Ellen: You just have to find what works best for you in your available space. I have an ugly old unfinished basement with a concrete floor. ("my dugeeon") I just let mine drain there for as long as it takes, usually a couple of hours. Mostly this serves to keep them from dripping on the carpet as they get carted upstairs and outside. Just make sure they have plenty of big drainage holes in the bottom, and remember, they're going to continue to drain after you put them outside. At least in normal weather, at our current temps here they probably flash freeze the instant they get out the door.

Karen

Ellen,

I winter sow in my kitchen too. I'll fill a few containers with my soppy potting soil which I keep in a small bucket, and while it's draining, I'll sow the seeds on top, make and place the label, put the top back on, and then out they go. Works fine.

Sometimes when it's really cold outside as it has been in the last few days, I'll place my containers in the basement on a boot tray (those plastic/rubber mats you place wet boots on to dry) where it's 5C. I don't do this so much for draining as for another reason but you could place your containers on something like that if you are really worried about draining.

Here's what i do---(I use 2 ltr. bottles)
1.cover sink drain so that the soil don't go down the drain.
2. fill bottle with water slowly until water comes out the bottom, then a little more water just to make sure.
3.plant seeds (still in the sink)
4.put bottle in a plastic tub that holds about 5 or 6 bottles
5. when I get 5 or 6 done, I take the plastic tub outside, take out the bottles , pour excess water out, return to
sink to do more or clean up.
Duane

I do all mine in the basement too. I keep a watering can filled since I have a spigot down there. I fill up to 21 containers because that's what fits in the storage tote I use to carry them outside. When I did my largest batch, I could fit 21 two liters in the container at a time. 3 x 7. It's heavy, but faster than carrying them out two at a time.

Once they're filled with dirt, I water. Since it drains so fast, I throw the seeds in, smush them down, then pop the tops on. Out the door they go. The rain will take care of the rest.

I mix the water and soil in a bowl sitting in one side of the kitchen sink. Containers to fill sit in the other side of the sink. I scoop sloppy wet soil with a slotted spoon and that works really well for filling the container with wet soil but not with tons of excess water to run everywhere.

Then sow, toss them on a carrying tray and out the door. No extra draining time needed. The carry tray doesn't need to be very deep at all because while the pot soil was very wet, the excess water slop never left the mixing bowl.

It's very neat and clean - just sort of feels like I'm one of those cafeteria ladies dishing up cafeteria slop when i scoop. :)

Lynda

I do not worry about letting all the water drip out before taking outside as they will continue to drain there. After all when it rains they don't get only a certain amount of water and will drain as needed. If the soil freezes before the water all drains it will drain after it thaws. Have never had a problem with seeds rotting or not germinating because of early drainage.

I also sow in my basement, in assembly line fashion.
1. Moisten mix in large container & stir with garden fork
2. Prop lids up on 12 jugs/remove lids from 2L. Line them up on floor by the mix.
3. Add mix. Place on clothes drier (covered with old towel) in rows. The mix is just moist so there is very little dripping on the drier.
4. Move one jug to wire shelf laying across double sink.
5. Sow, add label, mist with water bottle, close container
6. Place container in plastic dishwashing pan with water to soak up water from the bottom. Pan can hold 4 jugs. I have two pans and let the first four jugs soak while I sow the next four. After that time remove jugs from pan 1 and place on wire shelf over laundry tub to drain. Shelf can hold twelve jugs.
7. When I have sown enough jugs to refill the pans I move the jugs from the wire shelf to a laundry basket and take them outside. There is still some water dripping into the laundry basket but not enough to drip on the floor.
8. Repeat

I sow in my kitchen sink, and I only let my containers drain for 15 minutes or so. I don't even time it. I fill the containers, wet them, and then go to my computer to open my seed database and decide what to sow. By the time I make the decision, get the seeds, get my tape, marker, tweezers, the dish I put the containers on while I sow, etc., I figure the containers have drained enough.

I also figure each container gets a bit more draining time while I am sowing the other containers.

Like mnwsgal says, when it rains, the containers deal with it, lol. I think your process is fine.

:)
Dee

Here is what i do:
I also sow in my kitchen,i have every thing i need all ready to go,containers all cut,holes all drilled,every thing-
I have mulitude news papers layed out on the counter top,right next to the sink.
I place my jugs in the sink,water them really well,let drain for a few min.
Place in my seed,my lable,and place sowed container on the newspaper.Drain.
Transfer to kitchen table,also with lots of newspaper,where i tape them.
Open back door,and place them on my patio.DONE!
Very easy,tidy,and clean up is a breeze.
Carol

ellen if you were referring to my post on the preferred containers I didn't mean to imply that you must or even should drain for hours. This just happens to work for me because I get both sinks draining before I go to work, come home at noon, put them on the counter, and get another batch draining, then come home in the evening and get another batch draining and start sowing the other two. This has cut down on a lot of the dripping mess for me. Of course,unfortunately, sometimes in there somewhere I have to do dishes!!!

Doesn't matter. I let mine sit in the sink for a while b/c I only do one or two at a time and I don't want to drip across my oriental rugs. So, they sit in the sink for a while - that's the only reason.

I usually do my containers in the laundry room, it has a sink there.
Use the big bread making bowl to mix potting soil in the sink fill the jugs and let them drain in a tote so I can carry outisde.

Yall' are such neat and tidy people. My gardening is messy so I filled and watered all my containers on the patio table. And gave it a few minutes for the draining water to stop running like a river and then planted my seeds. We get a lot of rain in LA so I didn't worry about my soil being soggy while sowing, granted I will probably want to keep them a little drier come spring when they sprout. Based on the advice of a southern AR GW gardener, i think his name was davidlee??, I placed all my WS containers in the shade in hopes of not having germination too early. Our winter temps fluctuate a lot here flipflops and shorts 70 degree weather one day and layered shirts and heavy coat 30 degree weather the very next day. WS containers with a clear lid I left on the patio table as I don't think my seeds will get washed out of them if it rains. And I left my daylilies seed containers on top of the patio in hopes it chills faster and better as we have very little cold weather here. And I put all my containers that don't have a lid (deep butter tubs, deep coolwhip tubs, and plastic icecream buckets) under the clear glass patio table so the rain won't wash out the seeds. I am having to keep a closer eye on the ones without lids as I don't want them to dry out. Have enjoyed reading all the posts on this thread.

Best to you and many blooms,
quiltingfox

quiltingfox; Some of us can't exactly water on our patio tables now, in sub zero weather. I'm sure a lot can't find their patios, now buried under feet of snow.

Karen

LOL, Karen, I was thinking the same thing.

I carry out my milk jugs on a big cookie sheet - I can fit 6 on the sheet at a time. Yesterday I carried them out, and at the end of the sidewalk put down the cookiet sheet on the ground, to carry the jugs over to the side of my house. That area is not shoveled and I felt more sure-footed carrying the jugs two by two instead of the whole sheet - I was able to balance myself on the ice and snow more easily.

By the time I had put out the six jugs, only about 10 feet away, and came back to pick up the cookie sheet off the ground, the water on the sheet had frozen solid! Now that's cold!

:)
Dee

It sure is interesting reading the various ways people have devised their system.
Lynda, I like your idea - I'm off to the $store to get a slotted spoon.

ellen

btw,
if you want more about mixing and draining (!), this thread is also informative:

Here is a link that might be useful: mixing and draining

I also do my WSing in the kitchen, and I do it between doing other things. After I fill my jugs with potting soil, I soak them all with water, then go do something else. Then I come back and put the seeds in the containers, label them, and sometimes wet them down again. Then I go do something else. When I come back, I put them all in a plastic bag and toss them outside.
The time frame between draining differs because it depends on what else I'm doing. I don't really pay attention. (I'm one of those people who is constantly multi-tasking).

Linda

Reading this thread made me think about how I clean my apt: I start in one place, and if moved to, I stop and start somewhere else. It's a good thing I live alone, it would probably drive someone else crazy. But it all gets done in the end. I don't care about doing it in order.

Same in my garden, I'm constantly leaving one task in the middle to do another, and then leave that and go back and finish the first. Or have 3 tasks started at the same time.

It's funny how I like to work this way in spite of the fact that I was always taught, "Finish one thing before you begin another."

works for me. :)

I do mine in the garage, Im using nursery pots, so i dont need to worry about testing the drainage. I just let them drip into the soil tub until I can put it on the table without leaving a huge puddle.

last year I did it in the house and it was just tooo dirty. I dont like to clean and prefer not to give myself any extra cleaning to do.

:)
D

Clean!?! Who has time to clean when you're winter sowing!

I wish I had some of ya'll's snow (but I really don't want ice). I WS in 5 days. One day I sorted seeds, one day I made plant name markers, one day I cut up the milkjugs, and 2 days I spent sowing seeds. Will have to buy more dirt this week so I can do some more WS. How long has it taken folks to do their WS?

Best to you and many blooms,
quiltingfox

I dunno how much time it took. For a while I was doing a pot a day (Just minutes), then I got excited and did a whole tray in a day and now Ive got over 100 perrennials out back. Try everything and see what sticks!

:)
No time really! Its no rush, winter lasts aloooooooooooong time. Id still be OK if I hadnt even started yet.

I don't really worry so much about how long my containers drain. Really the only thing I am checking for is that they DO drain. As long as the soil mix is damp, they're good to go.

I just can't imagine filling containers with wet soil mix... I take it right out of the bag and stuff it in my container. Watering it after is just a lot easier for me.