How is your Winter sowing going???

Ok folks - this is what I got done this morning.

Mexican Sunflower- Tithonia rotundifolia Arcadian Blend
Rudbeckia- Rudbeckia Kelvedon Star
Rudbeckia- Rudbeckia hirta Rustic Dwarfs Mixed
Rudbeckia- Rudbeckia hirta Gloriosa Daisies
Rudbeckia- Rudbeckia hirta Chocolate Orange
Rudbeckia- Prairie Sun Rudbeckia
Baby Blue Eyes- Nemophila Blue
Cigar Plant- Cuphea Matchless
Morning Glory- Morning Glory Dwarf Blue Ensign

I did some more containers as well today
Balsam Mixed Colors
Butterfly Weed
Painted Daisy
Sweet William
Shasta Daisy "Becky"
Cupid's Dart Blue
Cupid's Dart White
Chinese Forget Me Nots
Dianthus Flashing Lights
Dianthus Zing Rose
Dianthus Thief of Hearts
Dianthus Allwoodii Pink
Dianthus Firewitch
Dianthus Artic Fire
Coreopsis Sunburst
Coreopsis Baby Sun
Coreopsis Tequilla Sunrise
Lynchis Fever
Malva Mystic Merlin
Balloon Flower Sentimental Blue
I have another 20 containers prepped and hope to finish this evening. Then I will have to go thru the seed box again to see what else to do.
Michelle

Thanks Tabasco!! I have sprouts!! I can see them through the slits in the plastic.. but I don't know how many and which ones till I pull it off.. probably tomorrow and I'll take a picture. This is sooo exciting and I'm already planning where things are going. :)

Yea for more wintersowing!! I'm not done sowing either!!

Susan

Hey Susan, I heard you on Joe Gardener this morning. You wiped out Walgreens, didn't you? lol

Susan,
Congrats on your sprouts! It is very exciting! Can't wait til I see my first sprouts of the season!
Michelle

I just wanted to share something with you all..
Go to lowes and look for BROKEN BAGS OF POTTING SOIL , MULCH, SAND .
I have been doing this for years,, If the bags are broken you get them for HALF PRICE.
I just wanted to let you all know this because it is that time of year...
vicki

Carmen, you heard me on the radio? How funny! Yes, I made sure to wipe them out and advise folks not to shop around my home! I'm a nut... You have no idea how many seeds I got.... and I'm going to have a garden to prove it this year!! Did you get some seeds? Hope so! :)

I've been telling Joe and Lisa about my wintersowing, but I have to send them pictures I think for them to get the full effect! This is such a great method, everbody should know about it!!


Thanks Michelle!

Our home Depot sells PALLETS of broken bags for $15.. use to be $10 and another one down the road sells them at $5.
:)

Susan

WOW! I'd buy a couple of pallets for that price!! ~ Suzi :)

Okay, I finally got my list of what's In The Bag so to speak.
Planted in one sled are:
Veronica Blue Giant & Icicle
Sweet Alyssum Royal Carpet
Asclepias incarnata
Basil blend
Black Eyed Susan
Butterfly Bush

In Ziplock Baggies are:
Dianthus, Tomato Heirloom mix, Datura Belle Blanche, False Indigo, Babys Breath, Moss Rose, Sweet Peas Strawberry Fields & Saltwater Taffy Swirls, Strawberries Sarian & Mignonette, Salvia Hotline Red, Painted Tongue, Pumpkin, Petunias Dolce Flambe & Symphony Rose Star, Sweet Pepper Tequila Sunrise, Sugar Peas, Tendergreen Bean, Asclepial Silky Deep Red, Calendula Flashback, Beauty Berry, Kentucky Blue Bean, Golden Lupine, Mixed Eggplants, Cucumber Sweet Success, Scarlet Bee Balm, Mixed Hosta, Mangetout Carouby Pea, Tomatoes Abe Lincoln & Sasha's Altai Pride & Golden Delight, Cantaloupe Ambrosia Hybrid, Chamomile Roman, Campanula, Confererate Rose, Purple & White Coneflower, Pink Celiosa, Chaubaud Double Carnation, Amaranthus Summer Poinsettia, Calendula officinalis, Pole Bean Haricot Dolique, Basils Spicy Bush & Purple Ruffles, Venus Poppy, Asclepias Red Swallowwort & Cinderella/Soulmate & Ice Ballet, Bush Beans Flageolet Rouge & Coco Rose De Prague, Flemish Antique Poppy, Broccoli Raab and Orange Milkweed.
Whew, that's 1 sled and 54 gallon baggies. Hope it all grows. Still have lots more to do. I hope to be giving lots of seedlings to my neighbors and to our 19 year old who promises he's moving out next week.
Thank you all for your inspiration and Trudi for some of the above seeds. Hope this really works.
have a great one,
mich

fingers crossed!!

Today I have sprouting on the Dianthus, Babys Breath, Moss Rose, Painted Tongue, & Both Petunias. Hope future freezes/frosts don't get them. I also have some sprouts of Asclepias in the sled.
mich

I can't help noticing that none of my aquilegia has germinated; I have sown canadensis and caerulea. Is this typical?

I think it's more typical not to see sprouts on anything yet... we've been having oddly warm weather time & again this winter, and I think that has caused a lot of seeds to germinate sooner than usual.

I would tend to agree Jill`

Aquilegia can take a little while to germinate--some say 1 to 3 months for caerulea with some cold-warm cycles, so probably too early for wintersowed aquilegias of this variety and may even be a little while to wait...

I have canadensis and caerulea started too, so we will have to compare notes...

The caerulea are very pretty, I thinkl.

I love Wintersowing and it is unbelievable how this process works. Every year I am amazed. The last few days have been pretty mild temps so I checked on my containers this afternoon. Would you believe that my Bachlor Button seeds have puffed out big and fat. They look like they are ready to burst! Sprouting will follow soon! My flax have also taken on the bun in the oven look! lol
Michelle

We are supposed to have temps in the 60's come end of week, so I am hoping for the same. ooooooh I'm so excited!

Anita,
I'm with you I am getting so excited! I know the first few containers will sprout and then I will have a lag and then more containers will sprout and before you know it I will see lots of containers sprouting daily. Then it is to watch them grow and develop their set of leaves and then the transplant period and then the blooms! Now I am really excited!
Soon! Soon!
Michelle

I hope my seedlings can swim. We have had constant rain/snow/rain since yesterday afternoon. Looks pretty soggy out there

Karen

Just make sure you have enough drainage holes, Karen

It's been very cold and dry the past two days, and tonight the wind is really blowing hard. I have had to water my WS containers a lot lately.

The covered grow rack I bought from White Flower Farm blew over a few hours ago, in spite of large plants inside and the whole thing tied to a dumbell. I was shocked. I lost a few young plants. That thing is very light.

Bachelor's buttons are coming out of the bottles! They are little brutes. Also, I am regretting that one of my containers is really too shallow. I have at least 5 inches of soil in all of them except one, a deli type clear plastic box and it's full of silene, which has germinated and is growing too fast for the amount of soil there. Live and learn I guess. These babies will have to be potted on, I think.

That was one thing I had read alot about - plenty of soil. I'm hoping mine will be sufficient too.

Can someone hook me up with the link that tells everything about sowing in the ziplock bags. I didn't get finished with the greenhouse, and only have room for about 4 flats inside, so I am limited to WS and ziplocks. Thanks.

Winter Sowing in a Baggie: http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/Winter_Sowing_in_a_Baggie.html

Also hover your cursor over pictures & look at the bottoms of the pages for more links.

~* Robin

I was so concerned about Hollyhock's growing and they are the first to take off... the little fast babies! Even though I have plenty of soil, I took the plastic cover off my pots and my heart sank when I saw dry soil in some of the pots and around the outer edges. Thankfully, I learned this lesson five days after sowing most of them and before they had time to sprout, so now I will go out and mist every two to three days max. Even though the plastic still had condensation, they were on their way to drying out. I do have lots of tiny tiny little babies and it is so much fun to get down to the pots and search for life.

Susan

Have got Virginia stock and zinnias coming up. So far that's it, but I'm hopeful.

FYI

I came across this article and thought it might be of interest to all of us who are avidly wintersowing (as I am).

I was surprised to find some of the seeds I am wintersowing on this Invasives Plant list
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_plants_other/article/0,1785,HGTV_3609_3570657,00.html

for example Yarrow, Buddleia, Common Morning Glory, and Campanula...

I liked this article because it not only mentions several Invasives but then notes "What you can do" about it and gives some nice alternatives.

I am going to look into this a little more and find out exactly which plants are invasive to my area, etc., but I thought it was worth posting a 'heads up' to everyone here.

In our enthusiasm for Wintersowing I don't think we want to unknowingly "pollute" the environment...

I've yet to see those be invasive here, and they're sold in all the nurseries. Maybe the morning glory, but not the ones we're sowing.

I was very happy to see that my lady lavender and johnny jump ups (my first containers set out on Feb. 21st) are just barely starting to sprout! I have to admit that I was skeptical, but it's actually working! Wish I had tried winter sowing thing before! This has been a really mild winter here though, could that be why they sprouted so quickly?

Tabasco, Lists of "invasives" are actually a point of contention amongst some gardeners... Debating the true valitidy of the harm caused by introducing new species and continuing to grow them, and I'm certainly not in a position to do so... Ken Druse has a book called "A Passion For Gardening" where he adresses this issue and makes some great points.

I will say that I have had to learn to love Cleome since through the years, I've seen it growing in almost all abandoned and neglected properties locally. I did just get some cheap seed though!!

Susan

Yes, I am rather shocked to check on some of the invasives for our area that I thought were fairly innocuous-- of course, now I know Purple Loosestrife is notorious and

http://www.ohiodnr.com/dnap/invasive/4loosestrife.htm

is such a dangerous and noxious plant (here in OH and everywhere else and it's rather brazenly showcased at our Landscape nursery right on the Ohio River).

I'm new to gardening in Ohio, though, and liked the looks of Loosestrife and even planted it--but now I see I'd better tear it out!

I wintersowed some Climbing Milkweed that I thought would be nice for the Monarchs but I think that's a 'No-No', too.

Amanda-- good to know Zone 7 wintersowers are getting results so fast! Hope in another week or so I have something to report. Today I put in more poppies (probably illegal in Ohio, too!--better check on that!) and some forget me nots.

Well - I've got two more sprouted. http://lakehousecreations.com/Seed_Sown.htm

Here's some of mine.

~* Robin

yes, didn't mean to hijack the thread with a discussion of 'environmental/invasive/political plant discussion' --(especially ironic since Riker bear is the host of the thread, I think).

Just wanted to post an FYI that some may find useful.

I did read the reviews on Ken Druse book and will try to check it out of the library. I have read several other books by Druse.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0517707888/qid=1141787715/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/103-8984860-2913401?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

not a problem tabasco - just adding my info - I don't think I know of any thread that stays on topic 100% of the time.

tabasco re papaver somniferum:

Laws vary by state, I believe. I don't know if this is true, but what I have been told about NC law is that you can grow them, but if you tap the capsules for resin to make opium or EVEN if you use any part of the plant for a sedative tea, i.e., you are reaping its psychoactive substances, you are breaking the law.

Note: I have a recipe for poppy seed cookies which I know for a fact will cause a positive result for opiates on a urine drug screen. They are small rich pastry pockets containing a sweet poppyseed paste. Of course, you don't feel a thing when you eat them. The test is very sensitive.

You highjack away Tabasco....I may have started the thread but am mainly just a lurker now that I am no longer a subscribed member.

RikerBear
aka
Marc

Great thread, Everyone! I'm still being a chicken about doing some Winter Sowing. I've been collecting some containers. Thanks for the link to the baggie method, Robin. I'm more confused now...lol. With the baggie method the bags are left open and when I've seen other pictures of winter sowing they always have a cover over them. Are both methods okay for me to do here?
:) Donna

Only as long as you don't have hungry birds & critters hunting for food over the winter!

I'll be popping in & out; as my #1 daughter is having her first child any day now & wants her mommy.

~* Robin

How exciting, Robin! Is this your first grandchild? What a nice Mommy!! Did you check your DGmail? Also, thanks for the tip...lol.
:) Donna