Welcome far away,

I really can't say for sure as i am new here also.I try to sow in at least 3 inches of soil,with about the same head room,i hope some with more knowledge than me can answer you.

You sound like you have a great start,you are now "hooked"
you know.See you around, there are a lot of great people on this sit,and very,Very,helpful.Carol

If you run out of containers, you can always use zip lock bags. Some people keep them open by using a clothespin so that they can breath. We drink milk, but I still keep running out of containers. We only drink soda from 2 liter bottles, so that helps. I really love the soda bottles.
Donna

Our recycle night is Tuesday night......have at it. Take a kid along and yell "school project" if you are caught.

Hi ALL,

So how much head room and soil does faraway really need?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Yes, how much soil and head room is necessary?? I'd love to know! I think I only planted in about 1.5-2" of soil, so maybe that's not really enough for my seedlings? I wish I had deeper containers. I have some plastic drinking cups left over from summer picnics that are a good size, so I might use those...

Plastic bags are a great idea, too! Good thinking, caavonlady...

Most of us use at least 3 inches of soil as a guidline for our containers. I've used many different kinds of containers through the years and they have worked well, cool whip containers, salad containers, margarine containers, water jugs, cookie containers etc. Many have used styrofoam cups within another container and they have worked well also. Again try to use the guideline of at least 3 inches of soil. Hope that helps, :)
Alberta

I also use 3 inches of soil. As far as head room goes it depends on the seedling. Something big like a sunflower or a morning glory will need much more headroom than a perennial that stays small. Also if it is time to plant out and you can transplant them right away it isn't much of an issue either.
Joann

The head room issue is exactly why I favor gallon jugs and deep lasanga pans with tall clear covers - lots of headroom gives you the gift of time in providing flexibility in the "planting in the garden" schedule. You will see (soon!)that when it warms up, sprouts start popping up like crazy and I found last year that shallow containers demanded planting sooner (they dry out faster, the roots touch bottom quicker), while deep ones could be fine hanging on longer.I work full time and can mostly only plant on weekends. If you can plant anytime you'll have more flexibility and can probably get away with less headroom (but not less soil - try for the 3 inches!)

Nancy

Uh oh...I might be in trouble then. Not enough soil and not enough headroom, since it doesn't seem my containers are deep enough or high enough. What should I do? Should I try transferring them? Or changing the lids somehow so that I can give them more headroom? (maybe taking off the lids and putting the container inside a large Ziploc?) I don't think at this point that there's much I can do about the soil...darn it...

If you don't have sprouts yet, don't fret it. When you do get sprouts and you need to provide more headroom (and the weather is still not right for taking the tops off completely), try putting (vented) plastic bags over your containers - use straws or something to hold the plastic off the seedlings. If you're not ready to plant out when the seedlings get larger, you could transplant to larger containers - your leftover cups would be fine.

My first couple of years of WS, I used the flat, shallow plastic containers that were only around 2" deep. I usualy ended up transplanting to a larger container, mainly because my "permanent" pots are never ready when the seedlings are. It all worked out fine.

For next year, just plan on getting bigger/deeper containers and use at least 3" of soil. Doesn't have to be milk jugs - plastic or styrofoam cups work, ziploc bags work, all kinds of stuff works.

PV

Pvick, you've given me hope! Thank you for the excellent tips and instructions. I love how blase all you experienced WSers are. ;-) It seems like for every mistake, there's a relatively easy solution. I love winter sowing and I don't even have a single sprout yet! ha ha

Nice list :D

The only ones I would worry about is the Basil in the event you get early sprouts. This is one I would normally wait until May for. Tomatoes too... I started in late March and early April and still lost seedlings due to mid April dips into the low 20's.

I also use those 8-16oz containers too and leave only about 1.5" or less head room. However it's usually hardy annuals and perennials I sow in these....so should the covers need to come off in order to accmomadate the seedlings and it's still frosting at night I don't worry....they survive. As for the shallow soil...if you are still waiting for sprouts after the spring rains are over, ect. or haven't gotten around to planting out it's just a matter of more careful attention to watering ...especially if you leave your containers in full sun like I do :) I usually plant out seedlings in the seed leaf-stage and if I don't I transplant individual seedlings into bigger containers (deeper soil) to grow on into summer.

Vera

Last year, I used aluminum lasagna pans with a clear lid that's a few inches tall, and it worked well for me. By the time my plants were too tall, it was warm enough I needed the lids off so they didn't bake. This year, I am re-using these pans, and also using some milk jugs.

We go through a lot of milk, so collecting milk jugs isn't a problem for me. However, I've heard others suggest asking your local Starbucks to ask for their milk jugs. From what I've heard, they will almost always oblige. They supposedly give away used grounds for those who compost. I don't have a bin, so I haven't tried this yet, but would like to.

I use 3-4" of potting soil. Before finding out that something like pie pans aren't deep enough, I had sowed some seeds in those and regretted it ever since. It finally got the best of me and I had to move them. I brought the frozen jugs inside and broke apart the potting soil in chunks whatever they turned out to be. Then I laid the chunks on top of potting soil that I put in a milk jug just prior to that just like I'd be planting new seeds in it. I figured that disturbing the seeds like that wouldn't be as traumatic as them trying to grow in an inch of soil and encountering plastic soon after they'd sprouted.

Thanks to all who have replied! I guess I'm just going to have to play it by ear. I have 14 containers right now, and they're all pretty shallow and don't have a lot of headroom. Hopefully the learning curve isn't too hard on me!

I have winter sown basil just fine in Columbus. It tends to wait for warmer temps before it germs, but like Vera suggests, if we have a freaky late freeze, there's one to cover.

Hello faraway,
I too am new and absolutely loveing this, I used milk jugs and soda bottles as everyone suggested. I also found 5" deep lasagna pans w/ tall lids at ocean state job lot for under a dollar apiece, there all out getting rained on now,

good luck to us all

Annette

This is my first year wintersowing also. It's so nice to have dirt under my fingernails again! LOL
What about yogurt cups? Breyers has one with granola or chocolate chips- it comes with it's own lid!! I like it because it should give me 3 or 5 little plugs of one kind. B

Thanks Bakemom; I'm glad to hear my basil should hang in there. I kept plenty of seeds back just in case I needed to direct sow them, but I'm hoping I don't need to.

Tomorrow I'm driving all over the city between client appointments and picking up free containers. :-)

Annette, nice to see another newbie here like myself! I keep thinking about how I have 3 1/2 acres to play with, full of flower beds that have just gone to weeds because I couldn't afford to plant in started perennials and the weeds had grown in before we bought the house...well, watch out now, because our beds are going to be back in action soon! :-)