Winter Sowing

This year, I tried an horticulture experiment called Winter Sowing, devised by Trudy Davidoff, who started a forum on Gardenweb devoted to this idea.  What one does is utilize recyclable items like gallon jugs, clamshell containers, cottage cheese and yogurt cartons and turn them into mini greenhouse planters. Take your hardy perennials and reseeding hardy annual seeds and plant them in seed starting mix at least 3 inches deep in these containers. Jugs are the easiest and probably the most successful thing to use for beginners. Poke holes in the base and a few low on the sides for drainage. Cut the jug almost in half leaving a hinge. Put in the 3 inches of soil mix, moistened without being soggy, rub your seeds onto the soil surface (unless they are large seeds that do better with darkness to germinate). Close the jug, tape with wide packing or duct tape, and use permanent marker on a piece of tape to write what you have sown and the date. Leave the caps off for rain and snow to enter! You can start this around the time of the winter solstice  with hardy seeds and carry on through spring sowing the more tender varieties that don’t need winter vernalization.  I began to sow jugs in February and was still doing so in April.

Set the jugs out in the open weather or in a part sun area under a tree and let the cold and rain do its work. If there is condensation inside the jug/container, it is moist enough. You can heft to make certain it isn’t too light and in need of a water trickle later.  The seeds will sprout on their own time table and can stay in the jug until weather becomes too warm for the greenhouse effect. If a frost or freeze is expected after your seedlings are up and growing– cover those jugs with a blanket. When weather is stable, you can start to open the jugs and eventually plant out your well grown seedlings.

I have also jury-rigged nursery pots with coat hangers holding up dry cleaner bags, but the jugs are more substantial in really cold weather once things sprout as those bags are quite flimsy in comparison to the heavier plastic. I have to move those pot flats indoors. BUT, this is the earliest I have ever had seeds sprout and I didn’t have to worry about juggling for space under lights with my tomatoes indoors. (BTW, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants can be WS too! But I have to time mine to coincide with a yearly swap so I grow indoors.)

I was out with my camera and saw a possible fellow WSer in my neighborhood!

I will update with the results later!

How it started in February: