Check out the winter sowing forum. Once you've tried winter sowing you'll never go back, lol.

Seriously, though, I never started things from seed because I didn't have the room inside nor the patience to deal with it, and I would always bring stuff out to harden off and forget about it, lol. So I gave up. Now I winter sow hundreds of annuals and perennials and have successful germination.

You can also check out the seed exchange there. Many will give seeds for a SASBE, so you don't need to have seed to trade in return.

I can't recommend it enough! Good luck!
:)
Dee

I'll recommend very strongly that you never use the jiffy pots again....soooooo many people who have used them post here with the same kinds of experiences.

I've never tried winter sowing, and I'm going to look into it this year. However, I've found growing my own perennials from seed the more traditional method a highly rewarding experience. It just takes a bit of homework so that you know some of the pitfalls.

I'll second Dee's recommendation to check out the wintersowing forum. It's cheap, using plastic recyclables that you have on hand as mini-greenhouses, and since the containers are placed outside to germinate, the plants are already hardened off, so they will transplant more successfully than things sown indoors.

I've successfully wintersown the Rudbeckia and the Lavender, and even though I haven't ever grown the Iceplant from seed, I know that others have wintersown that one as well.

To protect the seedlings once they are planted out, take a plastic bottle, cut the top and bottom off, to make a collar, then press it into the soil around your seedlings.

I've linked the Wintersowing Forum's FAQ's below. Hope it helps.

Bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersowing FAQ's

torjima,

I'll third diggerdee's and second Bonnie's comments. Winter sowing does work! I see that you are in NC and it is probably warmer there than where I am, but I am still winter sowing and you might be able to squeeze a few things out yet.

Do check out the winter sowing forum and the FAQ's for it. Also, there is a great site out there, www.wintersown.org. I would recommend you check that out.

Also, if you have Dollar Trees near you, get on over there as they have a decent selection of seeds for just ten cents a pack for annuals and $1 a pack for perrenials. Use some empty milk jugs or 2 liter soda bottles, pick up some seeds and soil and plant away!

Read the winter sowing FAQ's though for some more detailed advice.

Good luck!

I use Jiffy pellets every year to germinate my annual and vegetable seeds and never have had a problem. I sow 4-5 to a pot and after germination when they grow the first or second set of true leaves I transplant to potting mix/individual containers. Works great for me.

I never had much luck with perennial seeds, either, except balloon flower. I think maybe I just don't have a lot of patience, perennial seedlings just seem to putz along and require a lot more after care through the season, they mature so slowly, in contrast to the annuals and vegetables which grow and mature in one season.

I also love wintersowing. It's great for someone lazy about seed sowing like me. You put them out and forget them til spring. Then the seedlings are tough as nails and don't succumb to damping off. I've grown tons of perennials the last 3 years where as before it was hit or miss - mostly miss.

The last two years I have tried a ridiculously easy way of sowing perennials (NOT annuals) and have had remarkably good success. I fill GALLON containers with potting mix (no cover), sow the seeds on top and set them outside on my deck in the sun (unless it's a shade lover, in which case it goes on my porch). There they sit all winter. Some of the seeds come up in late fall or early winter. Some of them come up in springtime. But the amazing thing is I don't do anything to them at all! They get rain when it rains, and they are dry when it doesn't rain.
Yesterday, I set out some rudbeckias that had come up in December. Now, the entire plant above ground wasn't more than two or three inches across, but the ENTIRE gallon pot was full of roots. I was truly amazed! I am sure this method won't work with everything, but it surely has worked with alot of things for me: Rudbeckias, balloon flowers, Iberis, Lupines, Baptisia.....Maybe It's because I live in the south.

I 4th that vote for wintersowing! Lavender is just one of a gazillion perfect for that....been there done that and still doing it. 90% of my yard/beds are wintersown plants :D

Vera