum (nanum)- Shasta Daisy "Silver Princess" Dwarf
#4 Chrysanthemum- Shasta Daisy
#5 Alcea rosea- Hollyhock 'Nigrita'
#6 Kniphofia uvaria- Red Hot Poker "Tritoma Mix"
#7 Gypsophila- Baby's Breath 'Covent Garden'
#8 Viola tricolor- 'Miss Helen Mount'
#9 Gaillardia aristata- Blanket Flower
#10 Festuca ovina glauca- Blue Fescue
#11 Lupine- 'Russell's Hybrid'
#12 Digitalis purpurea- Foxglove 'Apricot Beauty'

Ness :-)



This message was edited Mar 2, 2006 12:05 PM

I'm referring several of you to CGA: "Compulsive Gardeners Anonymous".

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/579842/

How crazy are you?

Susan

My post does sound a bit obssesive. Now that i'm seeing it, perhaps i need to go to CGA! LOL
PS Perhaps i could trade notes with other gardeners there..... (Hmm that would probably be counteractive wouldnt it?) LOL!!

Ness ;-)

I don't know about the rest of you but I'm not suffering from insanity, I'm enjoying every moment of it!!!

Ness ;-)


Oh, and the DH liked the idea of WS so much (He thinks there wont be any more plants inside....HeHeHe) that he is bidding on a small greenhouse for me! YAY!!!!!

Can't imagine sowing E. purpurea! I had to dig up and give away so much of that last spring. It self-sows shamelessly and I pull seedlings up constantly.

Ness,
You can definitely keep wsowing in your zone. In fact as long as you go outside at nite and still need a long sleeve sweater you are good to go. Then you could switch to spring sowing which is almost as addictive to some. The only difference is spring sow seeds that do not need a cold treatment. I hope to have atleast another month or more before I will finish ws.
Michelle (CGS member for sure!)

Anita, I believe this is from another thread, but the aluminum tape worked well on my ws containers. Oh! And nice job with the quote box ;)

Thank you! I am very proud of that. Now that I can, you'll notice it all over the place!

Winter sowing and H202
My eyes only hold up to so much reading and I just can't find the subject. Does using the H202 play into wintersowing in any way - soaking or watering or just spraying the seeds before sowing?

ansonfan,
With wintersowing water is very important. Before filling my containers I water my potting soil in a big bucket. Fill my containers, sow my seeds, label, tape shut and put outside. I don't water again until the temps have increased and I do not see any condensation inside my containers. I keep a very close eye as the temps in my containers can get alot hotter quicker and I don't want my soil to dry out. The method that works best for me at this time is bottom watering.
Does this answer your question?
Michelle

ansonfan-- I don't think H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) in water solution really has much at all to do with wintersowing but I have soaked my seeds in it just to see what would happen. From what experienced wintersowers say, WS germination rates are very high anyway and the speed the seed germinates is not of critical interest either in WSing because mother nature will let it happen when she's ready.

(I don't know why I soaked my seed in H2O2-- I tend to kill my plants with too much love and this is probably a case of that...so don't worry about it!)

Now, if I were sowing seed in the traditional way under lights, I would soak in H2O2 as a matter of course, and water with the solution from time to time, also, even tthough most seeds would not require it.

What articfire says about soaking the planting medium and watering with pure Water (H2O ) is so true and her method is what I do, too.

About when to quit Wintersowing-- I think I read on the Wintersown.org site that if you can go outside in shirtsleeves but still need a sweater, then there is still time to winter sow...(a general rule, I guess) ...maybe someone can varify this?

Hi Michelle,
I think I understand that part, but are you using the H202 to water with, or just plain water?

Well! I have Canterbury Bells growing in their milk jug! :-)

Bunches of baggies today.

I am at it again,,, I wintersowed more yesterday,, here is what I did this time.


Veggies:

Chives
Lettuce
yellow cherry tomato
Cheroke Purple tomato
Red Brandywine tomato
Mr. Stripey tomato
Climbing tomato
Sweet Pepper
Sweet Bell pepper
Purple Pepper
Scarlet Runner Bean
Quince
dill
basil mix

Nasturitium - Whirlybird mix
Nasturtium - Jewel Of Africa
Nasturtium - Moonlight
Nasturtium - Peach
white clock vine
Star Fruit
True Lavender


Butterfly Pea Vine
Pink Moonvine
White Moonflower
Evening Stock Scented



Yellow Trumpet Vine
Catnip
Japanese Catnip


Vicki

Thanks articfire and tobasco,
I thought that might be right, it didn't seem too wise to me to soak the seeds in the H202/H20 solution before WS as it might speed the germination too much and then they would freeze. But I will take the advise on soaking the medium and just go ahead and jump into this thing. Thanks again.

The Nasturtiums I ws'd 2/13 were large enough yesterday to put in pots.They were sort of laying on their sides when I put them in the soil.When I went out to check on them today, they were standing straight like little arrows.WS is amazing!

vwetzel-- love your list of veggies...and tender annuals. About the same as what I'm going to plant!

good luck. t.

ansonfan,
I only use water not H202. Sorry if I was about as clear as mud. I have never soaked any of my seeds prior to wsowing them period. I just do my containers sow the seed and out they go. Then I cross my fingers and wait and so far I have not been disappointed.

vwetzel,
Love your list of seeds! Spent yesterday prepping about 30 more containers but I need more potting soil so off to the hardware store today to pick some up and check out the seed racks. Not like I need anymore seeds.
Michelle

Terrific Vicki! I need to catch up to you on WSing my veggies....hopefully this weekend.

Gabriell: I haven't seen my Nasturiums germinate yet. What growing zone are you in?

Shirley, I'm in zone 8a.We have had a few really cold nights and recently alot of rain but for the most part,our winter's are mild.I put a pair of gloves in my purse one day when it was cold and wore them only that once.Last few days have been sunny and have used my ceiling fans.

Soulgarden-- I love your 'plastic effect' on your giant pots! You are VERY serious about your winter sowing!

I am going to switch to Gallon Plastic baggies for my next round of seeds. Seems like if it works, it would be a simple and easy solution...