WS#4

We came from here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/934008/

Welcome! Many of us here are wintersowing for the first time this year. We hang out on this thread to discuss any and all questions, comments and happenings along the way. Those of you who are experienced - come help us! : )



I just started drilling holes in my containers. I have a spreadsheet so I am looking through it trying to figure out who is first. I am so close...... I am getting worried that some of these things actually will be ready to plant out in Mar or so, and I don't have the beds weeded and cleared yet. I need to get working!

How did those sprouts do over the weekend? I think I would have caved if they were up out of the ground.... :).

Trying to be first!! :)

Peg -- do be patient with your columbine.

mine too a very long time to germinate. I was about ready to give up a few times, but the folks kept telling me to give them a chance ... i dont recall when they finally did germinate, as come May, i am not home a lot ... but it was months for germination.

what finally germinated, i took to Wisc in Sept and finally planted them out... we shall see what pops up this spring.
hopefully something.

Columbines always take forever to germinate. Ahh, but they are so lovely.
I just seeded Lythrum salicaria today. Flower #60, I think!

Terese, thanks for the hint. My columbine I already have established pops up in April here, so that would be when I would be expecting these. So, I'll compare them and see.

Crossposted Jim, thanks to you, too. #60? Is that the 60th type of plant for you or did you plant 60 of them? How many of each type of plant is average for wintersowing? I was really challenged to decide how many to plant per container not wanting to overplant, but not wanting to waste space. Doing this for the first time give you a lot of questions to answer. :) But it was a perfect pasttime for a January day when I usually don't garden.

Okay. I'm here now.

Hi Peg, It's the 60th flower I have WS so far. (I've also done 4 larger containers of onions). This is my first year, so I'm just playing it by ear.

For example, it has been frozen solid here for weeks, but today we got what we would have called a "Chinook" wind back in the PNW and a LOT of rain. I notice that all of my WS containers are now filled with water. I have plenty of drainage holes in each bottle, but the soil is frozen solid, so the water cannot drain off.

I wonder if anyone else has had this happen and, if so, how things worked out.

I'm using mostly 1.5 litre water bottles, so I have everything from "too many to count" [that's the stuff with tiny seeds] to only 2 or 3 [the rarer Japanese Morning Glories I was given]. Anyone who is interested can click on my name, then click on "Read Potagere's Gardener's Journal" to see what I have seeded and how many of each.

Jim: that's an impressive list of flowers. I didn't have time right now to check out the veggies, but will do so later. Hope the paint pens are coming in mighty handy for you!

Angie

They seem to be working really well. Will see how they stand up.

Jim

Peg, what did you cover the coolers with? Is that a plastic like saran wrap? I've decided to go the milk jug route and have around 15 types of flowers to start. Between this and the 3 co-ops I'm in (caladium, hosta and cannas= 108 plants!), there's a LOT of planting to be done later, so if I can get a healthy start on plants, then maybe it won't be so bad LOL.

I've decided to wait till the beginning of Feb before starting the jugs, since it's been such a mild winter for us here. Since we're so close to each other, we'll have to keep track of how each of ours does and compare. Like you, it's going to be my first time WSing also :)

take care
Chris

Chris, Hello again. The plastic on the coolers is a used Visqueen (drop cloth) that DH got off of one of his commercial jobs. It's pretty thick so it should hold up better than saran wrap, or at least that's what we're hoping for. I duct taped it on and then cut slits for vents.

I can't believe you missed the glad coop. You'd better get over there! LOL! I've already decided if I get too many WS plants, you may get a surprise package. With 14 containers at +/-50 in each, I could be growing a bunch of plants. And I have some jugs I'm going to try too, just haven't got them done yet.
Note to everybody, Chris and I met on DG and discovered that we live about 5 miles from each other. :)

The only columbines I have had germinate quickly are the ones I harvested from my plants and stored in frig until I could sew them or from trades. Bought clumbine seeds take FOREVER to germinate. I'm on my 4th. try with Roman Bronze. I dumped all the other attempts into flowerbeds but have yet to see them germinate out there either. Maybe this year.I've ordered several more varieties of vareigated and gold leaf varieties I hope I ahve better luck with.

Lately I've only sewed a few thing here in the house underlight on heat mat. I've moved all my cole crops to coolr loaction to start hardening off and to make space to sew tomatoes,peppers,eggplants and herbs.

Dianthus knappi came up quickly after WS outside so I think I'll sew some other varieties of dianthus this week. Other than that I'm on hold until seeds from U.K. arrive and until March to start warmer growing annuals in the un-heated greenhouse.

Columbine w/s very well for me. They don't germinate until spring - April to be exact.

I think I still have a pot of Roman Bronze I WS last year. I HOPE they germinate this spring. I sewed some more earlier this month. Can't say I don't give it my best shot...LOL


I had penstemon Prairie Jewel take a year to germinate.Purchased seed. Pretty mush all my traded seeds germinate for me. Makes you wonder.

P

If anyone wants to send me their info, I can load it up on my website for everyone to compare. I did that two years ago - http://lakehousecreations.com/2007.htm . We don't have to elaborate - Botanical name, common name, date sown and date germinated. Let me know.

I read somewhere that Columbine seeds take longer to germinate the older the seeds are. Fresh seed that falls to the ground germinates readily without cold stratification, but those that are harvested or remain in the pod have a chemical change that makes them require cold treatment. Guess it makes sense to have a natural defense so that seed doesn't germinate late in the season when the little plant can't get established enough to endure the winter. Some I winter sowed last year didn't germinate till midsummer.

Peggy, I have the same experience comparing purchased seed with traded seed. Traded seed always do much better for me. Guess it has to do with being fresher seed.

I agree Gemini. I sowed fresh seed and I had plants in around 30 days. The plants did not come back the following spring, so that was a disappointment.

Anita, what time of year did you sow your fresh seed? Some of my winter sown plants from last year were still really small when I set them out, but so far they still have little green crowns. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I use columbines as short-lived perennials. Most of mine never last more than 3 yrs but self sew and/or I collect them for WS. Woodside Variegata foliage will come true from seed but I get mostly med and dark blue flowers from collected seeds.

Anita: I followed your link above and was surprised to see my name and my spreadsheet. I'd forgotten that I sent it to you.

Columbine seed, when fresh, grow like weeds for me. They fall from the plant and self sow everywhere. I'm busy with my circle hoe all summer trying to cull them. And even teeny, tiny volunteers have survived winters with no problem. They're slow to sprout for me in jugs, though.

We had a couple of days of sub zero temps last week, the coldest weather we've seen in several years, and no snow cover at the time. I hope I didn't lose too many plants. In fall I yanked so many plants, just because my beds are so overplanted and too crowded. I knew I'd want to add a few new things so was wildly pulling things. I might regret that if other stuff out there doesn't survive this winter. I haven't been out there to check things out because temps are still in the teens, too cold for me. I haven't even been collecting grounds from the coffee shop this week because it's just too cold to get out and dump them.

Karen

So should I stratify my purchased columbine seeds in the fridge before WSing, or will the cold of the outdoors when I WS be enough stratification for them?

I have found that columbines resent being transplanted when the weather is warm. I always do it in early spring, when it's still cool out, and try to do it when the weather is overcast, otherwise they wilt back really bad. They don't die, but it takes them a long time to recover from the shock when they wilt back like that.

Karen

Karen, outside temps should be colder than your fridge. So outside should be enough. That is the beauty of WS.....put them out and forget them till Spring. [well try and forget them] :)

So I've WS'd the following today:

Meconopsis
Nigella
Myosotis

Started to rain (or sleet, couldn't tell) and had to stop.

Digitalis wintersows well. Very well!

Karen

LOL! Karen, you are an inspiration, always. Thank you!!!!!

Kyla

Crap, I posted that on the wrong thread. Meant to post it to the one about digitalis.

Karen

LOL!

Oh well, it helps us here, too!!!

Nuts Karen

Indeed!

Gemini - I sowed the fresh seed when the seed pods opened. I figured that mother nature would do it at that time, so I did too, but put them where I wanted them.

My ws seeds are getting their first snow cover!! 3 inches so far and still coming down, YAY!

Ahhh -- i did see a news snippet on how snow was coming to the Carolinas.

We are finally getting a break from snow fall.... though i did shovel yesterday, it was what came down on Sunday, or even Late Saturday.... but we are sooooooo tired of shoveling snow.

Though it is good insulation for the frozen seeds out there.

I think i need to get sowing some more seeds... i did my first batch on the 4th of Jan, and nothing since.
I have to look, but i may need more containers.

after i sorted all my new seeds from the last swap... i was making this mental note of all i wanted to sow this year ... also, i never knew how many 'red' salvias there are.

I am going to sow a lot of stuff for my brother ... i think he'd like the wildflower look... but i'm also gonna give him some MG's to cover his back chain link fence.... Should be fun.

Karen - thanks for the mistaken post - I am WSing three kinds of digitalis this winter -
digitalis grandiflora (yellow)
digitalis purpurea
digitalis purpurea f. albiflora (white)

It's great to know they have a shot! I was also worried about how they would do in my climate, but posters on the other thread have given me hope that foxglove can work out in hot and dry weather. Sometimes. Hopefully.

-GB

Got several tags ready and jugs are cut and ready to go! Today I start!

Woo-Hoo! Checked my pots the other day....along with the dianthus knappii...digitalis Candy Mountain and lychnis Vesuvius have sprouted.I also sewed foxgloves: Flashing Spires,Cafe Cream,d.virdiflora(?),Milk Chocolate and Grecian but they haven't sprouted. I just now got back out there...didn't stay long ...it's coooollllddd. Went to water but pipes are frozen so I just got some pots of soil to finish dibbling out the rest of the aristolochia galeatas that I had on the heat mat here inside and a big pot of mix to sew a.fimbrita seeds I had soaking for 24 hrs.

Had my wretched germy DGD over the week end and she gave me her germs so I haven't felt like doing much...slept on the couch most of yesterday but I feel better today so I'm going to go digging thur the seeds to see what others I can get sewn.


Hope my seeds from the U.K arrive some time soon...I'm needing seed fix. I've got columbines: Alchemist's gold,Alchemist Mix,Burnished Rose and Sunburst Ruby coming in that lot.

I've been over on Annie's Annuals webpage all morning. Heaven help me!

"Heaven help me!" LOL! I second that, it seems my pattern is, as soon as I decide to sow something, and get it done, I then find out about a "better" variety I wished I had waited for, and I keep adding projects and thinking up where to put different plants ... where are the durn brakes on this thing!?!?!

Ah, it's a fun runaway train though, you gotta admit. ;-)

Kyla

Well,if you take seeds outta your stash to sew you then have to buy more to fill up the empty spaces in the seed box....and so the vicious cycle begins and continues into infinity...LOL

Stupid question: for some reason I can't wrap my mind around biennials. If I winter sow digitalis purpurea this winter (winter, 2009), will they bloom this spring (spring 2009) or next spring (2010)?

I'm thinking they would still only produce leaves and roots this spring, then bloom next spring....... We need to get Other Karen to answer this as she clearly has successfully WS-ed foxgloves and must have noticed whether they bloomed the first year..... but I also know from experience that the distinctions among annuals, biennials, and perennials are to a significant extent human conventions and plants love to break rules! ;-)