The differences are many. You are comparing apples to oranges there.

For one thing, with WSing you need no expensive heat mats or light set-ups. Natural sunshine provides the light and the seeds germinate at their own perfect temperature, when nature tells them it's time. You don't use up vast portions of space inside the house. Best of all there is no damp-off.

The best place to start is with the FAQs, read them and then come back and ask questions. People will gladly answer specific questions for you and explain anything you don't understand.

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQs

Alexandra, this is my first year winter sowing, but I've been gardening for 25 years. I never had an indoor light setup, so anytime time I every tried to start seeds indoors, it was utterly a failure. So much that I never tried again until I read about winter sowing.

It's been fun and satisfying for me. I have alot of flowers this year that I never would have even tried in past years, and have been able to grow other plants that always died when I bought transplants (celosia and bee balm). I'm hoping for oriental poppies next year!

Winter sowing won't necessarily give you the blooms as early as the garden center plants will or as early as starting inside under lights, but the plants you do have are healthy and strong. And it is too much fun to see those seedlings sprout and grow into something beautiful!

When I stumbled across this last year I though, what do I have to lose. Milk jugs are "free", dirt is cheap, & there are many people willing to send you seeds for the price of a stamp (including me now!). The great part is that it works! No grow lights. No damping off. No babysitting little spindly plants! The bad part is that it is addictive.
Maggie

Hi Alexandra,
Welcome to WS. Have you read the FAQ yet? Now, go out and buy a couple bags of good potting soil before the stores pulled it off the shelf to make room for fall merchandise. Have you prepared your garden bed for your plants? Also watch the seed exchange and Winter Exchange for seed offers for SASBE.

Some seeds such as Rudbeckia and Larkspur and Feverfew can be direct sown now. Be sure to prepare the soil well. The seedlings will survive winter without any problem.

Winter Sowing is easy, cheap, and worry free. Just look at all the posts here on this forum for the results. :-)

The best part of wintersowing for me (this was my first year) was that instead of only starting 6 or 7 different kinds indoors, I was able to get 70 different jugs of plants to grow! You should also check out Trudi's site at wintersown.org. Between that and the F.A.Q., that should get you going. Good luck!

Alexandra,
Congratulations on your first year with your own garden! :-)

Wsing, you put the plants outside in containers and let nature do the work. You don't have to worry about damp off, or hardening off like you might with indoor seed-starting. It's also different from Direct Sowing because you give the seeds a "mini-greenhouse", providing some protection from the elements and wildlife-- which Direct Sowing wouldn't do. A huge benefit to WSing is it is inexpensive (compared to buying plants) and you can get a variety of plants in your garden that aren't sold in your area garden centers.

I've never compared bloom times of Indoor Sown vs Winter Sown. I do know that with WSing you often get blooms that last longer, even after frosts, from WSing, perhaps because they become more "cold hardy" from sitting out in the cold-cooler weather.

This was my 3rd year WSing, and I was a first-year gardener when I started WSing. This past year, I did a combination of indoor sown and Wsing. However, most everything I did this year was using the Winter Sowing method.

The things I sow indoors are seeds that need more of a warm period than a Zone 5 growing season can provide (ie, sweet peppers, Celosia). Other things (like Heliotrope, Datura, Gardenia)I have "Spring Sowed" them --aka, used the WSing method but sowed the seeds in the Spring. Then I overwintered them indoors for planting out the next Spring.

On earlier blooms-- You might want to check out the "Growing from Seed" forum to get info specifically on how to get earlier blooms. I would think the answer would be different according to the particular plant.

I hope this wasn't too long to read, and I hope it helps answer some of your questions. Like others said, be sure to read the FAQs, but don't be afraid to ask questions, either :-)

Linda

Wow! Thank you all to have responded. Now I didn't even now you can spring sow and overwinter them. Is that more for flowers that don't bloom their first year so you will have a bloom?


Another question I have is what is damping off. I tried to do a search but didn't quite understand.


Alexandra

Hi Alexandra!

"Damping off" is what it's called when perfectly lovely seedlings keel over and die for no apparent reason.

Check out the link below for more info ...

Here is a link that might be useful: Damping Off

Alexandra,

Spring Sowing and Overwintering--
Well, that's kinda what I do it for...or mostly for things that just need a longer warm period in Zone 5 and I know I won't get blooms if I sow indoors or out in that year. I actually have a Bay Laurel that I Spring Sowed last year and brought inside for the winter. It's about a foot tall now :-) I used to kill things regularly before I started WSing. So, as a new gardener, WSing is quite an encouragement.

But people also Spring and Summer Sow for blooms for the fall, like for things like Pansies (which you could buy in the store, but you can get a whole lot more for the price of a packet of seeds if you sow them yourself :-)

About "Damp-off" --
Damp-off is probably something someone else can explain better. I only know that it is the cause for my losing umpteen plants I've tried to sow indoors. The other bunch were lost in hardening off (which I know for some is not a challenging process, but for me, hey, I need gardening for dummies...)

This site (link below)is a great source for seed starting in general and this page from it gives details on Damp off. There are also pages on germination-info there (temperatures listed there do not necessarily apply when Winter Sowing, but are helpful for indoor sowing and knowing other things about the plants when WS.)

Linda

Here is a link that might be useful: Tom Clothier's info on Damp Off