Patch - welcome, welcome & happy winter sowing to another CT gardener! You're going to have SO much fun winter sowing a lot of new plants for your flowerbeds!

Ditto what you said about growing seeds indoors. This is a lot more fun + a huge improvement + it's fun + it allows you to get dirt under your fingernails in January & February + the plants are amazingly hardy.

If you need/want perennial seeds, let me know. I harvested enough from last year's WS plants to plant my own botanical garden and this year's harvest was even more spectacular!

Gardenweed--Thank you for the warm welcome. I've been admiring the photos of your WS efforts. And thank you for the generous seed offer!

I'm going to do some planning and container-hoarding for the next month, then after the holidays, I'll begin preparing my seeds for their foray outdoors. I figure it will be a great January/February project.

I may have some questions along the way. Stay tuned!

Patch

Welcome, Patch.

Germination rate may be a little lower with older seeds. But if you get a few nice healthy seedlings, you're ahead of the game. The longer seeds sit unused, the more resistant they become to breaking dormancy. But the cold stratification plus later fluctuating temperatures of warm-cold spring temps really does seem to overcome that dormancy. You might be shocked to see some really old seeds sprout, which might not happen inside under lights. And wintersowing is so much easier AND no damp-off.

Karen

Welcome Patch, this is a wondeful forum, nice people here who will help you every step of the way.

Trudi

Welcome aboard! Are you in southern or northern Conn? I'm right across the LI Sound on the northfork of Long Island.

You will find all the help you need here, lots of encouragment as you wait for your seeds to germinate (and you'll experience some envy as sometimes folks in colder zones get germination before us southern New Englanders)and people here are willing to answer any questions - no such thing as a stupid question!

Start looking for paint pens and tape in additon to scavaging containers!

Hi Patch, hold onto your seat. WSing is so additive, and there are so many enablers on this forum! WSing works so well that I have filled my yard with plants in the three years that I have been doing this. I created a very large new garden this year and was able to completely fill it in with plants that were incredibly big by the end of the summer. Many of them won't bloom until last year (and some stayed in the pot ghetto until the end of summer) but next year should be spectacular.

In addition to the paint pens, get yourself a large bag of potting mix into a area where it won't be frozen by the time you are ready to plant. LOL

Hi Patch! You are going to love winter-sowing and this forum. Very fun in the winter. And you'll be rolling in plants! :)

Thanks all! Your enthusiasm is very contagious!

Nan--Latitude-wise, I'm in the middle of the state, and so far east I can walk my dog in Rhode Island. We're all practically neighbors.

As far as supplies go, I have about 1/2 dozen milk jugs that I plan on rescuing from the recycling bin before the Saturday trip to the transfer station. I plan on saving future jugs from now on. I have a HUGE rubbermaid tub of potting soil in the potting shed. I'll bring that into the house a week before I start this project, so it will have time to thaw if it's frozen by then.

I plan to plant a lot of the seeds I have (old or no), but Gardenweed, I may take you up on your offer if I don't find enough that are relatively recent.

I do need pens. In perusing the forum, I see a lot of you like Deco paint pens. Can I get them at Michael's? I have a bunch of Sharpies, but the reviews seemed mixed on their lasting abililty.

One of my main concerns about this project is where to stash my "pot ghetto." I'll need to keep them either on a table on the patio, or on my open front porch. I'm afraid I may develop an aversion to the plastic clutter. Any advise about how to deal with that?

I have a limited space to place my jugs as well. I found that I began to LOVE the plastic clutter as I peeped inside and saw little sprouts! I placed mine on the ground beside the deck but I am in NC zone 7 and I don't know if you can put them on the ground there. I think in Gardenweed's photos hers are on the ground. Am I correct
Gardenweed? You will have so much fun ws you will show off your plastic jugs to friends!

Linda

Yes, no doubt about it the winter-sowing pot ghetto is an eyesore! The containers are often an assortment of gaudy colors and shapes. Then the seeds start sprouting, seedlings need to be planted, and tops, empty pots, trays, markers etc. get all strewn about. I can remember one poster saying it looked like a recycling truck got into an accident in her yard! LOL

But you will love your little plant babies. Every nice Spring day you go out and see a few more little green sprouts, and get a little thrill.

I keep my containers out of sight from the street and neighbors. The winter-sown containers, which are the seeds that need or do better with cold stratification, are in the back, the east side of the house, and they get am sun only. The spring sown seeds which are heat lovers, annuals, veggies etc. are in cups and get put on the south side next to the deck, and they get more sun until the trees fill in.

One way to deal with the pot ghetto - better to analyze this after the first year - is uniformity. For years in my suburban MA neighborhood, I bought clear containers from a restaurant supply - the size of 1 lb. margarine containers - to establish a uniform look. Of course, that is neither cost effective nor environment friendly (I did reuse them from year to year, though), but it worked for me.

Welcome, and have fun!

Welcome to wintersowing Patchwork

Okay, this gives me something to think on for a bit. I definitely don't want my containers right on the ground. I have ducks. Who love salad. And mud. So that would just be a disaster waiting to happen.

I think vertical is the way to go. I'm really really trying not to buy too much for this project, so I will see what I can rig up or purchase cheaply for going vertical.

I like the idea of uniformity. Even if I recycle milk jugs, I will take some inspiration from Gardenweed and make my containers and neat and tidy (especially the labeling!)

If I go vertical, I assume I'll have to pay more attention to watering as the bottom containers may not receive as much rain and snow as the top containers.

I've used a couple planters with boards across their tops to make shelves along both sides of my breezeway so the containers are up off the ground. Also folding tables, patio tables, a recycled mini-greenhouse without the plastic cover and an old garden bench. A stack of bricks/pavers at either end would also serve to hold the boards up.

Hi! I'm another Newbie getting ready for the WS season. I found a "Painters" acrylic marking pen at Walmart that I bought. I'm assuming(hoping) that it's a permanent marker that won't fade like the Marks-alot I've tried in previous years. Has anybody tried that brand before?