lessons learned for next year #6

Lorraine, that is how I use my plastic bins.

You would just need to water them right-unless you drilled holes in the glass somehow????????

is there drainage?

oh yeah-that too-silly me!

I like the idea of a resource "sticky" for this forum! The new "tags" system might make a lot of this information easier to find, also. Maybe we could come up with an orderly approach, putting "winter sowing" at the start of any winter sowing related tag to make it easier to find. When you find a good post or thread on using milk jugs for winter sowing containers, for example, tag it "winter sowing containers" and "milk jugs." Does that make sense? (Am I understanding the use of tags correctly? There's a whole thread on the new tags feature in the DG forum.)

OK critter--wouldn't you like to organize it?! You're a fine writer and organized as well!

well, let's come up with a list of tags that make sense... I think the main thing is to start winter sowing tags with the phrase "winter sowing."

winter sowing annuals
winter sowing perennials
winter sowing seed lists
winter sowing containers
winter sowing transplanting

etc.


Once the tag is in the "cloud," it pops up as an option on the list as you start entering a tag, and that helps keep tags consistent. So, if there were several tags that started with "winter sowing," as you type "winter..." you'll see the tags that are already there. If you see tags that have already been used that "fit" the post or thread you're tagging, just use the same words.

Remember that you can use multiple tags.

For example, I found a thread on winter sowing foxgloves. I entered the following in the tags field:

winter sowing perennials, winter sowing foxgloves

Then I found a thread with information on winter sowing lavender. I entered the following:

winter sowing perennials, winter sowing lavender, lavender from seed

When a lot of threads are tagged with "winter sowing perennials" that phrase will appear in bigger type in the tag "cloud," making it easier to spot. Clicking on it will pull up a list of all tagged threads and posts having to do with winter sown perennials.

To see what I mean, look at the "communities" menu on the right side of this page and click on "Tagged Pages." This will take you to the "cloud" of tags I keep talking about. Scroll down, and click on "winter sowing perennials" to see what I've tagged so far with that phrase.

Now, go find a thread or post in this forum with useful information about winter sowing perennials. Tag it with that phrase. Use another tag to indicate what kind of perennial is being discussed. If there's other good information on that thread that you want to point people to, tag it also ("invasive" or "self sowing" might be useful tags for some of these).

Take another look at the cloud to see your newly tagged thread included!

what is the 'tag' system??

Anita, check out the threads in the DG forum about tags. Then the above post will make a lot more sense. It's replaced "favorites" when you click that little gold icon in the upper right corner of the page.

Critter this is such a good idea on the tags, thanks. My first year on WS and I can't wait tel i see green in those milkjugs.

I number mine like Anita does hers and keep a journal .

Problem I have , before I knew about this WS stuff i seen milk jugs everywhere, the uglist piece of trash in the trash bin!!!! Now I don't : ( has the world caught on to this?????

OH and I look at milk jugs with a fondness only a winter sower understands : ) beautiful milk jugs, I even take pictures of em.

I havn't followed moon signs for planting either, does it really make a difference?

critter--thanks for all the good info on Tags. I think I get the general idea but I'm so glad you understand the details.

Where do we go from here on this, then? Do we ask everyone for their most informative posts/tags? mmmm....

I will be out of town for a week or two starting Saturday so I'll be a bit out of touch on this--I can't wait to see the new format!

Where we go from here is that everybody should just start finding their favorite posts and threads, anything that has especially good information, and adding descriptive tags so the information will be easier to find.

You can tag individual posts rather than entire threads... this will let you add "winter sowing perennials, winter sowing columbines" tags to a good post about columbines on one of the "lessons learned" threads. Click on the post number to the left of the post to go to a page with just the post, and then click the gold icon to tag it.

good Idea Critter. And let's don't forget the introduction article on winter sowing that was recently written. By the way, where do you go to read a past article? Now I can't find it."(

Even with the tags, couldn't ONE Sticky on the winter sowing forum direct beginner's (especially) and people looking for reference material to where the tags are located?

I'm not saying a resource "sticky" wouldn't be useful, just that we don't have to put a link to every good thread because that's what tags will help us do.

Past articles are under the "Guides & Information" tab. FYI, there will be another article on Winter Sowing this coming Saturday, by yours truly... it seemed an appropriate topic for Groundhog's Day. After all, what better way to celebrate 6 more weeks of winter?!

I'm hoping it'll bring a bunch of excited new folks to this forum. I know they'll find a lot of great information here! :-)

Ground hog day, so soon? Oh that's tomorrow isn't it? lol
Critter any information in your article about wintersowing native seeds? I really need to read more about sowing natives in general, but being able to discuss germinating these seeds using the winter sowing methods would be so helpful. Maybe I need to start a wsing thread on the topic?? I've got Indian Paintbrush in moist sand in my refridgerator now. I just don't know if I winter sowed it outside, in my zone 8a, that it would break it's winter dormancy without doing a pretreatment. Maybe a wintersowing 102 for challenging seeds like these parasitic wildflowers and seeds that may be native to a colder region but being wintersown in a warmer one? I'd like to avoid waiting two years for some natives to germinate in my area, you know?.

This message was edited Feb 1, 2008 9:33 AM

If it's native, that's a good clue it can be winter sown. I've had good luck winter sowing anything requiring cold stratification. Since it's an article and not a book, I didn't go into every detail, but I tried to include a lot of tips, and I also put in some useful links.

By all means, start a thread on WSing natives! I think we need some topic-specific threads on this forum, anyway. These sticky chat threads are hard to find things in.

Yes, I agree. Let's start some interesting topic specific threads. I think of them as 'Quick Learns' and get a lot from them...

I'm anxious to read the upcoming article on winter sowing, Critter. Yea!
I have so many questions about native seeds and straight species seeds that I'll wait to read your article first before starting a thread.
edit to add: Great idea, "quick learn whatever" would make a good tab reference for that particular thread.


This message was edited Feb 1, 2008 12:57 PM

Has anyone tried writing names on the bottom of the containers with nail polish? It seems like a permanent substance, and the colors might show up better. Any thoughts?

Nail polish sounds like a cost effective alternative to expensive paint pens. I don't have a steady enough hand so I'd need to try it with short cuts; using references #'s or abbreviations. I'd like to hear from folks using it too.

Use a toothpick instead of the brush in the nail polish, works with paints, too. Or the wrong end of a thin paint brush.

You might be able to do numbers with nail polish... The paint pens aren't all that pricey, though, especially if you catch a sale or use one of the 40% off coupons from Michaels/JoAnns/etc.

Metallic paint pens or markers also work really well for writing on nursery containers and cell packs... just FYI

I use reference #'s that correspond to my spreadsheet in Excel where I keep all my data. I've been using paint pens for years and I love them!!

I too use reference #s
a lot less writing... though you always carry or should carry at least a note pad with to jot down notes.

we talked about thread covering separate subjects...so I started one on containers. I have a new container system this year and there are always lots of questions about containers, so I thought that might be a good place to start.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/809636/

I really love all the ideas for the stickies, I am new to this so I need lots of info. I know lots of times I ask a question on the forum and then as I look back throughj the threads, I find the same question. If there were specifics in the different stickies, it would really help me.
I would be glad to help with research, etc. but since I'm so new to Dave's I probably wouldn't be much help. But once all ya'll who know wha you are doing are done figuring it out and all, if you need an indian to help a chief, please let me help.
I taught for most of my life, so I love stuff like this!!
I especially love the idea of info being all organized in one place without all the chat with the info

I posted the on #5 not knowing it had moved onto #6 and wanted to paste my post here:

Wow what a long thread! . . . I read through most of the postings but could have missed it if someone else posted my labeling style.

I went on a garden walk last summer and someone used white plastic plant identification thingyies with Dymo-labler sticker attached on both sides. I went home and did the same in my garden that very week (Early July) and the labels are still the same (nothing faded and they are still sticking onto the plant ID sticks). I bought my Dymo Labler at Wal-Mart in their Office supply section. I can't remember which label type except that they are silver. Probably a weather proof type.

As far as winter sowing, I did this two years in a row and I have more than enough in my garden (I can't believe I'm actually saying that!). I am doing seeds indoors but they are tender annuals.
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I've done permanent markers and number referencing and it was a mess and faded away and annoyed me. My lablers are still the same as they were back in July (I was out in the garden today and dug some up to see how they were doing in the snow. All still attached to the plastic and very readable.

Hey, funny thing slightly off topic. You know how we all (well I do this and I assume some of you do this too . . .) "sneak plants home and hurry and put them into the garden before your spouse figures out more money was spent on plants. Well I just did that with a home remodel job. My contractor is working in the basement on another project and I had him put in 4 x 48" lighting fixtures and shelves and outlets for heating pads under the seedlings as well as two fans on each side for air circulation while my husband was away on business. It's like sneaking home some new plant friends. I'm so pathetic!

I agree, time to clear out the "lessons learned" stickys and move on in this, our busiest WSing time of year.

Since I haven't used the tag system, I have no opinion on it.

As far as a sticky for "how to wintersow", I think you have to be careful. Giving Trudi due credit, this information is out there on the web, esay to link. Since Trudi's site and the GW FAQs already give pretty specific information, it would be hard to do without copying, paraphrasing, or some type of copyright infringement.

Since this information is already out there, why try to duplicate it here, as opposed to a direct link?

Karen

It seemed to me that Trudi and Dave came to a very definite parting of ways the last time this sort of thing came up, and I don't think anybody wants to go there again. Copying material outright is copyright infringement, paraphrasing with credit is not (for your school papers, you called it research). Whether or not admin wants to include a link to wintersown.org on a winter sowing forum "resource sticky" is their call. However, on other forums, links on resource stickies have been limited to DG sources, so that might be a moot point.

A resource sticky could have links to the winter sowing data base, to particularly useful how-to threads on the forum, to relevant DG articles, etc. If we ask for one, we need to remember that it'll only be as good as we make it... If we don't give Terry additional input for links to include (and it usually takes more than one person's nomination to include a thread as a resource link), then the sticky will be pretty limited in scope.

I've skimmed this thread, and I'll try to address the points where there were questions about what I/we (admins) can/will do.

1) The existing threads are very long - regretfully I cannot go through them and manually weed out the extraneous posts. (That would be a herculean effort, to say the least ;o)

2) Someone - anyone - can consolidate information, links (to other places within DG, or external, as long as you're willing to maintain them) in a new single thread, and I can sticky it. I can also "lock" that thread to new posts so it stays chatter-free. (The person maintaining it can contact me whenever they need it unlocked to do some additions/corrections.) That's how the Plumeria sticky thread works: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/599185/ as does the Hypertufa basics: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/795463/

3) I *can* do a resource sticky thread, like I've done for other forums - here's the one for daylilies, so you can see what I mean: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/623557/ I'm hesitant to do one for winter-sowing because it's not limited to a particular group of plants, like the others I've done.

You'll notice near the end there's a post for "member's favorite threads" http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=2474306

I suggest bypassing some of the other stuff and creating a thread similar to the "member's favorites." If you wish to go that route, then anyone here, who has a better knowledge of which topics need to be covered, and where the threads and resources can do that.

NOTE: If you wish to link to outside resources, then I really need for someone to step up and volunteer to be the "thread creator and keeper", rather than me.

4) I respectfully suggest there's no reason to sticky "chat" threads - those will have a lot of natural buoyancy and will stay near the top without any aid.

Thank you, Terry. this is exactly the kind of input we needed from admin. why we didn't just ask you is beyond me. Especially #4...we've been making these long threads into stickies. While there is good info here, it's almost impossible to find. If we 'unsticky' these, and create a 'member's favorite threads', we can link to them there so we don't lose track of them.

If any of you longtime wintersowers have the time to take on this maintenance, I would rather see you do it. But if not, I will volunteer.

I too could volunteer to go thru one or more of the old treads and weed out the chatter [and duplicate info, like "Use a paint pen" ] ... it's tedious work, but easy.
If 1 person chose 1 thread, we'd really only need 5 peeps to tackle this ... then email the data we want to keep to 1 person who could then post it as 1 giant post. then even lock it so chatter can't be added.

I think we'd need to set parameters .... WS info only, or include all the "tips learned" from our experiences, like what works and what NOT to do.

OK, we have me (Jan), Shirley1md (Shirley)and tcs1366 (Terese) We need 2 more people to each take a thread

I will do a thread, but might need some instruction, so I know you'd rather have someone with more experience, but I will do whatever you think I can.

I'm sorry that I don't have the time right now... but I'd like to suggest that, if possible, you add "tags" to particularly valuable tips when you come across them...

Or, once the threads are condensed, we could tag information in them. Making it a 2-part project would work fine, too.

Instead of posting all the tips in a thread as one giant post, would you consider keeping tips on separate topics as separate posts? That would make it easier to tag and then later to find particular pieces of info. If you want to consolidate & organize some of the info, you could copy related topics into single posts.

critter... if we did it that way.... separate topics... then we'd need to get the categories before hand, so we all know what info to save and send to whom to create the posts/threads.

I too will be on Vacation... but mine is at the end of the month... so i could try to get it done by next week or so.

BUT -- i do think to tackle this properly, we need a breakdown ....

figure, Jan already started the "container" thread.
Say if when we are going thru the older stickies, and come across "container" info... Jan, could we send that to you to add to that thread --- but also Tag the good stuff, like Critter mentioned ??

not sure if i am just grasping here.....

Terese