Who else will Winter Sow in the PNW?

I tried winter sowing last year with mixed success. I hope to learn from my mistakes and try again this year. It was a lot of fun and I got a lot of plants I couldn't have afforded otherwise. I'll be using milk jugs and covered 5-6" pots exclusively this year so I can have at least 4" of soil. Most of my losses were due to shallower soil drying out too fast in our warmer spring compared to colder areas. I'll use water crystals as additional insurance against drying too. If someone else is WSing I'd love to compare results.

That looks interesting! I might have to try it. What else did you grow besides poppies? That was the only one I could read. Any other tips to get started?

I'm going to do more this winter.... too

Viv

Let's see. Successes were Cigar Plant, Poppies (only the Shirley), Datura, dwarf Dahlia, Peruvian Lily and Irish Moss. I'm ashamed to say many others sprouted then died due to inadequate watering. Morning Glories, Cardinal Climber, Cypress Vine among others shriveled during an early warm spell. Main tip as I said, water crystals and deeper containers. Oh, and don't cover the seeds as deep as the package says. They do better with no or little covering. I later tried just putting the seeds on top of the soil and covering with a very little turkey grit. Larger percentage of germination resulted. There's so much information on the Winter Sowing Forum but most of the participants seem to be from colder climates.

I winter sow too, and had a lot come up. I couldn't find the time to seperate the seedlings though and their growth was stunted a bit. This time, I want to use seedling trays so that there is no seperating 1" high seedlings and I can transplant right into the ground. I had great success with cornflower, assylum, lobelia, knautia, delphinium, salvia 'black and blue', blue fescua, and calendula.

I'm wintersowing too! I did this last year in Jan and had mixed results as well. Slugs got a lot of mine. This year I'm doing it in two phases. Late fall and Jan. sowing. I'm just trying to figure out how to slug proof them without keeping them covered all the time.

I put mine in milk jugs and liter pop bottles. I had no trouble with slugs as they can't crawl in. You cut the jug all the way around, put in the soil and seeds. Then duck tape the two halves back together. Leave the plastic screw top off. Oh and punch holes in for drainage and air. Widen the holes as the spring progresses until they are big enough to have the half removed entirely.

renwings, what do you sow in the fall? I didn't know you could do that.

There are lots of seeds you can sow in the fall. Think of all the annuals and perennials that reseed themselves! Especially seeds that require a long germination period, stratification, or like iris or daylilly seeds that have a germination inhibitor hormone that needs to be washed away before they will germ.
One less thing I have to worry about come spring. I get bored and depressed this time of year anyway

renwings, do you sow them in the open or cover them ala winter sowing?

Some I sow in the open, things that don't like being transplanted. Some I sowed in Jiffy pots in a cold frame, things that will get zapped if left out in the open like datura and mirabilis. Cute little thing that I got at IKEA. Promtly fell apart in the spring though. But I nailed it back together!

I have had succes with Agastache, mint, parsley, Nicotiana, poppies, some fuzzy looking thing I lost the label for and hasn't flowered yet, I'm always reseeding my forget-me-nots, cosmos, chives, mirabilis, hardy hibiscus . . .
My operation will be much bigger this year. I'm setting up a much larger cold frame with cinder blocks (minus the jiffy pots). I just need to find some plexiglass or something. And about a billion slug pellets.
I'm doing:
*Aster, stokes - perennial full sun to part. Shade
*Balloon plant - perennial full sun to part. Shade
*Coneflower - perennial full sun
*catananche caerulea - perennial full sun
*columbine - mixed, perennial part. Shade
*Daisy shasta - perennial, sun to part. Shade
*Cosmos - annual
*Daisy shasta - perennial, sun to part. Shade
*Dianthus sweet william - biennial, full sun
*Eupatorium gregii - perennial, full sun to part.shade
*Frostweed - perennial, full sun to full shade
*Gaillardia - perennail, full sun
*Ironweed - perennia, full sun to part. shade
Herbs: *Sage - perennial, full sun
*Dill - annual, full sun
*Ephedra - long germ.
*Lobelia cardinalis - perennial, full shade, direct sow
*lavender- full sun
*Malva- perennial, sun to part. Shade
*moss rose Portulaca - annual full sun
*Nicotiana - annual, sun to part. shade
*Primrose- perennial, part. Shade
*Penstemon smallii - perennial, full sun
*Poppy - perennial, full sun
*Rudbeckia - perennial, full sun topart. Shade
*Sweet rocket - biennial, Light shade
*snapdragon - perennial, part. Shade
*Violet - perennial, shade
*Whirling Butterflies - perennial, sun to part. Shade
*Yucca - perennial full sun

Wow! I am humbled! LOL

Well, that's the PLAN. What actually happens is something else!

I also will be trying the wintersowing. i am working on geraniums now and many more to follow. Have a makeshift greenhouse in the backyard waiting to be tried out. Let's keep in touch and see how it goes? I may try the waterbottle idea inside the greenhouse. I know I will have to water but that's ok, it gets me out of the house for awhile.

Well, I thought I didn't have to think seriously think about it until after Christmas, but renwings post has me wondering if I should plan on some things going out earlier. Wait, I still have my fall chores to finish and then the holidays coming up. Arrrgh! The pressure, I'm having a melt down. LOL

And sweetpeas!

No pressure KatyMac, don't think about it till after Christmas. I'm not happy unless I'm stressed out with projects. Don't let my disease rub off on you!

Have you wintersowed sweetpeas, Laurie? I have a few of those. I should try it!

i am going to try sweet peas as they are an early crop like the regular pea. Possibly 1st part of Dec.

The best time to plant the sweet peas is in Feb tho. I just plant them and put mulch on top and they do just fine then.

There is a winter-sowing seed exchange at the Green Elephant Plant Swap https://auth.gardenweb.com/members/greenelephant Saturday November 4.

I have been winter sowing several years, sometimes 100 1-gal pots of seeds. Usually at least 25 pots every year. I suggest leaving them uncovered. Let the rains wash the seeds to break dormancy. Also, in spring the temperatures can vary greatly inside the covered pots.

The past three years I have had excellent success winter sowing after Christmas. I collect spent poinsettias. Just cut off the poinsettia. Sow on the surface of the potting soil. Add a little more soil (or not, depending on the size of the seed) And let the pots sit outside the rest of the winter. 40 days of freeze/thaw/rain stratification is plenty to break dormancy.

Lately, I've taken to immediatly sowing seeds. I will harvest some, then sow them in a flat, stick in a marker, and then stack the flats up to 4 high. This is how I store the seeds until they are ready to germinate. In late winter I lay the flats out in the garden to give them sun and space for germination.

Think about coming to the Green Elephant.

Regards

Jim Eichner
425-223-7249 for more information

I have been STRONGLY considering it! It looks like a lot of fun and your not to far from me. I hope I can make it.

Do try it, I sow my sweetpeas now - Feb is a tad late I think (although I wonder if a second sowing would extend the season?) By sowing now, I get a really good root development, and big early flowers. Seems to do away with that early first flush of small short stems.

Before sowing I give the seeds a light rubbing between sandpaper to help striation - pop them in long toms and leave them out in a gravel bed. If you have cats or squirrels you might want to put some chicken wire over them to stop them digging. Should be up by the end of november. Then just leave them until you are ready to plant out - they do just fine with wind rain and snow.

That's one job I won't have to shoehorn in later on when everything else is pressing. Worth trying.

Hi, Laurie1,
I have never tried to sow sweet peas and want to try your way.
What kind of soil or mix you are putting in long toms? When do you plant them out?

Quite honestly I doubt they are very particular, sweetpeas are pretty easy going plants.

However! I'll take any opportunity to sound like an expert, so Brier what I use is a mix of 1 part seed compost, 1/3 part sharp sand, and 1/3 part grit (that sounds very exacting - basically I mix up a big quantity at one time using 1 75ltr bag of compost, a 25 kilo bag of sand, and a 25 kilo bag of grit) that way I can get through a lot of greenhouse work in one go. Seeds are sown about a finger digit deep, 3 to the pot (using a 1 litre pot - that is about 5" across) (the mice get one, one can fail and I get one!) then out they go.

The sweet peas will poke their heads up fairly quickly, but won't start putting on growth until the weather warms up. Pinch out the the tops to encourage side growth when the plants have their second set of true leaves. They can be planted out when ever you are ready. I grow mine up a trellis in the cutting beds, so I don't plant out until sometime in March (March is usually when I start my string fetish of building all sorts of trellising - I like that almost as much as I like raking leaves!)

I hope I haven't made that sound too complicated - they really are some of the best behaved seeds - give them a bit of a rub and pop them in a pot. Or stick them in the ground, like daisy said above, and put some mulch over them. Either way, they will do just fine. Then sit back and wait for that heady fragrance of early summer!

This message was edited Oct 30, 2006 6:18 AM

You guys are way ahead of me. I have ordered seeds, but, I haven't even separated them out as to what can be winter sown and what needs to be in the greenhouse. My seed cup runneth over. But here is my seed-sower oath of awareness for this year:

(Raise my right hand)

I, (state my name) , do solemnly swear that I will consider the needs of each little seed that I sow. I will resist the need to plant each of the 2000 seeds contained in a package of nicotiana seeds.
I will plant only two or three seeds to a pot, and I will rip out the stragglers by the roots, allowing the strongest seedling to survive and throwing the others in the compost pile without guilt.
In addition, I swear that I will not leave my seedlings to languish unnourished and unwatered in small containers until the summer, stunting their little bitty roots and almost certainly causing them to fail in the garden. I will hear their cries of pain as though they were my own children.
I swear that I will consider the needs of the plants already in the garden as I embark on my seed buying and planting missions for next spring. I will not allow pretty photos and promises of unending color sway me from my goal of a well tended and thoughtfully planned mixed border.
I swear that I will limit my choices of seeds to those that will grow easily here and will not try to push the zone by 3 zones, adding to my cumulative stress. And I swear that I will not feel like a failure for being unable to grow heat -loving desertous plants in this climate.


Thank you all for witnessing my pain. I know you share it and encourage you to take the oath of awareness as well. Maybe if we all join hands as a gardening community, we can beat our seed addictions. Or at least we could trade some seedlings in the spring...:)

here here... !!!! I swear... but I just hate to see any itty bitty plant go to the compost.. surely it could grow if it just had the right condistions..

You mean you actually plant sweet peas in the ground this early? Wow. Around this neck of the woods it has always been "Washington's Birthday" (February 22nd) when one considers sowing Sweet Peas. Maybe I'll try a few now - I would be very pleasantly surprised to have it work!!!

It's so bloody cold here I can't even think of working outside. I'm so glad my workshop is heated. I'm working on a new base for my nativity scene right now. I got the bright idea of using a hypertufa variation to cover and sculpt it into landscape features. Bought blue styrofoam for the base yesterday and cut it to the basic dimensions. This is the first time I've really used the workshop (finally got all the cartons I never got around to unpacking out of it) and I'm really liking it! I'll do my wintersowing there this year instead of having my kitchen trashed for three months. Do we ever get Indian Summer in the PNW? ;•)

Katy, maybe you should do an ongoing thread where we can watch the development of your base? That's great your workshop is heated - my garage is almost as cold as the outdoors!

Pixydish - I just burst out laughing and continue chuckling typing this - and it is hard to type and chuckle at the same time! Boy did I recognize myself! That is really funny. Many many thanks -

I think we just had an indian summer, or am I wrong? I think I'll start my WS around mid Dec. and keep it small. I tend to overdo everything. I dont want 40,000 tiny plants to deal with. I'm hoping that I can carryover all the annual colorspots. Ha ha, good intentions...

Viv

i am gonna try winter sowing this year too.... i am sooo tired of forking out the big dough for plants i have seeds for but can't seem to find time in the spring to plant.... this will cure my problem and ease the pocketbook burden. and i think i will have to post pixydishes pledge in my garage by my gardening gear...... the thought of pulling up any seedling - i always feel like a murderer....

LOL, Pixy that is hilarious! Thanks for the laugh. Are you coming to the green elephant this weekend?

We had a wonderful, beautiful Indian summer, I think. It was the 2nd driest October on record here in Oregon.

I just can't winter sow yet - besides, it's not winter - it's autumn!
Pixy - I took the oath but had to amend it slightly in regards to those poor seeds that never find their way out of the package & into the soil. I was pleasantly surprised to have planted carrot seed this summer, only to realize that the date on the package was 1996. The germination rate was about 50%, but thought that was pretty good for 10 year old seed, although really stretching it a bit.

I am not happy about this spate of cold weather OR early darkness! I want to know why we can't have at least one year of nice DRY Autumn weather. Or better yet - dry weekends, every year....
I watched 2 landscape maintenance guys struggle with blowing wet leaves yesterday in a business park & shuddered at the thought of having to do that very thing this coming weekend. I used to go to Lake Sammamish State park & the guys would bag them for me: less work for them. But nowadays you pay an entry fee, and the leaves aren't bagged.

Laurie - are leaves a hot commodity in your area? How has your weather been of late? Is Burwash located in East Sussex? How many questions am I allowed? I was over there on a long visit in 1975 - my memory of the different counties & districts is somewhat foggy. Those were some very fun times!

daisyruffles - it has surely been dry and sooo pretty - all the leaves are so colorful and lasting this year. i love autumn.

Yes, I just noticed that tonight coming home from work. That the colors of the leaves are unreal this year.

Katye, well spotted. We are very much in East Sussex - half way between Tunbridge Wells (beautiful Georgian Town) and Battle (Battle of Hastings, 1066 country). The area we are in is referred to as the high Weald - the word referring to a raised area of woodland. I have to say it is gorgeous! Some days I just stand and stare, and honestly can't believe our luck to be here. (I'm practising trying to get a photo posted on DG, still working on it).

sounds like we have had the similar weather to you - although the wettest October on record, it has been very warm - until yesterday. Now we are right back into normal temps, with crystal clear skies, day and night. Just beautiful. We haven't had much colour as yet - but I noticed the leaves are changing rapidly now. Regents Park (London - I'm at work) this morning was beautifully russet, and the Scarlet Oaks are just flame red. Can hardly wait to get home tonight.

And leaves, for me anyway, are much much covetted. I keep 4 large compost bins (2.2 mtr tall x 3m deep x 2.2 mtr wide) - two bins are always in progress: 1 green waste, the other leaf, and I fill the leaf one every year, squash it down, then top it up and cover it with chicken wire to stop not one single precious potential leaf mould from blowing away. (The other two are the usable ones - ou,r heaps get really hot because of the size, so we pretty much have completely composted material in under 8 mo.). Garden produces a lot, but I have been known to also gather the stuff from the road (fortunately almost no traffic, and have considered raking up in the woodlands - although husbands eyes roll to heavan and I think "oh, alright!").

No limit on questions, ask away.

Katye,
I have found that the best and easiest way to get plenty of leaves, it's to find lawn maintenance company. They will be happy to deliver plenty of this "gold" to your house and i found that when leaves are mixed with grass cuttings, they create my better compost.

Excellent idea, Brier! Especially if they are bagging this for me! Ha!

Laurie - it has been awhile, but a smile still creeps across my face when I consider my travels there.
I will never forget the lady who invited me for a beverage & a sit in her garden - & what a garden it was! I think she was in her late 70's, but with a serious energy level of a 30 year old. Amazing! She told me it was in our blood to work the land, and so we must: even if that meant soil in a pot! I took this to heart, and turned my flat in San Francisco into a greenhouse (she was very emphatic & what right had I to question my elders?). Very, very fond memories to this day...
Now, a curiousity: you mentioned composting in 8 months with large bins - do you turn, or let the worms work for you? I am outside of Seattle, and we just don't get the heat units necessary for rapid composting. I know you're on the coast there - I think you've got milder winter weather, but I'm unsure as to your spring/summer temps.
I know what you mean about not letting one leaf escape - I've been known to chase them when they're blowing around my property - not a pretty sight: madwoman running with rake hoisted, yelling at the thieving wind!
Will await your photo - love to see! Katye