check out the faqs at the top of the page,most of your ?'s will be answered there,if not ask away,very informitive and friendly bunch here.

Hi and welcome oilpainter! A good place to start is by checking out the FAQ. There is a wealth of information on there. Also you can check out Trudi's site wintersown.org. Many people start on the winter solstice (Dec 21st). Most people will start out by sowing their perennials, and then graduate to hardy annuals that self sow in their area. When it gets a little closer to spring we usually move on to annuals.

Here in my zone 5, I don't usually have to worry about things getting too hot until April. When we have a week straight where temps at night are above 36ish, I will take the tops of my containers that have already sprouted.

As far as leaving the plants together, I tend to group the containers that have sprouted together, and that way I can check on the others to see if I have new babies to dance about.

As for your zone 3....my first year there was someone here from zone 1 (somewhere in Alaska) who wintersowed and it worked great for her so yup...it will work for you too!

Welcome to the addiction and get sowing!

Do you leave the plants together in your containers until setting out?

Yes, I sow seeds in vented containers and leave them there untill they have set of true leaves and then I plant out hunks of seedlings.

What about heat build up and air circulation?

You need vent holes. for milk jugs just take off the cap and that should be enough. (add drainage holes to the bottom too)

When do you start seeds?

I started Dec 21st

Which seeds do you plant--Just hardy ones that have frost tolerance or do you do tender ones too?

I do all of the above. the frost tender ones I waited till it was march or april. (some even may)

what about freezing night temperatures. Do you cover the containers? If you cover--at what temperature?

I never cover them. I let the containers act like a mini greenhouse. Some of the frost tender ones you may cover if they have sprouted early.

be sure to read the F&Q and you will understand more. this WS is simple and so much fun!!!

Karen

Trust me you will be hooked on the WS method. It's fun and easy and plants love this too! Good luck! Ann

Oh!! I see.

It's much like my old home made cold frames where I planted in the ground or my bottle planting, except you plant in late fall instead of the spring.

It's an ideal way to do Allyssum,Snaps,Nicotiana, Calendula and Nastys to name a few but these are ones I grow every year. They come up in my beds but usually too late to amount to anything. I just may give this a try.

Karen, I think I planted my annuals or iffy ones for my zone too early.

Mostly it's perennials I've sowed, but I also sowed tithonia, violas, poppies and one kind of pansies.

What do you think? I've held back seeds from the above. I'm just eager to get it all done until I spring sow just a couple.

Never sowed so many varieties before no matter how I've done it in the past. It won't be the end of the world if I lose some, but if I lose them all it will be a disaster.

If you noticed this, I noticed I set lots of milk jugs out on the sidewalk where they get quite a bit of morning sun, like until almost noon this time of year. Since it's so cold I think it's ok, but when it warms up, should I move them back where it's shadier?

I'm not equipped to elevate them this year but will work on it.

Allyssum, absolutely love winter sowing and sprout really early for me in z5. They are one of the earliest sprouters.
Snaps,come up later when it warms up but my Mom just covered the container she had them in and got billions of sprouts.
Nicotiana I think these are frost tender.
Calendulas so great with winter sowing and can be sown anytime.
Nastys are frost tender too and I sow them later.
I love your favorites too and winter sowed many of them last year.

We don't sow in late fall, we sow in Winter--that's why it's called Winter Sowing.

You REALLY do need to read the FAQs. It's simple but there are a lot of steps. Like vented containers--no caps on the bottles or slits in the clear lids.

We leave the seedlings in the containers and plant out via hunk-o-seedlings as soon as possible.

We do not cover on freezing nights and we don't take flats inside. Coddling produces weak seedlings. The purpose of WS is to create hardy stock. Some seedlings will die, most won't. Hooray for those that croak because you don't want weak seedlings which grow into weak plants which invite disease or pests into your garden.

Sow all hardy annuals, biennials, perennials and cold season veggies anytime during winter, leave the tender annuals until the very end of winter or very beginning of spring. If you're WSing tomatoes choose the shortest DTMs for zone 3.

WS is very flexible, you fit it to your needs and what you have on hand.

Good luck!

T

Aliska - poppies will be fine. I always do mine in January and never had any problem.