I am trying them indoors in plastic containers so I don't have to use a heating mat to germinate them. In my zone, they need to be started indoors to get a harvest.

elbow,

am not sure where to start but i sow my peppers 1st, than the tomatos,egg plants and ground cherries and then finish off with squash,cukes,and pumpkins just before last frost.

almost assuredly your peppers and toms will need light before planting.

i'm not so sure your squash and cukes will make it this long between sowing and planting out.

when is your last frost ? are u aware that squash and cukes should be direct sowed in normal circumstances ?

wildlifeman

Have winter sowed peppers in zone 6 with some sucess. My seeds are in jugs out side in the snow like my tomato seeds.

You may want to try some each way in side under lights and out side in jugs and decide at harvest which was the better method for you. Some pepper heads like to grow them inside all year round too.

I do the cuke, squash thing later in jugs. Swear that winter sowed squash do much better in the jugs then the direct seeded ones.

ML

I start peppers indoor, my summer is too short to give them enough warmth. There are some peppers that have shorter time than others, so you might want to try them.

I've successfully wintersowed peppers, but I did NOT get a harvest. There's a couple of factors that determine whether or not it will work for you. One, is the number of frost free days you have. As Lindalana mentioned, some peppers have a longer number of days to maturity (DTM) than others, so if you know the length of your season, and the number of DTM for the peppers, you can get an idea of if they will work for you. The other issue is nighttime temperatures. Where I live, the nighttime temperatures don't usually get above the 40's until sometime in June, so even though we may not be getting frost at night, it's cool enough to slow down the growth of heat loving veggies, such as peppers.

I don't have a light set up though, I just start my peppers in plastic bottles, just like I would for WS, and place them in my southwest facing kitchen windowsill. I do take them outside in a semi-shady location for a few hours each day once they sprout. I also remove the tops once they have sprouted. The biggest thing I have to watch for here is the wind. Since they are indoor started, the stems aren't as strong as the WS ones, and I have lost a couple when the stems broke in strong winds.

Just experiment with different methods until you find what works for you.

Bonnie

Thanks so much everyone for the advice. I set up a light table yesterday and started my peppers. I am also going to do some in my winter sown jugs just to see what happens. I also winter sowed my tomatoes but did backups inside just in case.

I am going to wintersow the cucumbers and squash because I have read that they do well...am I wrong on that? I figure that they will need to go out in jugs by Mar 15, my last frost date is Apr 26...do I have that right?

Thanks again for all the great help, I am loving this! I am a bit skeptical because I have so many jugs outside and we had a low of 6 last night.