Yes, all the time. Only difference from winter, for me anyway, is temperature concerns. If weather gets hot, it can get really hot inside the milk jug. I add extra vent holes to the top of the jug.

I just sowed my tomatoes about 2 weeks ago.

Karen

Hi Jaggudada: I disagree with your interpretation of wintersowing as
"creating a little greenhouse thereby raising the inside temperature by 10-20 degrees so in a nutshell you are creating May temperatures in April. So use the same method but start in April."
For those of us in the North where those containers are under several feet of snow those containers hardly offer any warmth. They are mainly for 1)protecting the seed from birds & animals 2) providing seeds which require it for germination (most perennials) with a cold period 3) precluding the need for the dastardly hardening off of indoor-started seedings. They also serve to keep seedlings in a specific location where you can identify them and then place them as you desire. Truly wintersown seedlings do not germinate any earlier, they germinate when the conditions are right and they are much sturdier than their indoor-grown cousins. If you just scattered all those winter sown seeds around the garden they would grow, but some would be eaten, some would be moved about by the elements, just like those re-seeders do. And you would have a hard time identifying them.

I am certain that what you plan to do will work, we all do it, but it is not winter sowing. As you said, it is providing a little green-house to give you a head start.

We are still wintersowing in April up here. We still have below freezing temperatures, sometimes during the day (like today). Good luck with your veggies.

2) providing seeds which require it for germination (most perennials) with a cold period

What do you mean by the above? Can't you start perennials in May when the cold period is over and Perennials still grow. I think people do this all the time. Some even sow perennials in summer/ Fall. Just trying to understand what you meant by above.

You said you can start WS in April and I agree there could be some freezing weather in APril but not many freezing days as you would have in Jan/Feb/March. How many freezing days are required for WS?

Different seeds require exposure to different cold periods. Some require several weeks warm, then at least several weeks cold, then warm again. These are best planted in the fall.

Other seeds need only a cold period and then they germinate when the weather warms. This is the type of seed that forms the core of wintersowing.

Still other seeds don't need any special cold period, but the cold doesn't hurt the seed. You tend to get a stronger seedlings (exposure to full sunlight spectrum and wind, less likely for damping off to hit, etc.) that don't need to be hardened off by seeding outside instead.

Some seeds just can't take wintersowing; they are most likely to rot before germinating. These are usually the most tender annuals and herbs. Most of us wait until spring to sow those. I have the best luck in my zone and conditions with waiting to seed out basil and sunflowers until last, usually right around now.

I don't know that you get especially earlier plants to plant out with wintersowing compared to under lights because germination doesn't happen until the temperature of the soil reaches the preferred point for each seed. Then the seedling grows at a rate that responds to your environment.

The other advantages that wintersowing offers over starting under lights are 1) you don't have to figure out how many grow lights for how many hours and at what temperature the seed tray needs to kept. The seeds respond when mother nature provides the correct set up. 2) you get unlimited room to start seeds instead of what you can fit under whatever lights you can afford and have room for.

Northener also hit the target with the differences between direct sowing and wintersowing. Reseeding plants usually produce thousands of seeds because so many will be eaten, rot or be washed away. Wintersowing ensures that I can plant the particular plants that I want where I want them instead of where the seeds end up.

Of course you can put tomato seeds out in April. But you will have a more difficult time balancing not letting the container get so hot that it cooks the seeds with keeping the container closed to provide the high humidity that the seeds benefit from. Wintersowing is about easy and successful seed raising with equal emphasis on the easy and successful.

and Kimka- one other advantage to WS over seed-starting indoors:
no damping off!! the dread damping off.

My one and only attempt at starting seeds (before WS'ing) - they all emerged and I was SO excited and then bam - everyone died from damping off. (I think that's what it's called). I'm sure more expert sowers know how to prevent that, but for me - it was traumatic.

With WS'ing, even tho I don't always get really good germination, still whatever I get is more than I would have otherwise, and I am grateful to Trudi for coming up with a method that allows someone like me to be a successful seed starter, without a lot of effort or expense.