Plastic or sarah wrap. Plastic with tape would be better with vent slits.

I save my gallon containers but not for that. I'd rather use milk jugs with less soil.

And if you use less soil, the containers are opaque and will block a lot of the light.

In our area, you can use a large sheet of plastic with holes poked in it to cover the whole lot. It makes it easy to check on them in the spring and to cover/uncover as needed for frost. The black helps them heat up better, but those needing light for germination might not get started as quickly as clear containers. Watch the spring heat. I'm serious about the black heating up the soil.

They are deep...I was thinking of cutting them in half then filling with 4 inches of soil.

They wouldnt get enough light from the plastic on top?

If not, for the acutal WS maybe I can use them for transplanting WS babies so that they have more room until ready to plant out. Or is that not even necessary? (maybe for tender annuals?)

Danielle

IME, Saran doesn't hold up that well to heavy snow. But a thinker plastic sheet, like a drop cloth, does.

Donn used bottomless milk jugs shoved over nursery pots, but I don't remember what size the pots were. With different sized pots, you could use gallon or half gallon milk jugs or 2 liters.

Karen

Same here...I save ALL of my nursery containers large and small for other garden purposes. I would rather use the smaller 4-6" nursery containers including the nursery 4 and 6 celled pony packs(for spring sown veggies especially), gal. jugs and food containers for winter-sowing. Less soil required per container = more containers that can sown :)
I use plastic and a secure with a few pieces of duct tape on the nursery containers and/or use gal. size zip-locks laid horizontally for (2)4-celled pony-packs, (1)6-celled and (1)4-celled pony-pack or (4) 4" nursery azalea pots. Food containers (sour cream, butter, coolwhip, ect.) are a cinch....cut center of lids out and use the rim to tightly secure plastic in place then punch in a few vent holes.

This is my gallon nursery pot section from last year's WSing.

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I have a bunch of flat bottomed plastic bags that I used. Each bag holds 6 gallon pots. I have drain slits in the bottom of the bags and instead of punching holes in the top I just clipped the bags mostly shut so that new seedlings would have protection but there would be some airflow.

Every once in a while if I knew that snow was coming in and the soil was starting to get a bit dry, I'd take the clips off the bags, open them up, and mostly seal them back up after the snowstorm.

I filled the gallon pots 1/2 - 2/3 full with moist potting mix before sowing.

They worked great. And all of my bags made it through the winter fine. I've got them washed, dried, and ready for the next season.

If you'd like three of those bags to use with your gallon pots this year, let me know and I'll send them to you for postage.

Lynda

Here is a link that might be useful: closer view of the gallon pots in bags

Oh, one other thing - those tires are just there because we needed some place to put them for the winter. I figured they'd class up our front yard. :)

Lynda

I guess it does work then, even without cutting them down. My bad. I was going to cut the bottoms out & fill w/soil and cedar bark mulch to protect just a few roses; now I don't know if I'll bother or not.

There are plenty of smaller pots to WS in for me, and I only need a few of each plant mostly.

I can still do it if I don't push too hard, but planting anything from a full gallon jug is hard work for me so I cringe at the mere thought of it, have to work up the motivation. Mostly it was roses that came in them, and I got a few extras for free.

If you saw this gardening mess I've got sitting around, you'd be shocked. I don't have any good place to store all of it, and it's going to have to be thrown out, bagged up and put in the basement or something. I will need and use most of it for one thing or another.

Danielle, don't bother transplanting anything. Just stick it straight in the bed when they have their true leaves. Our winters aren't that harsh, and if you start on Dec21 or shortly after, our warm January spell will have things germinating all over. I was planting out in February and had second year bloomers blooming their first year. It's called vernalization. Hardy perennials do better in the ground than in containers.

By Feb 7th, I had these sprouts.

Trailing carnations
dianthus - pinks maiden, sweet william, albus
alyssum (sprouted in early Jan, mostly dead)
bee balm - violet queen, lemon mint
salvia - blue bedder, rose queen, blue queen
larkspur - earl grey
coreopsis - red
hollyhocks - white, indian summer, yellow, double yellow, rose, mixed
echinacea - Tennesseensis, magnus, bravado, paradox, white swan
nicotiana - purple, sylvestres
shasta daisy mix
columbine - purple, burgundy
white lancer lily
cupid's dart
linaria
foxglove - white/purple
poppy - unknown red
hibiscus - giant red
rudbeckia - goldstrum, autumn colors
maltese cross
scabiosa - cream, white
sea holly
mountain bluet
buddelia - black knight
lambs ear
catchfly - blue angel, german
liatris - white
dame's rocket
jupiter's beard
agastache - white
Queen Anne's Lace
mock orange
beauty bush
lettuce
salad bowl lettuce
spinach
red cabbage
golden acre cabbage
red carrot
autumn king carrot
virginia stock

By late March, almost all of them were in the ground and growing. Don't transplant. Just plant, water, and wait. Those in the northern zones don't see sprouts for weeks or months after we do. It's okay. They're used to it. It's called Zone Envy. :)

If you need plastic, you can go to the fabric store,and buy large sheets of clear plastic used for table cloths, works great,and only $1.49 a yard.
cAROL

Thanks everyone.

I imagine if I cut a few good quality ziploc bags in half, make slits in them, and rubber band them over the top that should be fine.

I don't think I have to worry about a big load of snow here. I am not sure on the amount of rain we normally recieve. This is only my 2nd winter in NC, and my 1st growing a lot of flowers.

As of now, I only have about 20 milk jugs. I should have around 10-15 more saved up by Dec., but I need to save those nursery containers too. I have chose too many seeds, and not enough containers.

On a sidenote, I was excited to see a WS forum over on Dave's Garden. Then I checked it out, and it isn't as lively as this forum. Not much activity over there...

TOKEN : When do you usually plant your spring bulbs in NC? I have tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus, dutch iris, and muscari to plant.

Danielle

All those should be planted by the end of December. If you plant too early, they'll start to grow and the foliage could be damaged by colder weather in February. Last year I had daffs popping up in early January. We had a week of 70 degree weather. They still bloomed, but much earlier than expected.

Tulips are basically annuals here. Don't even think of them returning the following year unless they are very old plants, not the newer hybrids. I got leaves last year, but no blooms.

I'm with Carol on the tablecloth plastic...that stuff is wonderful. Not only is it good for covering large WS containers, but if you need to seal your windows in Winter you'll find it better than that cheap thin plastic that comes in the window sealing kits--there's no need to blow dry the stuff to tighten it up, and if you hold it in place with carboard strips and push pins, you can reuse it for another season or two before it starts to go brittle or it becomes too opaque to see out the window.

token, Tulips are basically annuals here. Don't even think of them returning the following year unless they are very old plants, not the newer hybrids. I got leaves last year, but no blooms.

Same here but . . .I learned a trick over on the bulbs forum. Only certain kinds of tulips will return, bloom and multiply, and the specs usually don't say because most people do grow them as annuals, some come back, but some peter out by third year. I guess you are supposed to look for "tulips for naturalizing". Never saw that phrase in all of the many I looked at.

Here was my experience, but I don't know how it will be long term. I ordered some yellow and pink from Bluestone. One yellow came back, didn't bloom. A lot of the pink ones did come back and bloom, second year, don't know what they will do next spring. They did not multiply, may have lost a couple.

But I ordered an assortment 2 yrs ago called "Purple Rain" from American Meadows. I planted all my tulips and covered w/chicken wire and nailed it down w/landscape pins (squirrels). Now I can take most of that up and didn't nail the latest down. The tulips will come up thru it but I had to cut some holes for some that got stuck.

As soon as they are done blooming, cut back the stems way down so they won't use energy trying to make seed, leave all the foliage to die back naturally as that's how they feed the bulbs for the following year. That takes awhile and can be unsightly. At the time you cut back the stems, sprinkle the ground with Scott's Bloom Booster, shows on the container how densely. Repeat in the fall.

The result was that my Purple Rain mixture multiplied some and produced more blooms this past spring, and they are on the east side where the technique wasn't expected to work because it's only morning sun. One in the assortment came back and bloomed, the purple w/white border, rest didn't. That one is shorter than the others. But the plain colors did pretty well.

I just filled in a gap there and had planted a whole new row for me in front, will see how they do. I would buy other kinds but I know whatever ones are in that mixture work, except the one, and the colors work well for me.

I'm still working on this spot and will overplant with something, and shouldn't have used fill flash on the photo.

{{gwi:439749}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Purple Rain Tulips

Aliska, it has more to do with not enough cold treatment than losing the bulbs. Our winters tend to be mild here in zone 7b. We get 1-2 months of cold weather with scattered 60-70 degree days. It's tough to grow much of anything that needs steady cold. We can grow them, but only get blooms the first year. See?

{{gwi:439750}}

Lilacs are nearly impossible too. But on the plus side, many tender perennials make it here (like pineapple sage) because the winters are so mild. I might not have tulips, but I can have summer blooms that last all the way to Thanksgiving. :)

We're also at the very edge of the cold zone for peonies. Now those, I need to have more of. Planted 10 clumps from a group nearly 40 years old last February. I got 2 blooms. Hopefully they will have settled in more this year.

I am aware of the tulips not being hardy here. However, not so aware come ordering time. I paid a lot of money for tulips that I thought were pretty. Most of the tulips I bought probably wont come back. I have learned my lesson on which ones to buy. I love tulips so will keep trying until I figure it out.

NC State Univ. has a list of tulips that perennalize here. I will order from that next year. Also, Brent and Becky's has a list of tulips that do well in the south. Some of the tulips that I ordered were on the NC tulip list so fingers crossed.

Glad that I dont have to do any bulb planting soon. I am still planting perennials, and lily bulbs. I have a ton of spring bulbs that I havent even decided what design to put them in yet. I can definetly wait on that.

Thanks,
Danielle

flower addict,
you might want to re think the use of rubber bands, they will rot really quick,and just fall off of your container, tape will work good,masking,or the clear type, i buy mine at the $ store.
Good luck this year,you will do just fine.
cAROL

If you get a gallon size zip lock bag they fit right over the gallon size nursery pots. Just cut a small slit in the top and they have enough strength to stay standing up too. I used that set up once when I winter sowed. I did fill the gallon containers to the top with soil but if you cut them down you can still fill them to the top. Just to be clear the zip lock is turned upside down over the top of the nursery pot.
Joann

token, I forgot that I did read that about your zone, and it's not much better in mine. My tulips may not last that long after what I just got done reading. I won't post the info or links, but if you're really interested in how the Dutch get them to multiply, google perennialize tulips and look at American Meadows. Also a couple other links.

The Dutch have a complicated process they use to trick the tulips so that they will multiply and be able to market them, replenishing their supply every year.

I'm not going to worry about it now, did the best I could.

We get a good long cold winter here, and tulips don't come back here, either. People replant yearly.

Karen

ugh...why the tulips? I love tulips so much. It just isn't spring without them to me so I will keep buying them.

Danielle

I will keep buying them.

Mine did come back, question is for how long. I will keep buying more, too, as long as I'm able to get them planted one way or another. And keep adding to the other bulbs, want to naturalize some daffodils, more hyacinths, crocus, and I guess even some galanthus (snowdrops) are hardy here. And plant more scillas which might be petering out where I put them.

Now how can I get this back on topic with gallon containers for WS? Whatever we use, I can't wait!

And the good news is whatever frost we had didn't do much, if anything, and the plants I set out late have had about 3 extra weeks rather than the approx 3 I was expecting. Even after the tops freeze off, the roots keep going (hopefully) until sometime in December.

hyacinths set seed, which can be wintersown. ;)

Muscari gave me lots of seeds this year. I tossed them around the garden instead of wintersowing. I already had my hands full.