We consider you a member once you make a post, so consider yourself a member, and welcome, Judith. You will find lots of friendly people here, always willing to share their expertise, just as they have with me over my years on this forum. I trust you have read the information on the website "Wintersown.org' (thanks to Trudi), and you may want to take a look at the FAQ's which you can link to from the cover page. And don't forget to take advantage of seed offers and exchanges. Be forewarned, it addictive, but what a wonderful addiction!! Good luck!!

Welcome, welcome! We love to see new faces. You bring fresh ideas and the excitement of a new discoverer. I look forward to hearing from you frequently throughout the coming season. Tell us a bit more about yourself and your gardening history and plans, if you don't mind.

Martha

Thanks, Northener and Martha, for welcoming me! I have been obsessively perusing this forum for a couple of weeks, and I think I've *memorized* wintersown.org and the FAQs here.

I live in Northern California, near San Pablo bay, so my weather is pretty temperate; still, I hope I'll have success. I'm going try WSing some herbs, some flowers, and some trees... I've got an awful lot of tree seeds. (I was previously a bonsai grower, but haven't done it for years. Long story.)

I'm excited to get started, and am actually going to plant a couple of flats of tree seeds (olive and bay laurel) tonight, because Trudi told me I could!

I do have one question, the answer to which is probably simple, but which I haven't been able to find anywhere! Do I put my flats (or milk bottles, of which I haven't yet found a supply - my kids with little children deny using them!) in the sun, or the shade, at first?

Thanks, all. You give such good info, and I'm glad to be here!

Judith

This will be my first year as well,I will be winter sowing everything that can be WSed.

Im so looking forward to mine and everyones seedlings popping up in the spring.I realy like seeing what others grow and their results.

Let me just say winter can't get here fast enough and after that I will be biting my nails waiting for spring.

I will be WSing well over a hundred diffrent kinds of seeds.Been swaping like crazy for 2 years and now have lots and lots of space to grow everything.

One bad thing I have become addicted to daylilies and irises so been buying seeds for daylilies left and right...Beareded Irises seeds are harder to find :( ...

Welcome and hope you have wonderfull results come spring time....

Hi there Judith,

At this time of year, you probably want the seedlings to have 4-6 hours of sun each day, and later in the year you can move them to where they get more sun. I would be interested in what someone who lives in your area has to day,though.

Lois in pa

Judith, first, welcome! Where Lois addressed seedLINGS, she is probably correct. With flats of seeds, it might be different. I am guessing that in No. Cal, your weather is probably still pretty warm. Anything that does not need cold stratification, it is probably too early to plant. They might sprout too early. When do you get your first frost, or do you get frost at all? If you have a long enough growing season, even plants that sprouted now could be planted in-ground, but in my area, if seedlings sprout in the late fall, frost will kill them before they can establish.

The bay laurel and olive, if Trudi told you they are fine to plant now (her advice is always good!), I am guessing need several warm/cold cycles - I would not worry about where to put those flats, myself - but if I were planting other perennials and was uncertain as to whether they need cold stratification to sprout, I would put them in shade for now and maybe move them to sun in the spring.

Hello, all.

pdsavage... sounds to me as if you are I are in big trouble! But I have nowhere near 100 kinds of seeds, so I'm feeling relief, in a way, to hear you. I also have very limited room... woke up this morning wondering what in the world I'm going to do with all those germinated seeds when they have to be potted on! Only a few can go in my garden. Gonna have a lot to give away!

Hi, Lois. I don't have seedlings yet, but can definitely manage that much sunshine when I do. Thanks for the advice!

Drippy, you're right. It still is fairly warm here, at least, during the daytime. Getting kind of chilly at night, though. My purported first frost is November 22, but realistically, we get very few frosts here, and the ones we do get usually don't last any longer than a night. So I'm planning on planting the bulk of my seeds on or just after the Winter Solstice. Thank you for the sun/shade advice. I think I'll put the olive and bay out of direct sun for now, as it can still get HOT during the days.

Once again, thanks for welcoming me!

Welcome to you both. Lots of good advice, inspiring photos and friendly banter on this site. Winter sowing perennials is the easiest way to increase one's perennial garden that I have found.

My gardens are full but I still find myself ws a few containers every year. I post to many forums on Garden Web, less on this site as I am needing more information on maintaining plants than on germinating seeds nowadays.

Welcome newbies! Starting plants from seed IS THE BOSS! (As my son might say. :)

Much good luck for all winter-sowing ventures! You will be delighted with all the seedlings you get. And don't feel bad about tossing a few out, once you realize how many plants you get when you grow from seed, there are more than you can possibly use and it's all in a day's planting...

Please, Welcome. Just try this one little baggy of seeds. They're completely harmless I tell you. Don't notice us crazy people behind the curtain who end up with 100-300 containers of seeds out there in the cold or the ones who are dumpster diving or trash picking for plastic containers. This wintersowing thing isn't really habit forming--although we might qualify as a cult since we do proselytize and evangelize.

You'll be surprise at the "exotic" seeds you start trying with wintersowing regardless of what luck you've had in the past with growing from seed.

So jump on board... welcome.

KimKa

Hi, mnws gal and terrene. Thanks for the welcome!

KimKa... your post got me laughing SO hard! It was the pickup I needed today, and I really, really believe you. (Oh, no... it's not addicting. I'm already trying to figure out where I can get LOTS of those empty gallon milk bottles, and it's only September!)