so..winter's here, no gardening to do...how do you all make it through with your sanity intact?
My Mom...she bakes, much to the detriment of my belly and behind...I nag my poor houseplants, who usually feel neglected all summer cause I am ouside in the garden.
Anybody care to jump in?
How do You make it through the winter?
I peruse my seed catalogues (over and over and over again), do some winter sowing (I'm in the middle of that right now), draw out and plan any new/changed garden beds and landscape features, play with my two kitties, catch up on my reading, and most importantly - spend lots of quality time with my DH.
--Ginny
winter sowing eh? I have seen that mentioned before....I'm gonna have to read up on that, it sounds interesting
Ohhhhh yeah. Interesting.....and addictive. You've been warned :-) It's so easy and works so well, I wish I had found out about it myself years ago.
Can you point me in the right direction? I read the sticky in the Winter Sowing forum, but with our winters, I find it hard to believe it to be possible....
Thank goodness I work at a botanical garden. We have 2 greenhouses, one cool, the other warm, so I have lots to putter around with through the winter. In fact, I just sowed a bunch of seeds I received from Chile. My rhododendron seeds have just sprouted and my daylilies sown in November are now with 3 leaves and about 6" high. Without the greenhouse, I'd go stir-crazy through our very long winters.
wow...a Botanical garden...you are so very lucky. I'll bet the seeds from Chile are really unusual??
Okay - Winter sowing info comin' up!
First, my method. Far from scientific, but it seems pretty effective :-)
1. Collect as many clear plastic containers as you think you will need to sow the number of seeds you desire. My general rule of thumb is no more than 3 or 4 seeds per 2 litre pop bottle for example. I use 2 litre pop bottles, V8 juice bottles, distilled water bottles, other water jugs, etc. Anything that is clear and that you can put at least 4 inches of soil into while still leaving enough head room for the seedlings to grow a bit. Discard the bottle caps.
2. Put drainiage holes in the bottom of each container. I usually use an old soldering iron to melt the holes - it's easier than trying to poke holes. Do this outside though - the fumes may be toxic.
3. At the point where the V shape of the bottle top meets the main body of the bottle, cut the bottle open (scissors work just fine), leaving a one inch "hinge" uncut.
4. Clean the bottles well in hot soapy water with about 10% chlorine bleach to disinfect them thoroughly. Believe me when I tell you that it is much easier to clean the cut open bottles than to try to clean them effectively when they are still intact. Rinse well in hot water.
5. Fill the bottles with at least 4 inches of potting soil - 5 is even better. You need at least 4 inches of depth or the soil simply freezes into a big chunk of ice.
6. Allow the bottles to absorb some water from the bottom until the top of the soil is damp (I usually set them in the bathtub and run about 2 inches of water into the tub, then let them sit for a while.) If necessary, allow them to drain excess water if any.
7. Unless the seed that you are sowing requires darkness to germinate it is best to lay the seed on top of the soil in each bottle and press gently into the soil.
8. Make sure you label each bottle with the type of seed it contains as you sow it. I usually just use a piece of masking tape and a black permanent marker because I never actually have any tags.
9. Tape the top and bottom of the bottles together - duct tape works really well and seems to outlast the elements.
10. Take your bottles outside and leave them in a sunny spot where they will be sheltered from strong winds. You don't want them tipping over in a storm. Now you just leave them out there until transplant time :-)
11. Check the bottles occassionally for condensation. If there is none or very little then they need some watering. I use an indoor watering can with a very small diameter spout. Hold the spout inside and right up against the wall of each bottle you are watering. The water will flow down the sides of the bottles without disturbing the seeds or seedlings. Of course if your bottles are covered in snow that's even better :-) Then you don't need to worry about them at all. As the snow melts later it will keep the moisture content up in the bottles. This is why you don't put the bottle caps back on.
12. Once the weather starts warming a little you will need to keep a closer eye on both condensation level and heat inside the bottles. The bottle tops act like little miniature greenhouses, so as the sun warms up the temperatures inside the bottles can get pretty high. If they are getting too warm (I usuallu just stick a finger inside the bottle top to check temperature) you can cut a few vents in the bottle tops for better ventilation.
13. Don't be surprised if your seeds start sprouting as early as mid-March, or as late as mid-May or anywhere in between. Since they have been growing outside all along you can transplant them to the garden earlier than you normally would with those started indoors. They are already hardened off for you.
Here are some web sites that you may find helpful:
http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/How_to_Winter_Sow.html (Basic primer on how to winter sow. Be aware that there are as many different ways to do it as there are people doing it.)
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/mngard/msg0322130431507.html?21 (This is in Minnesota, and their winters are a lot more brutal than ours.)
http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/wintersowing.html (This site has lots of neat info for all kinds of germination questions.)
http://tomclothier.hort.net/ (This site is one fantastic germination resource. Look for items that say to sow them in the fall months, or that require cold stratification, low germination temperatures, etc.)
I hope some of this information is useful to you.
--Ginny
This message was edited Dec 30, 2006 8:04 PM
thank you Ginny, this I am gonna have to try.Very clear instruction, and I thank you for that. whooo hoooo, something to do :)
Most of the Chilean seeds I've never heard of! They might even be roadside weeds in that area but one man's meat.....................
Some of the genera include Olynsium, Rhodophiala, Alstroemeria (those I know!), Crinodendron, Comanthera, Calceolaria (know those too)...even a perennial Lobelia (perennial being relative as most of these seeds are all sub-tropicals).
Next week I'll start my siberian iris seeds :)
Todd, I'd love to step into your work world for a few months, I think it would be a blast. Don't think I could wrap my head around all that knowledge though, but I could be a go-fer! Hope your Chilean seeds turn into beautiful surprises. Can you borrow a little space for your own seed experiments or are the seeds for botanical garden evaluation? Fun!
threegardeners, I like a bit of downtime, but after the holidays, I get a bit antsy. I'll do some wintersowing, too. I tried it last year for the first time and I was really surprised how successful it was. I'm waiting on some seeds from Ontario Rock Garden Society, 60 pkgs for $10, member-donated (of which I noticed a few are from Todd!) Then I'll start some hosta seeds indoors, then more annuals in March. Of course there's the catalouges, both paper and online, and new gardens to plan. I've also found being part of a garden group like DG has given me lots of inspiration to try new things.
Ginny, In a week or so I'll be doing a mini workshop for my garden club on Winter Sowing, so I'm in the middle of preparing some handouts. Your instructions are so straight forward and well laid out and gave me a few points to include, and most of all reminded me to keep it simple - 'cause it is! I'm no expert, I'm just going in and saying "this was how I did it - and it works!" I'm going to take some samples of containers that can be used and a prepared 2L milk jug for everyone. Then we'll sow a few seeds, label them, tape them up and then they can bottom water them when they get home. Hopefully it'll encourage them to try it once they see how easy it is. It's much easier to just do it rather than explain on paper how to do it. You did a fine job there!
Sandy
No gardening to do???? Lots and lots. Indoor under lights for me. Babysat by one of my guerrilla gardeners when I'm away. Echervarias in bloom, LA iris that I hope will bloom during the winter, sprekias, 5 flats of iris that wouldn''t have a chance to root - planted in mid-December. Um.... Watsonia, heuchera, diarama, iris, lilium, hem seeds and seedlings - other ZA seeds from Kirstenbosch in ZA. I'll start pansies - late I know - when I get home. Then leeks and checking seeds to see what to start next.
Mustn't forget to mention all the goodies in the fridge.
inanda
Hmm.
Growing lettuce, parsley, basil, and bok choy in the sunroom.
Dealing with the asparagus "seed viability experiment" that resulted in 35 healthy seedlings, now 6" tall and demanding to be moved to larger premises . . .
Wintersowing.
Seed catalogues.
Seed trades, mostly on GW
Learning / reading about permaculture. Reading Hemenway's "Gaia's Garden". Excellent. Next in line: Four Season Gardening by Eliot Coleman
Planning / dreaming of my passive solar greenhouse.
Getting ready for a post-carbon world.
Sandy, I haven't received my seed list from ORGS yet! I hope they didn't forget me! How long ago did you get yours?
Gosh, I sent my order out on Dec. 13th and I think I had the list for maybe 7-10 days before I got around to choosing my seeds. It says right on there that the last date to order is Dec 31st. I thought the donors got first dibs? Something up with that, me thinks!
Sandy
Thanks for the kind words Sandy. I learned the hard way about keeping it simple. Back in the late '80s I took a job as an instructor at a private college whose student population was heavily slanted toward mature students. I learned very quickly that the KISS principle is by far the best way to impart knowledge to those of us who have been out of school for a while and have short attention spans for long drawn out explanations and instruction :-) Give us something to work with and fire up our imaginations right away - the details can come later once we're already fully engaged.
--Ginny
Well I guess I will have lots of space this spring for seeds.....60 less pots to worry about! I'm not very impressed with ORGS considering I'm a donor....guess I might not be next year!
Ginny, wise words. I'll adopt the Nike slogan and 'just do it'!
Todd, I'm sure they'd be mortified if they thought they had forgotten a donor....
Sandy
what is ORGS?....just out of curiosity
three, it's Ontario Rock Garden Society http://www.onrockgarden.com/
Sandy
thank you, interesting concept
I tend to play in my greenhouse a few days of each week..............fluffing the soil, and repotting trops, seeds, etc..................love to read and watch good movies on tv...........happy pastimes....Elaine
I've got my orchids, as always. But I've filled the shed and cold room with potted bulbs for forcing. I've posted the first arrivals (hyacinths) in the Bulbs Forum. In fact, I've potted up so many pots (20+) that I don't know what to do with them all! Guess I got a little greedy when bulb shopping in the fall...
I keep busy maintaining my indoor Garden. 28 Gesneriads & AV's, 20 Hoya, Orchids and Succulents, along with my overwintering plants; Brugs, Palms and other Tropicals that are (hopefully) destined for the pond and garden in the Spring. In February and March I will start seeds for Spring planting as well. That always keeps my itchy garden fingers busy while I anticipate the arrival of Spring.
Just a note..........I did a walkabout my garden, yesterday, and most everything is ucckkkyyy! Although some of the bulbs have broken through....good sign, as long as there isn't a fast freeze! Orchids, shooting up budded scapes, and orchid cacti, setting for bloom.........going to play around in there today. Sun is shining.......WOW! Elaine