Show Us Your Jugs...

More volunteers

Thanks, I'm going to WS them from now on. This year I did see blooms on the Snaps in mid June, so I guess I did get a little bit of a head start indoors, but last year it was mid July when they started blooming (also started in February indoors). So I'll bypass transplanting and keeping a watchful eye on babies under lights!

Karen, I had some survive last winter too. I love that 'Black Prince'!

I love Black Prince, too. It looks like burgundy velvet. Some, from saved seed over the last few years, have mutated to lighter burgundy, some to burgundy and white like "night and day" snapdragon. All pretty though, and if I leave the seeds to drop naturally, volunteer well, obviously.

Karen

snapdragons are definetly on my list for next years WS.

here's something that was a treat for me. Monarda Punctata. Spotted bee balm.

these poppies are in bloom at my dad's house, but mine haven't bloomed. yet.

heres some of my 'chunks' that I gave my dad: columbine and rose campion (the furry looking stuf. we call it mullein) and i think there's also a bit of lupine.

i'm done =)

nannie, I had that spotted bee balm on an order I just placed and at the last minute took it off.... man I wish I had been on this thread before I placed that order I would have for sure gotten it. Love it. You wouldn't by any chance have any seeds from it you would like to share.....? I've got almost 200 different seeds ???

Janet

Janet, i sent a dmail and i'll see what i can do.

with all the rain we had, i didnt get alot of my seeds gathered in time, but i might have saved some earlier too. my dining room is off limits right now....theres seeds everywhere!!!! and a method to my madness!

those seeds came from an herb seed swap. yay for DG

Stupid question but I still need to ask this. Okay, I'm fast forwarding to Feb. when I start my seeds in milk jugs or wintersowing containers outdoors. When the seedlings start shooting up leaves, and are crowding each other for light, do I take and transfer to a single pot under grow or shop lights until the weather allows them to be planted outdoors in the flower beds? What is the best method of separating the crowded seedlings without damaging them? If I can't scatter up 1 gal. milk or beverage jugs, can I use the 1/2 ga. size instead?

Pippi: Never bring wintersown plants into a heated house. I mean NEVER.

Sow hardy annuals and perennials in winter, don't sow tender annuals until close to spring.

So that means your first sprouts should be perennials and HAs. In my zone that's around March. I just let 'em stay in their jugs until I plant out in the garden. These HAs and perennials can be planted into the garden as soon as they're big enough to handle and the soil is thawed. Subsequent frosts and freezes won't hurt them- that's why their called hardy.

Here's a jug of marigolds way past due to be planted out. Their bad Mom neglected them for a long time, but they obviously didn't notice.

Karen

>>If I can't scatter up 1 gal. milk or beverage jugs, can I use the 1/2 ga. size instead?

I use containers of all sizes. As long as you have the 'depth' you are fine [you want about 4" of potting mix in there for the root growth] ... i'll use 1 gal, 1/2 gal, qt sized [like for half and half] . I'll use the large yogurt and sour cream container... even though they are white, the sunlight does get thru.

the nice things about milk jugs though, gal or half gal.. you have that nice built in handle. Most others i will have in a card board box - so they are corralled and to make moving them more easier.

Another nice thing about jugs is all that headroom. In case of frost I can still flip the top back onto the jug as a frost cover. If you use shallow containers there isn't enough headroom to do that.

That blob of marigolds above was pretty tall, the plants already in bud when I planted them out. Here's a picture of the blob right-side-up. I just dump it into a flat and cut into chunks with a knife and plant the hunks. A gallon can be cut into a lot of little chunks, as small as about an inch square.

Normally I'd water a jug before doing that. I must have been in a real hurry because it look dry!

Karen

Those are some awesome photos!

I just wanted to come here and rave over Rudbeckia "Goldilocks." The ones I posted at the top of this thread were beautiful this year! They bloomed nonstop all summer. People stopped wanting to know what they were. Here's one of my pics of them...

Those are gorgeous!! I guess I'm gonna have to actually give WS a try instead of "contemplating" it:lol: I work at a walmart and we're always dumping outdated gallons of milk so I'll just ask if I can snatch some of the empties. I don't do much dairy drinking so even in a year I'd never accumulate even 6 containers:lol:

I've got Rudbeckia Tiger Eye and Cherry Brandy, Penstemon Violet Dusk and Electric Blue I want to try. Oh, and Lupine Morello Cherry.

I'll have to research how big to make the drain holes and all that--don't want to have swampland in my containers:lol:

dmac... do report back if you get germination on your Electric Blue. I did 21 seeds last year, got one seedling i am babying in the house over the winter. They are not hardy here and i was hoping to at least see it BLOOM.

>>I'll have to research

do check out the sticky at the top of the forum. We worked on it hard one year to get all the "good stuff" in there from older threads.

I'll definitely report back--I'm a sucker for blue flowers so I had to give them a try.

I will definitely be reading the sticky--got a notebook ready:) I remember all the various continuation threads for yearly reports of different good and bad stuff.

Thanks!!

Nannie_56..where are your plant markers in your jugs or have you written the names on the side of the jugs with a paint pen or permanent marker? I think I saw duct tape that had been ripped off to the side, like you use duct tape to hold the jugs together? Do you write on the duct tape the name of the plant perhaps? Everything sure looks nice and healthy. Keep up the good work! Now somebody WS some larkspur..I want to hear about that because I want to plant some if I can find the seed online.

Pippi21

Silver Spring, I know the area well, I bet after today you are under a lot of white stuff???

How many inches or should I say feet do you have of the snow.

There are a ton of places with Larkspur seeds, I'll go check my bookmarks and come back and post.

Janet

Bump

I use venetian blinds written on with pencil for plant markers cuz everything else fades in the Texas sun

Good to know, gypsi. I've been wondering about the best way to mark the plants. Do you put markers inside the jugs as they are germinating?

I just stick them in the dirt on plants I start in dirt. If I were starting in water I would probably tape them to the outside

Pippi21
I'm so sorry I didn't returned, computer problems and I've finally decided to take both the desk top and lap top into the shop...

When I did my jugs I created a spread sheet with the # of the jug 1-152 and on the spread sheet had the name and information about the seeds on it. Didn't have to keep up with anything other than the # on the jug..

Jan

This message was edited Oct 31, 2015 12:24 PM

Oh Mercy, that means I have to get my computer working because there's no way that I would try doing that on a tablet. Did you do Excell or document?

Excel

I do most everything I can in Excel. I love the sort capability it offers for what I'm looking for.

Jan

Woohoo, I got a tablet that came with Excel for free, I can do this. But the only jugs I have are juice and vinegar I think.

Not sure if I posted above or not... But I do like Jan does.... Spreadsheet with numbers - then all info I need, but on the container all I put is the number. I use a Paint Pen to write on the jugs.

I do the same spreadsheet too, I find it easier and I also put numbers on the tops and bottoms of the jugs, because I cleaned them up after I transplant and match them up for the next winter sowing .

Can't find my picture of when they were under snow, but this was the beginning of my experiment. I had great success, but now that I live in FL there isn't a need for these....

Jan

Here are a few from the start to collecting the jugs, washed and now cutting each jug, then punching the drain holes, that was work my husband had to help me as my wrist gave out after cutting the jug, then I placed wet coconut coil fiber in the bottom, then seeds. The sprouted seeds are from in the spring.

Jan

Wow - so I don't need bags of potting soil? And wow that is a LOT of jugs.

Jan - do you still sow?

I started some Zinns, 3 types - all have germinated

I have old seeds of a salvia i wanted to see if they'd still pop
Argeratum and something else.

cat grass of course.

Last year i attempted it, and it was hit or miss... most germinated and many died/fried as i did it in Feb.... but trying again this season.

Terese

hmm what time is best to start Terese? I am somewhere around 9a to 8b. really hot in summer, really cold in winter.

Gypsi.... Have to admit... I don't know.

I'm originally from IL, where it's zone5 and cold in winters, and this is my second winter down in FL where I'm zone9.

If you will frost or freeze, I'd probably wait until until that is over, or close to being over.

The other "catch" with me is... I am not here in the summers... I head to cooler temps up in Wisc so anything I grow/sow, I want to enjoy before i head north in May.

Many peeps who winter sow generally start around Winter Solstice, but then most of us are busy mid-Dec to end of Dec... so when I was up north, I'd start early January for my perennials. I'd do my annuals in March. But then again... that was for zone5.

OH... forgot to add... if you are doing Perennials, most need a "cold period", so those you can do when it's cold/winter. So if you did those now, or Dec, that would not be a problem at all.

Gypsi you are in zone 8a or lower. The zones have to do with how cold it gets not how hot. That is why many of the coastal areas are zone 10. They don't get too cold. They usually don't get too hot either but that doesn't matter regarding the USDA zones.

ok. well I have read up thru the 2009 wintersowing thread and it looks like I should order some coir, and wait until winter solstice. But a lot of things people are planting are things I have not had success with via conventional means

Gypsi.... one thing... keep it simple. Don't make it complicated.

I'd use various containers... mostly milk jugs, jugs from gallons of vinegar - soemtimes i'd use quart sized, like H&H or Kefir
slice them on 3 sides... i leave 1 side for a hinge

first, puncture drain holes in the bottoms, then cut the sides. Fill with about 4" of a potting soil. I'd had good luck with Miracle Grow, others use other varieties.

I know I read a long time ago about coir, but i can't recall "what for"
were you using that as your potting medium?

no but I ran across it on one of the winter sowing threads, it is coconut hair? sold in bricks on amazon for about $15

So far I only have 4 or 5 jugs, but I do have some tricky seeds I want to start, esp my carolina jessamine, maybe lavender, and borage - stuff I have attempted to seed and failed at. Worst I can do is fail again

This message was edited Nov 25, 2015 8:55 PM

I've done Borage, it was the White bloomed one. [personally i hated it. the plant was full of "prickers"] I have seen the blue ones and they are pretty. I've had good success with English Lavender, do not know if other varieties are trickier.

What sort of containers to you recycle?

I've used water bottles, Qt yogurt containers, sames for cottage cheese or sour cream, 2 Ltr bottles.... if it will hold 4" of soil plus a few inches for teh seedlings, has some sort of cover and you can poke holes in the bottom... you can us them for WS'ing.

I've see set ups with 16oz solo cups put in clear totes with lids... sometimes one needs to get creative.

Have you ventured into the Seed Trading forum? There are usually many folks who are willing to send seeds for postage, or Trade, and some will do the "pay it forward' and if it is 1 or 2 packets of seeds... they just send for free. ~~ I've done it and have been a recipient many times. ~~ Gardeners for the most part are very generous people.

>>one of the winter sowing threads, it is coconut hair?
Yes, I do believe it is.
What did you use as a sowing medium last season?