Are you sowing yet?

16 years ago

A number of people start sowing on the solstice, Dec.21, mostly as a symbolic gesture. I didn't have time then, but am going to start today. Almost all of my seeeds are native perennials. I would estimate that 2/3 to 3/4 of these need to be winter sown, with the rest germinating OK if spring or very late winter-sown. William Cullina (formerly of the New England Wildflower Society) calls them Type B or Type A germinators, respectively. As an example, most wild asters are Type A or warm weather germinators. It's more complicated than that, but this is the simplified version.

I have lots of containers saved in my garage, but still have to poke holes in them, get out my soil, etc. I am going to try large pop bottles this year, as well as salad containers, etc. With the wet summer that we had, my soil didn't drain as well as it should have, so I am going to mix more sand and/or perlite in my potting soil this time around. Also, since I wasn't able to obtain my seeds early enough last winter, they weren't planted until mid-Feb. or early March, too late for many of them to germinate. They just didn't get a long enough cold period. This year is "Winter-sowing: Take 2".

What is everyone else planting? Any tips for the inexperienced?

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Comments (7)

luckynes13
16 years ago
I am a first time wintersower this year too. I started some on the winter soltice, but am sowing as I gather containera.
So maybe we will learn together. I have learned a little from you already. That it is good to plant early. I am keeping my winter sown containers on my front porch, since it gets windy where I live and I don't want them blown away. I suppose this will keep the moisture down a bit too.
marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
16 years ago
I had limited success with WSing the first couple of years that i tried it. Other people have given up when that happens, resorting to the "tried and true", but it made so much sense to me that i kept going. Now i WS almost everything - more tender annuals and things like tomatoes have to be done inside in this zone, but everything else is done outside.

One thing that i've learned is to adapt things to your particular situation. Here in zone 3, we've can have very cool springs (not fair after a cold winter, but what can you do?), and i've put some of my containers inside a cold frame, covered them, or even brought them inside when heavy frost threatens. The purists say you shouldn't because your seedlings should be tough enough, but if it goes down to -5 (or lower) after some of the more tender things have germinated, i'm not taking any chances!
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tiffy_z5_6_can
16 years ago
Well, this will be year 9 for me. From now until mid-February - yes, Valentine's Day is the 'mark' for me :O) - I will be gathering and cleaning my containers, and deciding on what seeds to do. Last year was the year of the Echinaceas for me. I did so many and now this year I'll be looking forward to what colours will pop up. I also did some unusual Verbascums, one of the Olympic Verbascum, which I'm looking forward to.

Some days I find it difficult to wait until that bag of ProMix shows up in the basement, but after doing this for a few years, I've discovered I do get better germination in general if all is sown after Feb 14th.

I just hope we get a better summer this year...
ontnative
Original Author
16 years ago
That's very interesting, that you have better success sowing AFTER Feb.14, instead of before. Do you sow mostly annuals? What about the perennials that need a 2-3 month cold-moist period of stratification? or do you not do many of those?
pivoine3b
16 years ago
I have just WSowed Lilac (french hybrid),Climbing Honeysuckle and Clematis. I will probably add Actinidia(kiwi) just for the experience. I have been told that this is the way to acclimatise plants to a lower zone. Anybody has heard anything on this? How I would dream of having Catalpa in my yard...Will wait for the weekend to sow more perennials till I run out of seeds or containers. For the hardy annuals I will surely wait. This is a second experience only and I was so eager to start.
marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
16 years ago
I had intended to get started soon, but there's no seed-starting mix out yet. Not in Walmart, anyway, and that's where i looked. Guess it means i should go through my seeds first!
ontnative
Original Author
16 years ago
I sowed about 25 containers last week, most of them pop bottles with about 4" of potting mix in them. My soil didn't drain that well last summer (being very wet in 2009), so I am trying deeper containers this year. I read somewhere (possibly in Cullina) that deeper containers drain better. I have also added sand/perlite/vermiculite to my soil mix to make sure it stays fluffy to allow oxygen to the roots. I used up most of one bag of starting mix, so need to go to the nursery today to get a second (and maybe a third) one.