It's April! What seeds are you still WSing???

Hi, everybody--

After being out of town for a quite a while, this weekend I started to get back into the swing of my Wintersowing project ...took a look at my seed saver container and realized I had many packets of seeds still unopened! LOL

For some reason I thought I was well on my way to finishing up WSing for this season but I still have to plant:

all my tropical vines for the Hummingbird Garden (a lot)
cosmos (3 kinds)
sunflower 'double shine'
cantaurea uniflora
campanulas galore
beans --all of them including 'les haricots verts' (which I can't live without) and hyacinth bean vines
zinnias --which I have never really cared for much, but all the enthusiasm from DGers has piqued my interest in them
morning glories (many)
and about 30 other seed packets...

Oh, dear...that's a bit of work. I wonder if it's worth it? Will they grow big enough in time to have some bloom before first frost?..

What about you? How many more do you plan to WS? Time to confess!!

my mesclun mix container...handy by the kitchen door...

Tab,
I am also still doing some wintersowing. Spent today doing more containers and probably have a few more to do.

WS today
Godeita - Lilac Blossom
Poppy - Lemon Queen
Poppy - Persian Blue
Poppy - Persian White
Aster - Ostrich Fern Crimson
Aster - Pavolva Dark Blue
Rudbeckia - Indian Summer
Clarkia - Mixed
Poppy - White Peony

There are still so many seeds in my seed box. Plan to dig them all out tonite when its quiet and see what I really want to sow and put the rest away for next year.
Michelle

Here's what I winter sowed last week, not counting direct sowing:

Peppers: (64 cells, 9 varieties)

8 cells, 'Thai Hot'
8 cells, 'Explosive Embers'
4 cells, 'Bulgarian Carrot'
4 cells, 'Habanero'
8 cells, Unknown (scorching hot!)
8 cells, 'Cherry Pick Hybrid'
8 cells, 'Marbles'
8 cells, 'Gusto'
8 cells, Unknown Bell

Tomatoes: (128 cells, 32 varieties)

4 cells, 'Yellow Canary Hybrid'
4 cells, 2 'Silvery Fir Tree'
8 cells, 'Container Choice Hybrid'
4 cells, 'Parks Razzleberry Hybrid'
4 cells, 'Marcellino Hybrid'
4 cells, 'Rutgers'
4 cells, 'Viva Italia Hybrid'
4 cells, 2 'Parks Ruby Nectar Hybrid'
4 cells, 'Green Grape'
8 cells, 'New Big Dwarf'
4 cells, 'Wisconsis 55'
4 cells, 'Black Cherry'
4 cells, 'German (Johnson) Pink'
4 cells, 3 'Pasture Cherry'
3 cells, 'Garden Peach'
3 cells, 'Black Prince'
3 cells, 'Yellow Oxheart'
3 cells, 'Yellow Brandywine'
2 cells, 'Evergreen'
2 cells, 'Persimmon'
4 cells, 'Red Ponderosa'
4 cells, 'Brandywine (Sudduth)'
4 cells, 2 'Purple Heirloom'
4 cells, 'Red Rose'
4 cells, 'Stupice'
4 cells, 'Purple Cherokee'
4 cells, 'Striped German'
4 cells, 2 'Large Red Cherry'
4 cells, 2 'Early Girl Hybrid'
4 cells, 2 'Sweet Baby Girl Hybrid'
4 cells, 2 'Parks Whopper Hybrid'
4 cells, 2 'Beefy Boy Hybrid'

49 cells, 3 Abelmoschus manihot 'Lemon Slice'
7 cells, 4-5 Rumex sanguineus
14 cells, 8-9 Millium effusum 'Aureum'
28 cells, ~50 Thymus serpyllum

half-jug J13
~150, Miscanthus sinensis 'Central Park'

half-jug J14
~150, Miscanthus sinensis 'Central Park'

half-jug J15
~150, Miscanthus sinensis 'Central Park'

half-jug J16
~150, Miscanthus sinensis 'Central Park'

Donn,
You certainly have been very busy!

Michelle

I still have all my cosmos, the rest of my marigolds, and that's quite a few and some gourds, probably a few more sunflowers, a lavender I just got and some red viscaria I picked up today. Like I need more seeds!!!

I have a whole box of seeds still left if I don't run out of time!! Not enough hours in the day or night for me. This work thing really does get in the way of things doesn't it!!

Funny thing is when I see them germinate I get excited and want to do more because it works, then I don't see germination on things that should be up and I want to do more... Oh it never ends....

This was my last week...I think...of sowing outside of the beds. I did cosmos and zinnias because I have a few sq feet to fill in with something tall. I also started a batch of wheatstraw celosia in a milk jug last week. No sooner did I get my fingernails clean today than a gardening buddy stopped by and said she must have been under the influence when she ordered dahlia plants...because she has more than she has space for. I guess I will be packing 'em in tightly in the garden this year!

The marigolds I started in the little plastic greenhouse two weeks ago have germinated.

No more time for ws because I started cleaning out beds today and the nigella (love in a mist) that barely grew last year has sown itself everywhere...and in our mild winter has taken root...and I mean TAKEN ROOT. It is quite a job to dig it all out of the places it isn't supposed to be. I am hopping over to Invasive Plants to see if it is on someones IP list. HM

HM

I need help!! My son complains that I get seeds every day in the mail! LOL
I just started :
castor beans
blanket flower
forget me nots
hollyhocks
sugar baby watermelon
red and green bell peppers
lettuce
dill
rosemary
acorn squash
sea holly
snapdragons
alyssum
bachelors button
coleus
hosta
blackberry lily
white calla lily
Mexican sunflower
There is probably more, my brain is tired. And I popped in 5 dahlia tubers. The pollen count here is so high. Hasn't been this bad since '95. Ugh!!!

Susan

I think I have to give up on more WS this year; I'm having too much trouble planting out. I still have some annuals I wanted to do. I'm just going to direct sow them. These include nasturtium, cosmos, apricot and orange profusion zinnia, and melampodium. I have direct sown most before (except melampodium) with good results. We're having a bad storm now (again!). Sometime this weekend I'll try to do the direct sow.

Karen

I'm still WS, too. Couldn't tell you what I've planted though. There's so much. I built a GH, actually a hoop house, in February and I've been planting something every week. I also have lots of half gallon milk containers with sprouts, too. I keep running out of my homemade newspaper pots and can't seem to find the time to make more. I must have made hundreds already! Mind you I only planted 6-12 seeds of every kind except for the really tiny seeds.

I found my list of stuff I sowed this winter, not everything has germinated and thinking some of it never will, but I do have lots of seedlings and sprouts:

Sunflowers
Muskmallow
ragged robin
blue fescue
purple moss verbena
lemon lily
MG dwarf ensign
summer squash
night scented stocks
tunic flower
jack in the pulpit
anniversary sweeet pea
white cherub lavetera
bells of ireland
monkshood
purple cascade aubrieta
apple blosson clarkia elegans
showball bush
maltese cross
cup & saucer vine
Nemophila baby blue eyes
Nemophila baby pennie eyes
african daisies
baby's breath
navy blue sweet peas
pink sweet peas
rose of sharon
cypress vine
jacob's ladder day flower
red yucca
columbine hybrid
chilean glory vine
eau de cologne flower tovacco
domino samon flower tobacco
Spanish flag vine
cosmos daydream
moonvine
MG picotee blue
ladies mantle
red celosia
datura ballerina dbl white
white hibiscus
japanese toadlily
silver tansy
blackeyed susan
tricolor 4 oclocks
pink prairie mallow
rhubarb
tibetan primrose
sweet william sooty
cinquefoil melton
foxglove, several varieties
sundial portulaca
Himalayan blue poppy
purple butterfly bush
mexican hat
missouri primrose
clitoria pea vine
honeywort shrimp plant
brugmansia dreamsickle
pink yarrow
gomphrena strawberry fields
blue flax
mediterranian bells
flowering maple
bellflower
hollyhocks nigra
hosta frances williams
passion flower
dierama angel's fishing rod
american beautyberry
monkey flower
great bellflower
pandora ine
datura dbl purple
lion's tail
scabiosa
monarda mix panorama

....and I'm not done yet! I still have a ziplock bag full of seed packets to get to! Thank goodness we have 2.6 acres! I'm working on 3 gardens....a moongarden, shade garden, and Bible garden. I just purchased a dwarf papyrus that I am so excited about. Imagine getting excited over a grass! Also on their way are a Kousa dogwood, plumbago auriculata, Sorbet Peony, blushing bride transcantia, lily-of-the-valley, elephant ear caladium, primrose, climbing shell plant, mouse plant, and neon lights. My husband will be prying our credit card out of my hands very soon!

Happy spring everyone!
JoAnn

Today it was nasties (Dwarf Jewel Mix), snaps (braun-blanquetii) and blackberry lilies. I still have a ton of stuff to do. I'm a bit undecided about putting lids on the new containers. It's pretty warm now. Opinions?

gdionelli, looks like your'e in a warmer zone. I think you're right to question putting lids on your containers. I've never sowed in warm weather, so I'm just guessing here. If it were me, I would put the lids on, but make a real lot of ventilation holes/slits. That way, you'll be able keep some of the moisture in and some of the critters out, without roasting the seeds. Maybe someone will chime in with more info.

I'm done winter sowing....the only things I have left are seeds that'll be direct sown. Those and a few duplicates that I don't really, really need to have. I did it all in a huge spurt in March. Since we had such a warm january here in new england, I'm glad I waited. Sometimes it pays to be a procrastinator.

I'm still putting some annuals out there... guess you'd call it "spring sowing" LOL...

I sowed a couple of little containers of strawflowers and lemon gem marigolds a week or so ago, and they're sprouting up now! With the mild weather we've been having, most of my lids are off the other containers, and I've had to water them a few times. Soon I'll be doing some hunk-o-seedling transplanting!

I was glad to read a couple of places that my idea about using cardboard boxes (or box tops) to corral WS containers and permit easy bottom watering is working out for some other folks! I've also put to good use those nursery flats that have developed little holes in the corners...

Yes, I think your cardboard idea sounds great and I'm going to use it too now that it's warmer and I want to go on a few trips. But I still want to try to sow some 'exotics' (I am addicted now to WSing, can't you tell?

I would direct sow, but somehow I like the idea of having more 'control' over the process by having them in containers...no doubt an 'addiction' here!

Tabasco,
I feel the same about direct sowing. It just never seemed to work that well for me. With sowing them in containers I control where exactly I want to put them in my garden.

I have about 10 empty containers left and a bag of potting soil so I figure I will do those and then be finished for the season. Can't let those containers be empty.lol I am really into doing lots of different asters this year. I grew 4 different kinds last year and I loved them. They made great cut flowers for the house. This year I have about 9 different varieties. Also going to do more of the yellow cosmos. Then I should be done as long as I don't look in my seed box.

Michelle

frausnow-- BTW Welcome to DG. I went back and reread the thread and wondered how all of your zillions of seedlings are doing? And I want to remind you to please post a picture of your garden when it gets going! It should be really something and a great ad for Wintersowing!

And donn, I hope you plan to share some of your tomatoes. Your varieties sound fascinating. Would love to have a BLT at your house!

From the lists, everyone has such varied planting schemes--raggedyann has sea holly on hers--which is something I have seen in the catalogs and thought 'Now who can grow that?!!'. Now I know!

Hope we can start a thread for pictures of Wintersown Gardens in Bloom 2006.

I forgot to sow my Zinnias. Do you think it's too late to start them?

tabasco, I direct seeded zinnias in May last year and had jillions of them in July, August and September. So I imagine you're not too late.

I was so lazy, I didn't start my zinnias or marigolds indoors as I usually do. So I'll direct seed them, probably next week unless the weather forecast makes me nervous. I just don't feel like transplanting anything else. I already have almost five flats to do once I'm sure there won't be any more frosts. Today it's broiling, but upper 30's are forecast for tomorrow night.