No you are not the only one waiting...lol. It will be my 1st year, but already have containers being saved. I started buying some seed via internet (but a little expensive) But ill do a little each week. I need to go out and get more seed starting mix, becuase I have a feeling I may go overboard Lol. I have also ordered a cheap digital video camera to document my progress as well. Good luck and keep us posted as how well it go's. I was hopeing to start last year, but it was not in the cards. But this year is diffrent.

me too! First timer and super excited!
I got containers, I got soil mix and I got tons of seeds. I am ready!
I already know I am going to make a first timer mistake and plant way too much. But I can live with that. Ha!

Me as well, and this will also be my first time winter sowing! DH and I aren't usually big milk drinkers, but we've been going through the gallon jugs these last couple months just to get more containers. I have about 30 types of seeds I'm planning to WS...a mix of perennials and annuals. Can't wait for the solstice (and usually I am dreading it)!

lol It looks like I am not alone! I keep collecting milk jugs/2 liters and have them piled in my garage...I have a decent number! I am pretty excited, too! I am doing some for me, my parents, and my daughter's school. I already bought a lot of seed from several mail order places and have a huge one I am getting in January...because I NEED more seed, right? lol

Wow!!! I'm glad that I am not alone!!! Lol and welcome everyone who's getting started :) you seriously won't regret it! I had such crappy luck with keeping seedlings alive by starting indoors and trying to get them use to outside gradually! I was so surprised at how much more luck I had last year! I have several new flowers blooming and tons of seedlings that should bloom next year and I can't wait to see those either! :)

gardenman101, I also got a cheap disposable camera last year and took pics with it and with my phone and I was so happy to have something to remember it and mark progress!

josey44, don't worry, you will be fine! it is so simple and you can never overdo it...do remember to poke holes for drainage tho lol at the end, i missed a few whoops!! LOL

I have probably 20+ milk/water gallon jugs and some 2 liter, I am getting ton of support from coworkers and family that are sending containers my way! I am doing several round robin swaps this year and then I will probably do a seed order from Geo-Seed(?). I really only just begun planning where things will go next year so many seeds do not have a future "home" planned yet! lol

~Michael
heavenlyfarm

P.S. No you can never have too many seeds lol there's always spots to plant things in or family members and people that need more plants and flowers in their life!

Hello to all newbies! I've been WS'ing for the past few years and I absolutely love it! I've been gathering seeds here and there out of my garden from some of my plants (mostly annuals). Going to try to teach a few friends to WS this year, provided that we have a break in the weather lol. Gotta start working on my seed wish list.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

I just wish fall would last a bit longer because I have so much to do. We had rain the past 10 days so nothing much could be done, but I still have WS babies from last year to plant out, and WS hostas to find a home for, plus several things to divide: daylilies and phlox being the most pressing. Only today I got to clean up my tomato plants, hibiscus, sweet pappers, cucumbers, and cannas. Just one squash vine left with fruit on it. And I want to start a new bed. I know I won't make it all before the snow flies, but I'll try.

I started a few containers last week with seeds that need a warm cold warm germination sequence. Not much room left in my gardens but still like to try the unusual and difficult seeds. Also am caring over some sown last winter that need 2 years or more to germinate.

Really exciting! I am glad to hear that it worked for so many already.

Michael, you are right. How can one have too many seeds or plants? lol

I am interested to hear what you guys are planning to seed...

I have a huge list! Almost all perennial. Lots of cut flowers, some bushes but also trees! I can't wait to see what works.

mnwsgal, Thanks for the reminder! I should probably try that as well with my peony seeds!!! I already tried some seeds in Pots in my mini-greenhouse and a few planted in a little spot of the one raised bed.(I plan to make this work and have seedlings one way or another!) I wonder if I can still count the containers towards my total for "Wintersowing Wars".......

As far as what I'm planning on wintersowing...well A LOT lol but mostly perennials and if I get seeds from a few swaps I'm in, I plan on doing penstemon(new to me), hollyhocks, delphiniums, wildflowers, coneflowers etc....I can't say I have spots planned out for them in the gardens yet but I'll get there!! I love hollyhocks and delphiniums but had terrible luck this year with them. Lost most of my delphiniums(my mistake for trying them on the hillside where they dont get much attention from me) and hollyhocks to bunnies...except the black ones...they refused to eat that color lol

Whats everyone else trying? :)

~michael

I am going to try lots of different Yarrows (summer pastel, flowerburst, Colorado, love parade), Hollyhocks (esp. zebra ones), Sunflower (red, white and regular), Gaillardia (3 different kinds), Alyssum, Cosmos (lots of different ones), Columbine, Laceflower and Statice, Vanilla Grass, Immortelle, Balloon Flower, Verbena, Poppy, Daisies, Echinacea, Lisianthus (scared! They are tricky I heard), Elderberry, Gojiberry and lots of medicinal herbs (Valarian, Feverfew, Marshmallow, Arnica, Calendula, Wintergreen,...) also Ramsom, Squash and Arugula
Phew, I am exhausted just listing them.

Josey, I am planning to do Yarrows too ...I feel like a lot of my success is riding on the Yarrows as I have a few sunny dirt patches in front of the house I want to fill in with those. I'm also planning to WS: pansies, Water forget-me-nots, bee balm, Jacob's ladder, 2 types of petunia, daylily, love in a mist, nicotiana (antique lime), dwarf columbine, borage, foxglove, delphinium, coral bells, couple different tomatoes, peppers, a couple of annual mallows from 2013 that didn't do much from my attempt to direct sow this year, parsley, snapdragons, lupine, chard, 2 types of cleome, white alyssum, and cosmos (sonata mix). Also, the 9 types of free seeds I got from wintersown.org.

Not expecting 100% success, but I will be upset if the Yarrows don't work!

Here is a link that might be useful: Free seeds from wintersown.org

Arlene, those yarrows will do wonderfully with winter sowing!

I have been WSing since 2001, but took a break for the last couple of years. Plan to resume this year - my garden needs *everything* after two years of total neglect.

{{gwi:436653}}

PV

My small wintersow list:

hellebore, heuchera, coneflower, columbine tower pink, columbine woodside variegata, columbine dragonfly hybrids, formosa lily, maybe red hot poker, maybe dwarf sunflower, more foxglove (have many from last winter sowing growing but "need" more), petunia maybe, coleus, torenia, impatiens.

My winter sown yarrow last season did very well but I pulled out alot of it after it grew some because it looked weedy to me, probably because it wasn't getting enough sun.

A lady from the little town I live in complemented my gardens that are visible from the road today. She said "you have so many different plants." She is right. Thanks in part to winter sowing and the wonderful people who post here that got me started. Clearance is also one of my favorite words. :-)

I don't remember how many containers I winter sowed last year but I was busy taking care of seedlings for quite some time this spring and I enjoyed every minute of it. At this time in the year it gets a bit boring when there isn't a whole lot to do so it's nice to dream about winter sowing.

Yarrow is so cool! Very supportive plant to have around other plants, also has medicinal purpose (the white one) and it's pretty, pretty, pretty. I am sowing every colour I could find.

southerngardening24 where did you find hellebore seeds? I was looking but didn't find any yet.

Columbine are very pretty too. I like the cottage-garden-y looking plants. Columbine, Yarrow, Hollyhocks, Sunflowers, Cosmos, ....

This is so exciting as usually this time of the year is indeed boring as southerngardening24 said. Now I can't wait for it to be January. lol

josey44: Didn't know about white yarrow's medicinal purposes. DB brought some hellebore seed pods home from work a while back. Hopefully they will turn out.

Last night I talked about this time of year being boring and now I have a cold and Saturday nights low is 32. The annuals will have to be composted and beds will need to be covered with lots of leaves. Cold or not - I will be out there! Also bought plants at the local nursery sale today and they need to go in the ground tomorrow.

I've got some winter sowing planned. Went and ordered some catalogs to peruse in Dec/January. I have quite a bit of seeds already (some leftover from prev years and some from friends this year).
I'm excited to start it...but will wait till at least next month to begin, when we start having consistent (like that ever happens) freezing temperatures. I don't want to get premature germination due to intermittent warm days.

Last year was my first, and it went astonishingly well, so I'm excited to try again a bit larger scale perhaps.

Wow! 200 containers your first year. You really jumped in. It's a great way to start plants, isn't it? A lot of the time, they're more robust than the same plants from nurseries.

WSing has become part of my gardening routine by now. I'm in the habit of saving the water bottles all year long. I also buy seeds in the summer when the racks are out with wintersowing in mind.

This coming week I'm harvesting seeds from my gardens. For the first time I think some of my asters had time to ripen before being covered in snow. I'm running out of space, but I might need some more Rudbeckias and Liatris, and will probably collect more than I have room for once I get going. I save them in mailing envelopes in a shoe box until it's time to WS.

Over the winter I'll order from some catalogs. I WS foxgloves every year. I also like to grow a row or two of annuals across the front of my vegetable garden so I WS different kinds each year. It makes the veggie garden pretty and gives me cut flowers for vases.

But I don't start WSing containers until after New Years when I get all the decorations, inside and out, put away. When the holidays are done, I look forward to quiet time when I get to play in the potting mix, plant seeds, and group them on the deck in the snow.

Then in March/April I WS annuals and herbs and wait and watch for those precious little sprouts to show themselves.

Of course, then there's planting and tending, so it's really a year round cycle in a way.

Later: Editing to say I now think the asters are hybrids and won't come true from seeds, so they're not good candidates for WSing if I want the same plants.

This post was edited by sandyslopes on Thu, Nov 6, 14 at 0:56

Hi and Y'all are way more organized that me! I just know that I'm going to winter sow and I've been collecting bottles and jugs to do it with, but as far as narrowing down the seed packs, that hasn't happened. There's still a lot of trading happening. This year I think I will easily do 200. I have eager helpers ready to find out what this is all about with me. Next year is going to be the most awesome gardening year ever and I just can't wait!!!

Pvick - That picture is gorgeous! What flowers are those? Looks like yarrow (not sure what kind) and Malva sylvestris âÂÂPurple Romanceâ ?

Promise

Yes 200 containers was a lot to start (addicting) with but I might top that this year lol I still have some trading left in me to do and then I go outside...."well i might as well try some native flowers there to add some color" or "well there's a space to put something else". I also told myself "no more weeding hills" but here I was weeding the one hill to try and stick some Oxeye daisies and Joe Pye Weed on. Last year was planning to take over the hills/gardens from the weeds and revitalize them with new seedlings and plants. This year it is about filling in, rearranging, making a few veggie raised beds, and..just more flowers. Plus theirs friends and family to give too!

Many seedlings are spread throughout the hills and gardens(I can't wait to see the potential of them next year) but I also did lose some of them because I wasn't quite sure of growing conditions or I was hopeful that delphiniums would survive on hills with weeds...but lesson learned in a big way!!!

sandyslopes, I have not attempted foxglove because I've been afraid honestly. I read an article once floating on the internet with several accounts from "real" people about allergic reactions and bad experiences. have you experienced anything harmful about the plant while you've worked with it? I love the blooms....especially Alba

~Michael

P.S. I would also love to know the name of that yarrow in the pic!!! (?) I also WSed white yarrow which I cant wait to see bloom! It is one of my favorites!

HI! The yarrow in the pic is achillea millefolium "Summer Pastels", I think. Various yarrows WS easily. After a few years, I got rid of mine - they really were thugs, even with me growing them in pots.
Very pretty thugs, though ...

PV

Michael, I stayed away from Foxglove (Digitalis) when I first started gardening because I was afraid of it, too. But no I haven't had any bad experiences with it. I don't handle it all that much. I plant with gloves on, and maybe I get around to deadheading after bloom, but lots of times I don't. So they fade away on their own.

I thought as long as no one eats them, they wouldn't do any harm, so now I don't know if I'm being careful enough or not. I usually plant them near the back and out of the way a bit. Animals don't seem interested in it. I wouldn't plant it if it was within reach of kids at the age where they put everything in their mouths, but that's true for a lot of plants.

I have a decent number of foxglove seedlings, rosettes, and mature plants. I have a HUGE number of allergies and test at the top 1-2 levels on every single skin test. I am consistently on 5 allergy/asthma medications and 4 as-needed medications. Foxglove does not bother me, far as I know. I had no idea it could. ð I do not doubt it does bother some people, but it does not everyone.

Digitalis from foxglove would need to be extracted and concentrated to a level only a lab can accomplish, so the plant is pretty benign.

Thank you everyone for your comments!!! I added foxglove (pams choice, alba, peach colored ones) to my want list just in time for this one Round Robin I'm doing! Crossing my fingers I get some to try!

We don't have children in our household or anything so I think we should be good, I'm gonna stick them in out of the way places and in the background I'm thinking! I also hear that they wintersow pretty welll so I am hoping for good luck!!!

Update as far as winter-sowing, I've collected probably near a 100 containers already but looking at my seeds this morning, I don't think that will be nearly enough!! I can't wait to get started again! I'm sure I'm gonna have to do something with all these extras this year lol last year I was greedy and planted almost all of mine since I was starting over with almost all the gardens but this year I will share with friends and family ;)

What do you guys plan on doing with all your wintersown babies? Are you trying to create a new garden or fill in empty spots or give some away for friends? or just a few to test the waters with this technique?
~Michael
heavenlyfarm

Michael, I think you will get more responses from your last question by starting a new thread.

I'm definitely looking at my first wintersowing experience as a big experiment. Expecting some failures, but will be very happy if I end up with more than 50% success I think. I have space for many new plants (slowly trying to make a cottage garden on a long neglected city lot), but I suppose I could try and unload some seedlings on family and neighbors should I end up with a surplus.

I'll be doing lots of foxgloves as well, as I have several places I'd like to put them. I have a seed packet of Strawberry foxglove (Digitalis fulva) which purports to be a true perennial, but I've read some reviews that rate it less lush and attractive than some other types of Digitalis. I'm thinking I may need to get my hands on a mixed pack of Digitalis as well. No kids in my house either, otherwise I might not attempt it.

mnwsgal, Will do ;)

Arlene_82, I just looked up strawberry Foxglove and it is a nice color!! I will have to add that too my want list Lol. I personally like the Alba one and peachy/salmon colored ones the most! I also found Pam's choice nice so I'm hoping to get one of those soon!!
~Michael

I, too, am a newbie..this year will be my first year and I can't wait to get started, and more so for the spring planting season and to watch all those little seedlings grow and bloom!
I went a little overboard in ordering seeds, had to place a couple orders as found others I couldn't live without (mostly perennials, a few herbs, a couple annuals) and traded seeds with some on line gardeners and some were very generous. Am busy collecting bottles (dont drink much milk here either, but do drink water, so buy 1 gal. springwater) and looking for other containers I can use so appreciate the forum for all the info!