It's too cold to rake in my pjs. I'd freeze my knees!!
Will you be Winter-Sowing this year?
haha candyce, get some of those leg warmers that you pull up over your knees. that would be a sight to behold!
Oh my goodness!! Yes!!!
Wouldn't THAT give the neighbors something to laugh about???
My dear MIL wore those all the time, she was skinny and always cold. Now I'm thinking they might feel good on my old arthritic knees. I wonder, do they make them in Jumbo?
Hello to all of you pajama and non-pajama winter sowing people.
I am new to DG and admit to being a pajama gardener. I feel that I can get away with it because I am the oldest female in a new development and my neighbors and their small children treat me like "grandma" and excuse all my idiosyncrasies.
All the wonderful information about winter sowing and not having all that mess and work inside the house has me sceptical but very anxious to be successful with this.
My work in progress should give me many more plants than I need when I am finished (if this works for me).
Thanks again for your entertaining postings.
Regards...
Teri
Teri, hi and welcome from another 'grandma'. have you already started your wintersowing? golly you are ambitious! I won't get to anything until after the holidays.
Grampapa,
Thanks for the welcome.
I want to get everything done before we go on vacation for the first time in about 5 years.
We worked very hard to finish up the construction of our house after our builder defaulted and we needed to do much of the work ourselved to make up for the money that we lost.
Thanksgiving is the holiday that is celebrated at our house with all our kids and their children. It takes me longer to get ready for this and longer to get back in shape after they leave after that weekend.
This year I had my Christmas shopping done early and now after a few rounds of baby sitting, we will be leaving on our first cruise for 11 days on December 14th, my DH's birthday.
Until the 14th, I will do as much as I can in the garden also and then I will be rewarded with a relaxing Caribbean cruise!! (believe it or not, somehow I hate to leave home for more than a few days).
Roses, I bet that once you're on the boat you won't even think of home for 11 days!
Teri:
Welcome! And my, you are so efficient! I have only about half of the gifts purchased, and none of them wrapped. The only thing that's on paper is the big day's menu.
You're one step (or two or three) ahead of me, Candyce!
Hi Primrose and Candyce,
Our Christmas shopping is finished only because we were forced to hurry up this year. However I think we are going to skip the decorations because we will be cruising for a while before the holiday, then at our son's house as soon as we get home (our family celebrates the holiday at our oldest son's house).
Somehow, I think I will miss the "before Christmas" atmosphere when I am in the Caribbean. (or as Primrose says, "I won't even think about it").
Teri:
We are still in the 'discussion' phase of Christmas decorating. The discussion involves how to protect the Christmas tree from two toddlers and four cats. The decoration boxes are all down from the attic and sitting in the dining room. I almost think that we won't be decorating this year!!!
In all seriousness, though. When my youngest DD was growing up, we didn't decorate until the day after her birthday. She was born on December 11th, just two short weeks before Christmas. So, it became a 'family tradition' to decorate on the 12th!
Quoting:
We are still in the 'discussion' phase of Christmas decorating. The discussion involves how to protect the Christmas tree from two toddlers and four cats.
When my aunt was raising her five daughters, for several years she put the Christmas tree in a playpen. They also had two dogs--but no cats. Cats probably wouldn't have respected any silly playpen!!
Candyce, my three cats have never touched our tree, thank goodness. But they do like to drink the water from the reservoir!
Funny, I never had any problem with my cats and the tree. Maybe they didn't celebrate Christmas?
Hey, you guys who use the gallon size milk jugs - will the 1/2 gallon work just as well?
Cats and Xmas trees. Try taking shelf paper and put it on the floor sticky side up around the tree, when you first put the tree up and the cats will soon discover that they don't want to walk near the tree. It usually works for training cats to stay off the kitchen counters too. Good luck. For kids, I don't remember anything but lots of no's and a close watch (our son was 8 months for his first) plus we put all the wooden ornaments on the bottom. Good luck. Patti
Hi Primrose - sure 1/2 gallon should work - I think the trick is to have the soil 4 inches deep - and don't plant too many seeds!
Quoting:
Hey, you guys who use the gallon size milk jugs - will the 1/2 gallon work just as well?
Primrose, I used a lot of half-gallon jugs, also some water bottles, and deep plastic cups. All worked fine. Seandor is right when she says just don't put too many seeds in the smaller ones, and try to have at least 4 inches of soil.
Yep, tailor your container to suit what you are sowing. I used gallon, 1/2 gal, 2 liter and 1 liter soda bottles. the 1 liters are good for something that you are looking to wind up with one plant. I sow maybe 3-5 seeds and thin if they germinate well and are getting crowded.
Thanks for the Christmas Tree versus the Cats tips everyone.
This will be our first year Winter-Sowing, so we have collected gallon-sized milk jugs. They are the best for us, as this family goes through 8 to 10 gallons of milk every week.
Candy, I'm a bit jealous of your milk comsumption LOL. We only drink a few quarts a week and we get it delivered in glass bottles. I have to beg, borrow and steal.
Well, Jan. They don't weigh that much, so perhaps next year I can save some just for you and UPS them over.
Forgive me if everyone already knows about these, but there's a flourishing DG thread on winter sowing:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/794755/
and a new database of winter sown seeds, created by DGers:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/ws/
Yes. I knew about them, but I still like talking about WS here, too. That's OK, isn't it?
Quoting:
I still like talking about WS here, too. That's OK, isn't it?
Oh, absolutely! I'm glad this thread was started because this is the NE forum where we REALLY know about winter. . . and sowing!! And we know each other, which makes it even more fun.
I'm now trying to decide which seeds are best for setting out in my jugs on the Solstice. (Never done that before.) I'm wondering whether only perennials/natives are hardy enough to go out this early, or if I could sow some annuals, too. Last year, I set out jugs in Feb. and March with different annuals and most seeds did fine. . . but Dec. is a lot earlier!
I'm not really sure. In fact, I don't know at all - LOL!!! That's why this thread was begun for us NEGers. We can let each other know what we ARE trying to winter-sow this year.
This link gives a list of hardy annuals that seem to be ok for winter sowing.
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/wtrsow/2002091746008623.html
Thank you so much, Roses-R-Red. That's a great list. Very helpful.
Amazing link! I'll have to go back to it when I have some more time to check it out more thoroughly. Thank you for passing it along.
Roses, thanks for the link!
Hi, everyone! Is it time yet?
Are winter-sown seeds started at the same time as when you do them inside - like "6 weeks before last frost date"? Or can I put them out now?
Primrose, it's time, for many of the seeds, if not all.
Check out the DG Reports for Winter Sowing
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/ws/
to see various people's reports on when they sowed different seeds, and their germination results. You can also check people's zones for comparison to yours.
WS seeds are started ahead of seeds under lights so you can supply cold stratification time outside. And just generally to get them outside in Mother Nature's care so you don't have to worry about them!
Well, I've got a nice long (cold!) weekend to get started then!
Me, too! I'll be out there with you, cold fingers and all!
I can't wait to try some of the seeds that I couldn't get started inside there were a few i have to stick in the fridge for 3 weeks, 5 days, etc ... and I have way too many seeds to start them all inside.. I am excited to try a few outside
I started them earlier in January last year, but with the really warm January thaws it seems like a good idea to wait until later in January (like now!). Some people had sprouts with the warm days last week and now they're worried about the little guys freezing. I think I will start this week.
How did I miss this thread? I'm starting today. I never start in December - no reason. I have a few seeds to organize and then it's downstairs to the basement for some gardening therapy!
For those that like seed swaps, I usually do two a year. One in the late spring for seed leftovers and then again in November for the next years prep.
Watch out for those snakes I'm raising in your basement.
In my old house (pre-fire), we had milk snakes in the crawl space part of our basement. It's a wonder they didn't travel to other parts of the house!
In that same house, in the summer, I kept the kitchen door open a bit all day for the cats to go in and out. One day I discovered a toad coming through the door. So I watched to see what he would do. Come to find out, he would travel through the kitchen to the dining room and go under the hutch - probably to catch spiders and such. He made a ritual of this - it was like we had a pet toad!