Winter Sowing--Round One

I discovered winter sowing four years ago. Basically winter sowing is planting seeds in clear covered plastic containers, then sticking them outside to freeze and eventually germinate and grow. The clear plastic containers act as mini green houses to retain heat and moisture and speed germination and growth while protecting against severe freeze. The seeds germinate when they are ready and because they are outdoors in natural light and varied temperatures, they are stocky and healthy. You can read all about it here. It has become an important part of my winter and early spring routine and insures that I have hundreds of very cheap, and very healthy plants. I don't know how I gardened without it in the past.

I winter sow in three rounds. The first round is the hardy perennials and annuals that need cold stratification (need to be frozen) in order to germinate. These can be done anytime from December through March. I wintered sowed 24 milk jugs of seeds today. These were mostly those hardy perennial and bi-annual flowers such as poppies, shasta daisies, sweet william, verbascum, black eyed susans, etc.

Start with milk jugs...cut off the tops (set them aside--you will need them later)...poke holes in the bottoms for drainage.

Fill with moist, high quality potting soil....plant seeds...lable with a waterproof marker or pencil. 

Pop the tops back on the jugs....and put them outside in the snow....sit back and wait for your plants to grow!

The second round comes around March 15th. This will be hardy greens and hardy annuals. Winter sowing lettuce, spinach, kale, and collards gives me a big jump on on fresh green salads early in the spring. They germinate during any warm day in late March, then get transplanted into the garden as soon as the ground can be ground can be worked in April. I'm picking baby greens in the begining of May. Hardy annuals such as poppies get planted in mid-March as well. (I grow lots and lots of poppies!)

The third round comes in early April though the first week of May. This is tomatoes, vegetables such as broccoli and brussel sprouts, and herbs like basil and summer savory, and thyme. And lots and lots of zinnias and marigolds.

If you want a support group while your are taking your first baby steps in winter sowing, check out this great forum.
And if you need free seeds to get you started in your winter sowing endeavers, check out this forum...