Hi Graficaamy, I've been gardening and starting plants from seed for over 20 years, but this is my 2nd year winter-sowing and now I grow 10 times more from seed than ever before. If you have limited space indoors, can't or don't want to pay for lights, electricity, etc., winter-sowing outdoors is a great and inexpensive way to start seeds! Especially for temperate perennials that require cold stratification, because Nature will provide the perfect cold wet treatment when you put the containers/pots/flats outside in the winter.

I would plant your seedlings outside as soon as possible. Seedlings grown indoors generally need to be hardened off, and you may have to wait until after frost for tender plants, but the sooner they get in the ground, the more they will grow and establish, and the greater chance that some will bloom in the first season. You must make sure they are consistently watered, and sometimes, slugs and other critters will find your small seedlings very tasty (Sluggo or Escargo are safe slug baits that work well).

Last year I ended up planting a lot of the perennials (especially the vines) in small nursery pots, as I didn't have garden beds or trellises ready for them! There are still about 25 or so small pots that overwintered in the pot ghetto. So you don't HAVE to get them in the ground the first year, but it usually results in the best headstart on growth.

You can grow almost anything using the winter-sowing technique, a hoop house or cold frame outdoors, or even flats in a sunny spot. You can also get lots of seeds for next to no $$ by browsing the Seed Exchange forum, where seed traders often offer extra seeds for the cost of postage.

Regarding the dianthus and lavender, when do you *want* to plant them out? I've grown both from seed, and I'd want them in the ground before this winter, but aside from that, there is room for a lot of flexibility.

I wintersowed several varieties of dianthus and one lavender last year, and planted them out in early spring. My dianthus all bloomed the first year and have come back strong. I have a couple that are already blooming. The lavender grew very well but didn't bloom last year. I expect big things from it this year. I have several kinds of verbena ready to plant out (wintersown). I think you could use a variation of wintersowing, known as 'spring sowing' LOL, for your verbena and violas. I heartily recommend wintersowing and seed trading, especially the round robin exchange forum, where you can get a lot of great seeds.

Becky

this is great... sounds like everyone is saying more or less timing is up to me in that now that they're seedlings I can plant out right away as soon as they're big enough and spot is ready for them. OR I can keep them over summer in pots, outside still but not in ground.

How big should they be before going outside? Only seed leaves so far, except the lavender "Elegance Blue Sky" is getting tiny real leaves (on a side note, do perennials, once germinated, actually grow much more slowly than annual flowers and veggies, cause they look healthy and all but they're taking a ton of time to get any bigger).

The dianthus were seeded pretty thick and in narrow, shallow sections of a flat, so I guess I have to separate them (into mini pots) and wait for them to be big enough.

The viola and verbena: Can someone please explain -- now that the seeds have been cold stratified in fridge, do I just wait for them to sprout in the same baggies, or do I transfer the seeds into seed starting material?

As for "spring sowing" -- some of the munstead lavender has sprouted in crummy plastic containers I put outside a month ago. Now transfer into little pots?

No way around it, my future holds a LOT of little pots.

The first time I grew lavender from seed, I waited forever for the little things to get big enough to transplant. By that time, they were the most incredibly rootbound little things I'd ever seen. The roots definitely grow much faster than the tops, so you have to watch the bottom.

Tell me, madgallica, how big do you want them before planting out? And how long DID it take? I now have two varieties of lavender sprouted, and I want to make sure I do everything right that I can.

I'll keep an eye on the roots definitely.

How big you want them depends on how you garden and where they are going. I've transplanted them into the ground when they've outgrown six-pack cells successfully, but that probably isn't the best idea in an established garden or a heavily mulched garden.

They were in a 3" pot by the middle of the summer, and that isn't a bad size for planting out.