First Time wintersowing?

Thanks for answering all those questions above, tcs. Just one more: do you use extra perlite, or just what is in the mix?

Your creativity just gave me an idea as I am now preparing dinner (7 or 8 hours later here, you know!).
I am preparing a choucroute garni, because it is such a cold day. I love Toulouse sausages in this and also bought a pack on special of 24 sausages. I wouldn't do this very often (my doctor doesn't want me to eat ANY sausages, so don't tell!), but the plastic pack is almost 4" deep, and I could either put it in a "comforter greenhouse" or cover it with one of the shallower clear plastic packs that mussels are sold in.

I plan to WS several species of Heuchera as Lewisia, and these won't need 4" of root room or much head room until long after they are out in the garden!

Careful, JoP!!!
Lots of freefloating radioactive isotopes in the Tri-Cities!
No telling what you might grow.
Is it true that people who drink Richland wines glow in the dark? (LOL)

Jim -- no - i did not add any additional perilite, just what came in the mix.

I too will attempt Heuchera for the first time.

wont snitch on the sausage... *wink*

but that container sounds perfect to put in 'plastic greenhouse'.

T.

Hi guys! I just decided this week that I am going to try WS this year. I'm mostly interested in vegetables, and am having trouble finding information on WSing them.

Does anyone know which veggies do well? I tried starting from seed indoors last year in front of a sunny Southern window (no space/money for grow lights) and things got pretty crowded when I started adding new plants. My hub would like to have his window seat back! Plus, hardening off didn't go well and I was disappointed in my crop. We have more yard than we have house (or more accurately, cottage) so I was hoping to get some advice.

Jim - you mentioned you start lots of veggies - are you going to WS them or just flowers?

Thanks!

This message was edited Nov 29, 2008 11:36 AM

I am reluctant to WS vegetables. I will try the tough ones: tomatoes, peppers, melons; but I plant to back those all up with my usual indoor sowing. That should also give me a point of comparison.

The hardest part of indoor sowing is providing light. I can't think of any window that is going to give the intensities of light needed to keep most vegetable seedlings healthy and compact. Some WS devotees claim that WS is a replacement for this. Maybe. I want to see. I do get tomato volunteers each year that turn out to produce great tomatoes. I also get those for which "weed" would be a kind word.

I love Asian greens. I bet these will do well.

Hi Jim!
I have wintersowed tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers successfully. The seedlings are smaller to start with than those that I grew under lights in my basement, but they are very hardy. This paid off last summer, when my seedlings grown under lights got damaged during the hardening-off period--a mean spring wind came up and wind-burned the UL seedlings I had set out on my deck. They never recovered: I ended up relying on my WS seedlings. They caught up quickly.
I've never tried growing veggie seedlings in pure window-light. The seeds I try need lots of light, which they get outside in their WS containers, or under lights in my basement.

CCG:
Thanks! I've read elsewhere that you and others have had good results WS tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers.
BUT, I just have to try it myself.

It just goes against everything I have learned from generations of gardeners far smarter than me and from a very wide range of cultures.

I actually have tried growing veggie seedlings in pure window-light under various conditions. It just simply does not work. There may be occasional, anecdotal successes; but, as a realistic gardening technique, it's a non-starter.

My concern with WS for the veg mentioned above is late germination for my short gardening period and a subsequent total crop failure.

So I will back up with the usual, trued-and-true indoor culture under lights.

Potagere- by the way, I drink an occasional wine and I don't glow- I thought that was kind of a cold comment, but I got over it. This is a beautiful area, but I'm sure it isn't for everyone.

I've only WSown tomatoes. They started off really slow, didn't seem like they'd ever mature and set fruit. But once they were in the ground they really took off. They produced fruit at the same time as the nursery-bought ones I had.

Karen

I will try it, CCG! That's the plan,
And cold as it may be, I'm not planning any time soon to drink "Wines Watered by Hanford", Jo. That could be hotter than I want.

OK, I was quite befuddled by the wine comment! So I had to look it up, I have actually driven through a bit of the western part of Washington, but haven't seen much. Apparently there is the Hanford Atomic Reservation that you are refferring to Jim? and then now they have quite a business of wineries in the area. Interesting to learn about different areas of the country.

Welcome to our little wintersowing thread Jo! I am sure gardening in Florida will be quite different than the cold and dry weather up there.

I am hoping to do a few veggies this year as well. I mostly am planning to do wintersowing because I am quite busy and with 5 kiddos in the house that I am tending to, I think the plants would be sorely neglected. I am only hoping that I have the time in the spring to plant up all my new little plant babies. It is good to hear that the WS veggies produce well. Are there any veggies though that wouldn' t do well or tolerate the cold? I don't hear of many vegetable that self sow. (Of course if you actually eat the fruit then of course that would be why!)

Yes, Lissa,
I grew up in that "nuclear-enhanced" corner of our universe.
I don't encourage you do drink wines from there.
In fact, when I am home, I try to limit my local consumption to petrol.

Just as I encourage Jo to use commercial potting soils!

Tomatoes widely self-sow in my garden. One of the things that encourages me about WS is that the volunteer tomatoes, when I let them grow, sometimes do as well as the ones I raise.

Most other veggies, as you point out, don't get much chance to "self-seed". Lettuce does, in my garden, however. And, it is fact that the early lettuce volunteers are faster and fatter growers than my greenhouse seedlings. But they are also much more bitter tasting. And I would rather have "Sunkist" than "Charlie" lettuce!

Thanks for the info, guys! As long as the WS tomatoes and peppers (two of my favorite vegs) eventually catch up, I'm going to give it a go. We have a long growing season and I'm happy to visit Dallas' Farmer's Market until my plants bear.

Now I just have to start calling family so they can save containers for me!

-GB

I'll be winter sowing for the first time, too, and have collected some containers, cut them, punched holes in them for tying together and left hinges on them. Still have to punch holes in top and bottom and am still reading and boning up on the WS technique. I think my biggest question so far is when to start sowing the plants. We generally only have about 2 weeks of winter here, no spring, just winter, then boom, summer! This year seems to be going differently, though, so I'm planning on starting in January, right after Christmas. I'll post a list of my planned seedling starts later. Haven't gotten that organized yet.

It'll be nice to keep up with others who've gone this way before and who are walking the path with me for the first time!

Okay. I've spent this afternoon reading through the entire sticky at the beginning of this forum so I could avoid some of the traps and pick up a few tricks from more experienced WSers and find that my question of when to sow has been answered, as well as most of the other questions that were beginning to form. I have my 2-liter bottles and milk jugs almost ready to go and I now know to make a good labeling system, both ON the container (in several spots) and IN the container with paint pen or industrial Sharpie and not to use vinyl blinds for my labels. I'm hoping to keep good records and enter in my journal so that I can print out my winter sown list.

All good information, everyone, and I thank you all for sharing your successes and failures. I'm sure I'll replow some of the same old ground, but I'm so anxious to try this out. I've tried planting tomato seeds in February in those clear plastic grape containers but they always got too leggy and didn't make it. This sounds like less work and better success rate.

I'm still undecided about using cardboard boxes versus plastic boxes to hold my containers.

if you get a lot of rain, the card board may break down a bit sooner.... if you plan on moving the box a lot, you may want to consider plastic [some use old dog house/crates] i think that is Karen
Some use old laundry baskets ... just what ever it is, make sure excess water is able to drain out of it... that is the one nice thing about the card board ... i did move mine around quite a bit - even into the summer, and it held up OK. then i used it for a lasagna garden out back.

Hi Hemophobic,

One of your comments caught my I. You mentioned not using vinyl blinds for labels. I had not run across that as a negative. Can you share why you shouldn't use them for that?

Tonya (another 1st time WSer)

Grampapa posted this in the WS forum:

I just found this thread and wanted to join in as I know a lot of you already! It's my first year to WS and I'm more excited than words can tell. I still have a lot of reading to do in the sticky thread.

Just wanted to say HI!
~chele

Thanks for the info on the miniblinds. I have started to read the sticky thread, but haven't finished it so had not run into that yet.

Hi Chele, good to see you ove rinthis neck of the woods, too!

Tonya

For one day's work, I have a pretty good round up of milk carton - now on to another task! As soon as I decided to WS, I requested some free seed catalogues, but am having a hard time waiting!

What are some of your all's favorite resources for collecting seeds? I'd love to join in some of the seed swaps on Dave's Garden, but I don't have any seeds to swap yet!

-GB

Today only:

Thompson and Morgan- free shipping

seedman.com- sale prices, 50% off seeds.

Both offers end today.

Karen

i've purchased some seeds in catalogs but more of my seeds have come from trades with others and of course the "piggy swaps"

can't beat seeds for postage.

tcs - do you need to have seeds to trade for the piggy swaps?

Thanks for the sale info!

-GB

Greener: If you see some seeds you'd like, ask the person if you can reciprocate next year when you have seeds of your own. I'll bet if you think about it, you can probably offer more than you think. I keep thinking of things in my own garden that I didn't think of before, things I can at least offer cuttings from. Most DGers are wonderful. And if you send SASE, you can have the person return the favor for you next year, so your only outlay will be the postage. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Check out my list and see if I have anything. I don't have a lot of seeds myself this year (my first year saving seed, too), but I do have a few things.

The way the big swaps work is... you send in seeds and get seeds back in return.

the gal that is running this one has stated, that if you are a newbie, you can purchase seeds [she has a few sites listed, probably for bulk - but i'm not sure]

we all list the seeds we have to offer, and list what type of seeds we'd like to have.
then we all go thru each others lists -- it's like a frenzy at times -- and ask for seeds.

here is the thread... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/927636/
and from what i recall, the gal Startlight, is busy with school and wont be on the thread much the next few days... but if you had questions, you can always drop her a note.... but this one way be a bit over whelming ...

OH another thing.... Lorraine is offering Newbies seeds for postage.... that can get you started for this year if you do not have seeds to offer in teh swap. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/919799/

check out the Seed Trading Forum. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/trading/all/

Hope this helps...

Terese

there is always someone offering seeds for trade or postage.

Hey GreenerBeaner, if you have been with Daves for only a few months or less, you might want to check out an offer for seeds the Lorraine is hosting on this thread:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/919799/

Many DGers have graciously donated seeds to be distributed to newbies (I am a grateful recipient!). I haven't read to the bottom of the thread lately, so don't know if she is still doing it, but you might want to check it out.

Tonya

Greener. d-mail me with your requests for WS sorts of seeds you would like: annuals, perennials, or more specific kinds. I always have more than I really have room to WS.

Edited to add: Lorraine's offer (detailed in the post above) is terrific--I have benefited from it myself!

This message was edited Dec 1, 2008 5:24 PM

I too have a lot of more 'common' seeds... many of which i've sent to Lorraine for the Newbies....
I always have seeds to spare for postage.

Whew! That is a lot of information, but now I can't WAIT to get started collecting! Thanks for your offers of seeds and info. And thanks LissaD for getting this thread going!

-GB

Ok, I've finally caught up on the posts here. I'm hoping to try WSowing seeds for the first time this year. Most importantly, I've been told that WS poppy seeds is the best way for my area. I've also heard that they don't like transplanting. So, does anyone have any experience with these? Would I sow them in a container, or would they not like that?

It works just fine, and, yes, I've done it. Just transplant when very small, like one or 2 true leaf stage. At that time the taproot hasn't formed yet. And the poppies do better once in the ground and they like that cold early spring weather.

Karen

Thanks Karen! I can't wait to try. I guess I'll start in a few weeks? Do they take a few months to germinate?

klstuart: Up here in the frozen tundra, we don't see green in those jugs until the weather starts to break and days get longer- usually around March for me. You southerners will have things pop earlier, but I don't know when. Maybe someone from your zone will chime in with some feedback.

But poppies are early sprouters. They like cool weather and germinate in cool temps. They may well be first for you.

Here's a picture of my poppy sprouts on March 3, 2006.

Many seeds take much longer- I have known folks who have waited a few years for tough sprouters. I'm not that patient. If they don't sprout by spring or early summer, I dump them into garden beds.

Karen

Those grew into these

And these

Beautiful! Ooh I hope I get some going this year! Just those two containers grew into all those? Do you thin them at some point, or just go with survival of the fittest?

Thanks for the photos and info on poppies Karen! Did you transplant them in March as well? I'm thinking we are still really cold up here, but if that's what they like....