Hi Kim,

The link below is to a page on the Wintersown.org website that lists all of the vegetables that are good for wintersowing. If you haven't done it already, check out the offer for free seeds on that website. Trudi is very generous, and it is a lot of fun to get that package full of surprises.

The only thing with some of the summer veggies like beans, canteloupe, cucumbers, etc. is that they are not frost tolerant, so if you wintersowed them, and they germinated during a warm spell, then you would have to protect them from freezing temperatures until it was time to plant them out.

I spring sowed my beans and some of my cucumbers, using the WS technique, but I waited until close to our last frost date to do it, which was late May for me.

The only vegetables that I direct sowed this year was carrots and some of the cucumbers. The carrots I did that way because root crops can grow crooked if tranplanted, and the cucumbers just because they germinate so easily that way.

Oh, and my peppers I sowed indoors this year. They will certainly work with wintersowing, but my season is so short that they won't have time to ripen if I do them that way.

Be sure to let us know how it goes this coming year,
Bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersown.org - Vegetables

I'm not a big vegetable grower, although I'm finding I'm doing more each year, so my experience is kind of limited.

I've successfully WSown beets, carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, spinach, onions, peppers and tomatoes. The peppers, cukes, and tomatoes I usually wait to sow until later - my records this year show April. This year it just so happened I did my tomatoes in April also, but I have done them successfully in March.

Spinach, beets, lettuces, carrots, onions - all were sown in February and March this year and did well.

The only vegetable I tried to WS and did not have success with is green beans. I think the soil just has to be warmer. So I direct sow those. They pop up so quickly and grow so fast it doesn't matter anyway.

:)
Dee

Thanks for the link highalttransplant and the response Dee. This helps quite a bit.

One more question...can you WS in raised bed planters if they are covered? I use the square foot method and have a nice raised bed I would like to direct sow and then cover with milk jugs etc. Would this work or will the surrounding soil stay too cold?

Thanks Kim

"...The peppers, cukes, and tomatoes I usually wait to sow until later - my records this year show April..."

Oops, I meant to say that I usually wait to sow peppers, cukes and EGGPLANT until later. Sorry 'bout that.

Kim, I've never tried the method you ask about, but I think others here have done some version of it. I don't see why it wouldn't work. A friend of mine used to sow her annual seeds in decorative pots or containers, and cover with plastic wrap. Then she had planted containers all set and ready to go! She usually did this later in the season (late March, early April) and not in January or February, although I don't know if timing would make a difference here.

The only thing that comes to mind is spacing. To have proper spacing without moving the seedlings, you might have to have one milk jug per seed, but that's not a problem necessarily, just an observation.

Good luck!
:)
Dee

I've had a lot of success winter sowing tomatoes, lettuce, kohlrabi and spinach. I started out mainly interested in veggies, and have since branched out into winter sowing flowers.

Here is a link to one of the FAQ's on Gardenweb:

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sown Vegetables - Gardenweb

I'm a newbie at this, thanks for the link to Wintersown.org! I'll have to check it out; was thinking of tossing some spinach seeds into the garden just to see what happens.

I'm a big veggie guy. I've WS'd just about every herb except basil, and "cool" veggies like lettuce, spinach, chard, arugula, cabbage and broccoli. Peas and beans go direct as do root crops (I've found they don't transplant well).

The "Big 7 Hotties" are either started inside or DS'd (toms, peppers, eggplants, cukes, melons, squash and corn).
Yes, I have them memorized (some people count sheep--I count the hotties!)

Prof

K my spinach are popping in the jugs to go with the lettuce. More veggies to go out this week.

All of my tomatos go out first. Just I plant them out much earlier then others due to they are much more cold hardy.

ML

I bought 2 packs of green beans today. this post got me thinking of growing more veggies...

I am sick or something. I just can't stop!!!

Karen