What have you wintersowed so far????

nuts: Wow, that Rnitida really is pretty.

I'm not familiar with the StaGreen potting mix, I've no experience with it. But any good quality mix will be fine. I've heard that some of the really cheap brands turn "brick like" after a while, but fortunately I've not tried them. I usually use Pro-Mix compressed bales or Fafards and have liked both a lot. You don't need a special seed starting mix, any potting mix is fine.
(i.e. not garden soil).

Other Karen

Man! I usually just link in to the New to WS Forum, and have wondered why it has been so quiet - everyone has been busy WSing! I'm putting my first bunch out on Feb 1. Until then I am being distracted by collecting items for composting and cleaning/cutting milk jugs. Reading through this forum has me itching to get my nails dirty, though! Maybe today when we stop by Lowe's I can pick up some potting mix and at least fill the milkjugs with soil. I'll update if I get that done...

-GB

Thanks Angie and Karen! I really like the Rnitida.

Karen

Well, I've finally started. Slow start, but here is what was sown today. http://lakehousecreations.com/wintersown_2009.htm

Anita: Wow, that's a great start! I also like your chart. Mine is in Quattro Pro and is so utilitarian, but I didn't put in enough columns. Is yours in a format that you could or would share?

Angie

I use MS Access, but I could pull it into an excel spreadsheet if that is what you are asking.

That would work! Thank you.

Anita.... for some reason, i just can't get the hang of Access. So, i generally use Excel for all databases.

Anitab. - I see you have WS a lot of Foxglove, I'm wanting to try Foxglove, but don't know how it would do in my region (8a).

Today I WS more lettuse & cilantro, OP's, holly hock, Night Fragrant Stock & catmint.

Sonoita, I avoided WSing foxglove because I was afraid it is too dry and hot here (Weed CA, kind of high desert climate) -- I absolutely love it and know it does real well in places that are cooler and quite a bit wetter, like coastal Oregon...... but gosh, maybe we ought to give it a try anyway. I am 7b but that really only refers to temperatures and frost dates as I understand the zone system, not to the whole climate. I could grow foxglove just fine in NC, know it flourishes nicely in coastal California, but again, that is a much moister climate.

hmmm.

;-) Kyla

We are NOT moist, yet if I am carful I can grow Hostas and ferns. No luck with Fuchsia :( or Begonia (so far).
When I was in the North Island of New Zealand there were Foxglove and Calla Lily's everywhere, but that was costal as well.

Anita, I see you've sown the Agastache 'Golden Jubilee'. I have that one and I love it. You've sown a lot Digitalis, too. I plan on doing many this year, including 'Candy Mountain'. I love foxgloves.

Sonoita, I don't know how foxglove would do in a dry climate like yours.

Karen

Okay, I checked with someone else in a very dry climate (needs to irrigate 7 or 8 months out of a year) who said she has succeeded with foxgloves...... so it may be worth a try! ;-)

Kyla

Kyla - Thanks! Now I need to hook up with some seeds. Cool!

You're welcome! We'll have to compare notes. I have some old seeds, just probably some Ferry Morse packet, maybe two years old or more..... not sure how good they are. Bet you can do better than that but if not I'll send you some. I'll look them up and see what is actually there. My next WS time will be probably early Feb. so I won't be doing much else til then.

I've not grown digitalis in a long time. I didn't have luck with it in the past, but love the flower. Since I have a new bed in the front of the house, I thought I would give it a shot again. I have so many more to seeds to sow, but will definitely run out of containers. The gallon jugs just work the best in my opinion.

I love foxglove, and it volunteers well. I do have a pack of Candy Mountain, I forgot about it. Must try a few this year. I have quite a few 2nd year foxgloves that should return so I might have trouble finding a shady spot for Candy Mountain.

We have cold wet winters and hot dry summers. I do give my plants supplemental water in summer, and have to plant digitalis in mostly shade or it fries.

Karen

Same here, Karen...and frying digitalis is never a pretty sight, lol!

So I am hearing to put it in the shade to part sun area of my garden. Say where I grow columbines & coralbells?

Karen, I would not have thought your summers would get hot and dry where you are. Hot maybe, but don't you get a lot of humidity? We get hot here, too, but usually the humidity is up. We had a lot of dry periods last summer, too, and according to the FA we are expecting another dry one this year. Dry without rain, but not without the humidity. My foxgloves do well in sun or shade, though they need supplemental watering if there is too long of a dry spell.

Nuts Karen

Sonoita, definitely put it in shade in your area. Arizona gets too dry.

Karen

Nuts Karen: Right, we do get high humidity, but very little rain in summer. Most of our rain comes in spring, a fair amount in fall. We get precipitation in winter too, rain, sleet, freezing rain, and snow. We usually don't get a whole lot of snow, nothing like what we got when I grew up in Pittsburgh.

We had an awful summer in 2007 with no real rain all summer, from May till Sept or Oct. We also had record number of days above 90 degrees and number of days above 100 degrees as well. And no rain.

My friend is a homebuilder, doing this for 30 years or more. He says he's never seen the ground this dry. He digs down 8 feet for a foundation and says it's bone dry that deep. He says it's been progressively drier (down deep) over the past 10 years. So when I say dry summers, I mean really dry. Despite this, humidity is often awful.

Why do I live in Ohio? Someone remind me?

Other Karen

Wow! That is dry! Too bad you get the humidity on top of it all.

Nuts Karen

Wow. Karen, you made me feel much better about our weather! We've been in a severe drought in N. Ga. for years and we have pretty darn hot and humid summers. Winter has been cold and dreary this year, unusually so, but it's not too bad.

I guess we all have to suffer some and be grateful for the weather crumbs we get tossed! :)

Yes, Cedar, but I don't think our drought has been anywhere near what you've had in the southern states. It seems that you've gotten a fair amount of rain this winter though, right? Don't be fooled that you've caught up too fast though, as I mentioned above. I know I thought we'd recovered from last year's drought until my friend told me his findings.

Karen

Karen, that is scary -- 8' down and dry. Fortunately we have a deep well but with the wealthy people in Atlanta drilling wells for their lawns, the water table is undoubtedly dropping.

Yes, late fall and winter have been positively soggy. So many big trees have come down-- all the soaking rain after years of drought where their roots shrink away from the surrounding soil.

Of course it's good weather for winter sowing! I've decided to add Clarkia and Larkspur after reading the article in this week's DG newsletter.

I grew up in OHIO, Columbus area, moved to AZ. Now I only go back to visit family! It's a great place to be from!
Cedar - which article are you talking about?
Tomorrow I go to town, 45 miles away, and I'm gonna pick up some foxglove seeds!

Wow, Sonoita, you have a long way to go to get to town. Walmart and Stop & Shop are right down the street from me. Don't have any fast food joints in our town other than Subway and Dunkin' Donuts. Have to go more like 10 miles for Super Walmart, Lowes, Wendy's, Michael's, etc., etc. About a 15 minute drive.

Karen

I live surrounded by national forest in rolling mountains of oaks and prairie, and you can’t beat the climate, enough winter to have 4 seasons, then it’s gone before you know it was even here. Paradise in my book. I don't mind the drive when I need to do it!

That would be paradise for me, too, Sonoita!

Karen

Hi all. I'm trying my first wintersowing and am not nearly as ambitious as most of you guys. Here's what I've sowed so far:

aconitum carmichaelii
gentiana acaulis
helenium autumnale (bi-color)
digitalis ferruginea "gigantea"
digitalis trojana
digitalis obscura
digitalis laevigata
digitalis purpurea "candy mountaim"
asclepias - gay butterflies
dwarf blue delphinium
crocosmia lucifer
blue-eyed grass

A lot of them I'll also be trying indoors under lights, because that's also new to me, and I want to increase my chances that something will grow.
I'm wondering - how damp, wet or dry do you experienced folks put out your wintersowing, and does it matter much?

Perenniallyme: Well, that's a pretty impressive list of plants you've got there, very choice! Good luck. Post pics when they bloom, please.

Thanks, Hemophobic. If they bloom, do you mean?

ahhhh.... ye have little faith. Many of us did, i'm sure, when we were new to this. I was shocked when i saw lil babies peeking out of the cold soil only after a few weeks.

and as for "wet" ... when i fill my containers... i wet the soil until it is usually dripping out the bottom. I let them sit in the sink for a while [during this time i get my seeds ready - taking appropriate notes] then i put the seeds in... i continue to let the just sit until no more water is dripping out the bottom holes.

HTH

Terese

ooooohhh. I hope they don't peek out in a few weeks or they'll surely not make it through the winter! And thanks for the info on how wet. I put mine out pretty damp, but was afraid to make them really wet, I guess because I thought that if there was a lot of water in the milk jugs when they froze, that they might crack open - and thought the seeds might not like sitting in frozen water.

Perenniallyme: In MA I think you can safely assume you won't see any sprouts for a while. I usually see my first around March here in Ohio.

It's just those southerners who get sprouts early and gloat about it to make us jealous :-)

Karen

OK I went out and bought foxglove seeds, plus more seed starter, and some bulbs for the bulb swap I am hostessing. Here is the link if anyone is intereseted; http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/944140/
I can't wait to see sprouts!!!

Thanks Karen, but I wouldn't feel safe seeing sprouts before April - and we've even had the occasional April blizzard.

Usually the first sprouts are perennial or hardy annuals which can take those cold temps. Think about a perennial in your yard or your neighbor's yard. They can live for years in your normal winter temps. Same for hardy annuals- poppies, BBs, larkspur can survive all winter and even stay green. Even some HHAs like snapdragon have sprouted for me in March and done great. It's the tender ones like zinnias that you have to watch out for.

Karen

quite right - which is why I don't sow tenders until March.