Wintersowing in a hoophouse?
This year, I discovered wintersowing, but in a modified version. Although a gardener for 30 yrs, I've never grown anything from seed -- but had collected hundreds of seed packs for the last 10 yrs. (Good intentions, etc.)
I have a 20' x 24' hoophouse, closed at both ends in winter. Since I didn't find out about wintersowing until early March, I decided a hybrid approach was best: sowed lots of seed in milk jugs, but kept them in the (unheated) hoophouse. Also started all sorts of things on heat mats, like tomatoes.
So, since some of the seeds were very old, I had erratic germination. (Surprising thing was, some new seeds didn't germinate at all, like "Tango" agastache, but 7 yr old agastache cana did.)
So here's the real question: I live near Vancouver, BC, with cooler, longer springs every year. Would there be any benefit to actually wintersowing in the milk jugs in January, but keeping them in the (unheated) hoophouse, with watering as needed?
Oh, and one more: I planted lots of agastache, salvia, and penstemon, but all the seedlings are growing so slowly, and are only about an inch or 1 1/2" high. Should I just leave them in jugs (some are in cell packs) until they have longer roots? Should I repot them into 4" pots and overwinter them in the hoophouse, then plant next year?
Thanks very much for your thoughts.
Sharlene
northforker
trudi_d
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