I'll probably start with vegetables rather than waiting until flower seeds are sown.
I'll do a lot more vegetables.

I'll sow some more Prairie Smoke and Carex grayii.
A few days ago, I began to remove extra perennials and add more Hostas to my garden; I want to replace those plants with larger & bolder leaves.

I'll start a lot more of my annuals ws style.
I did about half this year. Being it was my second year ws'ing I did not want to "put all my eggs in one basket" and ws all of them. But they are so much healthier than the inside starts. So next year I think I'll do almost all of my flower annuals that way.

Next year, the garden will be completely different. The second year perennials will come in to bloom. Annuals will be different. And there will be other things that I bought or was given this year, like daylilies and clearance plants.

As for sowing, I'll start more in the fall. I'll sow fewer Rudbeckia hirta and more triloba, I hope. ;)

And I will be pruning my perennials in May. It will mean waiting another few weeks for blooms.

planting more 'drifts' of color

taking a real hard look this year at what really works in my gardens instead of having to have a little of everything because someone else has it

going for more 'foilage plants'

I will reach that magic mark of 65 this summer and while I plan to continue gardening till they have to wheel me out of the garden I want it to be less labor intensive and more visually attractive so I really can stop and smell the roses. We will see - like Carrie I have the best of intentions but have difficulty carrying plans through .....

Lynne

I think I will WS more perenials. I did more annuals and a big variety.

I think I might do more of the same plants.
My plan is more coneflower, some thyme and low growing and border plants. I planted too much tall stuff and not enough for the front.

Karen

I won't buy potting mix with moisture control. Sounds silly, but that combined with an exceptionally wet year, is what I think caused some seed rot and mold.

I will try ProMix, now that I know I can get it next door to me! Yes, even though Miracle Grow has served me so well, the guy next door is just too easy.

I won't sow in water bottles, those molded the most. I will use milk jugs and tp rolls for the most part.

I will completely enclose my cold frame. The wind blew crap all over and inside. I will protect it from the landscaper's blow broom... I hate those things!!

I will wait longer to sow my annuals, if I sow them! This year has had everything sprouting late. I have my first blooms on some alyssum... that's it!! Quite a few of my annual seeds rotted in the containers.

The end of my patio gets a tiny bit more sun, next year I will try to get as many containers in that small spot as I can. This year the cold frame got very little sun.

I can't really say yet what I'll need to move in the fall, because most of my perennials aren't blooming yet, but that's part of the problem. I need to find more early spring bloomers that are hardy to zone 5. If it wasn't for my lovely Geums and the Alyssum, there wouldn't have been anything blooming in May!

As far as wintersowing goes, what I plan to do differently next year is to sow multiple containers of things that I REALLY want, but with fewer seeds per container. When I planted some things out this spring, and they died, I didn't have any more sprouts to replace them, because I had sown all of the seeds in one container.

Oh, and I need to sow more containers of tomatoes. I had a few not germinate, and again, I had sown two or three seeds in one container, instead of separately. Plus, the ones that did germinate, had to be repotted after sprouting, because there wasn't enough room in the water bottles for three plants, so it made more work that I could have avoided, if I had sown extra containers with one seed in each one.

What I AM pleased about this year, is that I think I have dialed in the sow dates on the tender annuals for my zone. The other thing I did that I thought was helpful was planning container combos with specific color schemes ahead of time, such as red & yellow, or orange & choc., etc. that way, once the annuals had sprouted, I knew exactly where to put them. Hopefully, they'll all bloom the colors they are supposed to, LOL!

Bonnie

Try fall-sowing shirley poppy and larkspur. The shirley poppy has only just started blooming now and I really need something there that will bloom a month earlier.

Try more veggies, especially snap peas. Our neighbor built a 7 ft wooden fence across part of our adjoining yard, and I am growing scarlet runner beans up our side of the fence. I tied heavy-duty fishing line at the top and bottom of each fence panel for the beans to climb up. If it works this year, then next year I can grow snap peas up the fence in May and then grow scarlet runner beans later on. I wanted to grow sweet peas there this year, but only one vine is still alive and it does not have flowers even at this late date.

Expand my holding bed to include more inground pots. By the time some of my wintersown seedlings were big enough to plant out, the places where I wanted to put them had filled in with existing plants flopping around.

Start matina tomatoes earlier inside and also wintersow some with a double layer of clear plastic. I only used a single layer of plastic this year and I think they might have been able to grow faster in April and May if they had double protection.

Lois in PA

I hope to mark things more clearly and know what is what. Right now I have bunches of plants that I can't identify.

Also I have to be tough and pull out the larkspur and poppies except where I decide I want them. I have big bare areas where I let too many poppies & larkspur take over.

I'll be planting seed I've saved more than seed I've purchased.

I won't use newspaper pots because it is too difficult to keep them moist.

I will plant things farther apart so they won't shade each other out.

Debby

Less veggies....more flowers. Better markers that I can move along with the sprouts when I plant out. Maybe look for a sunnier more well protected spot.

I am loving how the alyssums I planted last year have reseeded and want to try dirct seeding this plant along all the paths next year. I also need some spring blooming plants for that period of time after the daffs but before the rest of the bed wakes up. I want to try some belladonna delph. and taller foxglove. And more perennial dianthus - so neat and tidy.

What I won't do next year: Never again will I plant too many snap seeds in a container. I seem to have to learn this lesson every year!

nan - funny you said that you are going to plant alyssums all along the path next year...

Well, my second year wsowing, I thought they would make a great border and they did - for a short time, but here it got so hot they got a bit ugly and I had to pull all of them. Since I am a former NYorker, I know you don't get as hot as we do here in NC, but if you do, they may not look so great as they do in the spring...JMHO

Carrie

I'll have to think it through as I can't use many more plants, just certain ones. I'd do a lot of things differently if I could and have a greenhouse and cold frame, more beds (small lot, want some grass left lol), etc.

My spring sowing isn't going so well, many have at least 2 or 3 sprouts, a couple a lot, but I think it's been unseasonably cool. If it warms up, I'm guessing some will take off. It doesn't matter, will take what I get out of it.

I can't have what I really want here, so just have to settle for what is and be thankful I have anything. I'd really like to be able to afford a gardener or part-time student who wouldn't ruin things so I could just do the gardening I want hands on, putz around, pull a few weeds, and get back to my photography and other life.

Gardening and lawn maintenance are taking all my time and energy to do it right except for the doldrums of winter, and it still gets ahead of me.

Unrealistic expectations. Beware of those. And you won't set yourself up for so many disappointments.

I will be doing tomatoes next year, at least romas and any other earlys I can get. Im soooo tired of doing toms inside every year! I lost 3/4 the crop INSIDE this year. I dont know why, this is the first time.

I spring sowed some romas and they look better than ones I started inside...

Next year half the plants in the same amount of space. That's my biggest goal.

Re: alyssum- mine gets pretty ratty looking too, but I just give it a haircut and it usually blooms beautifully again a few weeks later.

My tomatoes started under lights are doing great. The matinas and Snow White are setting lots of fruit, and the beefstake have blossoms. Only 2 WSown ones sprouted and they are about half the size. Of those, Silver Fir Tree is tiny, Black Krim is bigger and has some blossoms.

Karen