I'm here too.

I missed WS last year because I was in the states taking care of my mother who was very ill FEB, March and April, but there's always next year!

northerner_on and gail_ish;

my S-I-L lives in Deep River and we are planning to visit in mid July. Small world eh?

Tova

Hi everyone!I live just east of Toronto,near lake Ontario.
I have been wanting to try winter sowing for a while now,buthave been a little intimidated by it.
This may be the year that I give it a try.
My problem is knowing when to start things so that they won't be planted too early or too late.
Also what type of soil to use in the containers etc.
I'd really like to start experimenting,because in a couple of years we'll be moving and I'll need the experience to get a good start on a new garden.starting from scratch can get very expensive if you are going to depend on nursery plants for a new garden.I have a very large deck which doesn't get much use during the winter months,so I can see rows of pots out there planted up over the winter.
What are some of the must haves when it comes to equipment?
Eliza Ann

Eliza Ann,

All you need is two good hands and a pair of good winter boots!! If you have those things, you are well on your way to some great plants. Oh, and good dirt and lots of recyclable containers... They also help. LOL!!

Well, I'm Tiffy, and I hail from Prospect Bay in Nova Scotia. I've been winter sowing for 4 years and truly love it. We bought a home in 2001 which had not a flower on 2/3 acre, and were it not for winter sowing things would be rather bland around the house. There's no way I could have afforded to pay for all the plants which grow here today.

Here's a picture of three years worth of waiting. Priceless!!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:241945}}

Tiffy, what a beautiful pic of your blue poppies. Are they Meconopsis? I saw them in the garden of a friend in Perth (Ont) and she has promised me some seeds but I keep forgetting about them - of course, I have to remind her. I hear they are very hard to grow. What's your experience?

Eliza Ann:
You can start by reading the FAQ on the mother forum. Trudi had lots of good information there. There are also several threads on the mother forum concerning soil and containers. Just use the 'search' function with those two keywords and all the information you need will come up. Also, there's a seed site with information about saving seed. In that way when you start, you can used your own saved seed and if all fails (and it won't) you won't have lost a big investment. Trust me, though, you will be hooked. I'll never go back to those lights in the basement and hardening off!!!! UGGHHH!!Good luck.
Northerner.

My name is Shauna and I am an addict.

I've completed two years of winter sowing and I absolutely love it. I'm really looking forward to getting to know all of you that I don't know already and I know we will have a great group going here very soon.

I live in Edmonton and usually hang around on the Far North forum. It'll be lots of fun to hear how everyone is "sprouting" across Canada.

Shauna

Hi everyone! I'm Chris and I live in Winnipeg and Vivian, MB. I've been winter sowing for 2 years now. Most of my friends and family don't believe the results. I am already collecting sowing containters. I just have to find room somewhere to plant everything.

Hi my name is Shelly - I am an addict too! I live in Pickering Ontario and I am third year winter sower - My family says I need help!

Hello. This past season was my first year WSing - hooked already. I did both annuals and perennials - Love it - excellent success and wow - you should see my annual containers - waaaaay more beautiful and lush compared to the ones I used to make from purchased 4 cell trays!
I'm from Dundas, just outside of Hamilton Ontario and am looking forward to seed and information exchange on this new forum!

Hi all! I'm Verena from Penhold Alberta. I didn't get any WSing done this past year, so this coming winter will be my first. Looking forward to trying it out!!

Verena

Yahoooo! Our very own forum :)

Last winter was my first to wintersow and I have to admit I did waaay too much. I still haven't planted out all my babies (and I'm embarassed to admit it!) This weekend I promised myself I'd get them out of their containers... it just goes to show ya how resilient these plants are! Next year, I promise not to go so hog wild :) (yeah, right!)

My heritage ws tomato plants are almost catching up with their store-bought cousins and I can't wait to try out the exotic varieties I sowed. Mmmmmm home-grown tomatoes :)

I have never traded seeds before and would love to start -- that's why I'm so glad to see this forum :) Here's a pic of my front yard... can ya tell I hate grass?

Take care everybody :)

Kristine in Angus

{{gwi:541516}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Krystine's Garden Blog: Cosmos in a windowbox?

Hi everyone, I'm Gillian and I live in Winnipeg. I already know a lot of you from the Far North forum. I was new to wintersowing this year too, and I was a little intimidated, but it worked out (mostly) fine and I will do it again. I still prefer indoor sowing because I like to fuss and obsess ;0)

Krystine, what a lovely front yard, who needs that old grass anyway!

Greetings from St. Catharines, southern Ontario! I'm intrigued by the idea of wintersowing and am thrilled to see this forum. I've grown from seed under lights for a few years now and am thinking that WS would be a great way to expand on my gardening addiction. Looking forward to following the posts here. Thank you "Northener" for pointing to the master forum and FAQ. Will save a lot of newbie questions. :-) Wendy

Nice to meet everyone. I'm over in Mackenzie BC which is just north of Prince George. This coming winter will be my 2nd year winter sowing. The first year went great and am looking forward to doing it all again.

Syreeta

Hello Everyone.My name is Ross and I am an addict. I am from Chatham in Southwestern Ontario( the banana belt) I have been winter sowing for the past three years and have had promising results. I love the idea how this hobby can now be an all year addiction. Nice to see this forum up and running and I hope to spend some good times here. Take care and Happy Gardening. Ross.

Greetings Everyone!

Colleen here - usually I am in the Far North forum, though never as active there as I would like to be.

I tried my hand at wintersowing 2 years ago and have NO idea why it was not successful :(

Got caught up in renovations and repairs at my rental property this winter and involved with my Dad who had taken ill in the spring, so had no chance to try again. This coming winter I do plan to try again though and will try to hold my tongue right this time! :)

Look forward to ws'ing together!!

-Colleen

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden 2006

I'm Sam or Sharon A. Middleton from the Georgian Bay area of Ontario. I've been 'cold' sowing since 1998. I've experimented with alternating temperatures, outdoor & cold basement with many species. It has truly amazed me that trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, grasses & my favourite, Clematis has actually has germinated using the W/S method.
What also delights me is having germination after leaving pots out for several years (in plastic bags).

Hello everyone,

I'm Corine from Sudbury,Ontario. I have been WS for 3 yrs. now and won't start seedlings any other way now! Once the weather warms in the spring, I start moving my containers(usually 2L. pop bottles) into my unheated greenhouse. All my plants have very strong stocks and are extremely hardy. I laugh now at the folks who say a particular plant is "maginally hardy",I've got that beat now. By the way, who starts collecting their containers now for the upcoming winter, or am I the only "nut"?

Hi all: Here in Lotusland, my sowing and planting schedule will be different from most of the rest of Canada as March 31 is our average last-frost date. Yes, I'm saying that just to make you all jealous. 8-) (Though I used to garden in Prince George, so I can relate.)

This was my first year WSing and I had great success. My biggest lesson learned was that if I sow the entire Jumbo package of sweet peas, I won't have room for anything else on my deck. And also, that in the Lower Mainland's rainy winters, you need lots of huge drainage holes.

NEWBIES: This is the BEST time to get started on your addiction. RUN to garden centres that are putting eveything on sale and buy seed starting soil. I used ProMix Seed & Potting Mix.

Then, start eating organic salad from Costco or Superstore. The 2-pound containers are great for winter sowing. Drill holes or melt them with a soldering iron. The lids snap on (no tape) and you can stack them up. They have lots of headspace so you can leave your seedlings in their protected environment longer.

My favourite thing about WSing is that my kitchen eating area can actually be used for eating from February to April, instead of being covered in trays.

H'ray for WSing.

Hi all...I'm Sue from N.s...This will be my third year. The first was not very sucessfull but with some tweeking and figuring out what went wrong/right this year was much better. Currently in holding pattern for seed production and looking forward to a new ws season.

Hi everyone...Ang from Edmonton here. I also post on the Far North Forum regularly! This will be my 4th winter for WS and I can't wait to get going on this again! Yes, I've been collecting containers already too.

I was rather skeptical the first year BUT then I got totally hooked.

This is absolutely fantastic to have this forum! Thank you GW!

Ang

Hello,

I'm really excited to try winter sowing this year in London,ON. I have a big yard that I'm steadily converting to gardens!

This forum is great, I've learned so much! My only fear is going overboard in a whole new way... I started over 400 seeds indoors this year, which lead to an interesting time finding places for all the plants!

Looking forward to getting to know you all and maybe to seed swaps, here or on the Canadian Garden Exchange forum.

Cheers!

I'm from Sudbury, Ontario. This will be my first time winter sowing. I've already saved a couple of those big plastic salad containers. Now what I have to do is start making a list of seeds that I want to wintersow, i.e., maltese cross, echinacea. I'll be checking this website regularly. Do you think people will be putting their seed exchange in this website as opposed to the Canadian Seed Exchange forum?

Barb here from Woodstock Ontario (turns east and waves at Shelly!)

I didn't have the best luck with my first wintersowing but I'm willing to give it another shot. Most everything sprouted but the sprouts lagged behind the stuff that was germinated months later. Not sure why that is but I'll give it another shot this coming winter/spring.

Barb

Bonjour! Anna from Quebec here. I just noticed today that we have our own forum - super!This will be my 4th winter sowing season - I try to keep records and stats on what germinates and when - so far, I am holding steady at pretty much 80% germination rate - and that's great. By mid-late May, I almost start to hope nothing else germinates, as I have so much growing by then. Almost. But it looks lovely - all those containers with bright fresh green sprouts - and later - it looks like my own private nursery.

The mailman this year was truly boggled at what was going on - he witnessed the early stages: the containers in the snow on my porch, then the sprouts, then all the rest....he gave a fabulous compliment one day in June as he was delivering a parcel: he said it was like coming to a botanical garden! It was nice to hear, as so often I am very critical and think it looks like chaos and confusion.
Here is how it all looked back in 2004, my first attempt, and what a success. I had already transferred some to pots - as I am never ready to plant in beds, and I prefer they get bigger before putting them in the ground:
{{gwi:541517}}

Bonjour Anna, and welcome. I'm in Ottawa so you're in my zone. I found your pic. very interesting. It seems you sow your seeds in pots. How do you protect them through the winter? I am a 2nd year WSer and am always looking for new ideas for containers since having a bad experience last winter. Didn't lose anything but it was time-consuming watering my containers every day because the soil was too shallow. I do not have access to milk-jugs and many of the other popular containers. Would you like to share your system with us? Thanks.
Northerner.

Northerner - actually, I do not sow in pots, but I transfer then to pots from the plastic water bottles (4 litre ones) as soon as I can to allow for good root development, and also knowing from experience that I am slow to plant all of them so, the bigger the pot to f\grow in the better. This year, I used even bigger pots than those in the picture. I am lucky I have lots of room to have so many pots hanging around. Like I said, mid-summer, it looks like a nursery!

But - you could easily sow in pots - I have done a few that way, by covering them with plastic bags, that have some holes in them, and propped up from the inside by brochette sticks or any other stick, done up in a tripod manner. Also, on the mother forum, I have seem some people make "domes" from hard wire to allow the plastic bags to stay upright. I find improvising and perfecting the techniques half the fun!

Anna

Hi my name is Shanta -I live in Burl On. I am going try this year again .Last year no luck.

I'll give it another shot this coming winter/spring. I've been collecting containers already too.

Shanta

Thanks for explaining, Anna. It was my mistake - thinking you had done your sowing in the pots in the pic. I am saving some 2-litre bottles to try this year, but they are at a premium since we don't drink pop and I only occasionally buy juice in those plastic jugs. I am also collecting toilet tissue/paper towel rolls for the larger seeds. I tried them in the spring for my tomatoes and they were fine. Removed the bottom and planted the entire thing in the ground. I am doing some summer sowing (perennials for fall planting) in paper pots made following a pattern on one of these forums. They are not as stable as the toilet tissue rolls but are working O.K.

Shanta: so sorry to hear of your bad luck last year. I always advice newcomers to read all the FAQ on the mother site as well as Trudi's article:
http://gardengal.net/page104.html
I somehow happened on that article and that's how I began. Good luck next time!
Northerner.

Hello....my name is Rose.... and I'm addicted to Winter Sowing

It all started out on dreary winter day with some time to kill... I found the WS Forum and started to investigate this strange garden method... could it be possible?? Would this work here in Mid Western Ontario??

I started collecting all sorts of containers from suggestions on the winter sowing forum and in February my kitchen table turned into a potting bench ... I placed all my containers on my Sun Porch and eagerly awaited a sprout of green

By May I had so many green sprouts (Yeap it worked) I started to worry about where I would plant all the babies.... but I somehow managed to cram everything in my tiny flower beds... I vowed NEVER AGAIN!!

Then February rolled around and I needed another fix.....

Last time I looked at the calendar February is due to come around again in about 6 months....

I need help ;^)

Rose, you ain't gonna get it here! :>

Marica...judging by the seeds I've collected so far I'm in deep trouble come February!! hehehehheehehe

Me too, and every year i say i'm going to cut down. Uh huh.

Ok, after reading this I'm sorry to say that I'm not Canadian but am from a zone 3 in the USA and Oregon to be specific.... I HAVE ghetto gardened for two years with the best results the first year. I think my problem has been soil and that I followed someone else's idea about putting holes in the rim of my milk jugs. I don't think it made the greenhouse effect the way it should have. I had not done that the first year and had a much better success rate for condensation and sprouting.

Why you ask am I coming here and far north to mingle, you all have the closest conditions to me that I have found. Besides you all have been very gracious in allowing me to crash your sites. Thank you.

I am constantly amazed at what different plants I see on far north - why they aren't in my area I have no idea. So I drool and wish and crash.... Here's looking forward to ghetto gardening this winter.

Hi all. I'm an Albertian Wintersowing addict, who feels like I just hit the jack pot by finding this new forum. Thanks GW.

Started winter sowing 2 years ago and am now a seed snatcher to the core.

Did my first community garden this year and I'm already dreaming about next years plans. What a wonderful way to connect family and friends.

Looking forward to spending the winter with you all.

Hello everyone...Just found this site and so nice to see the names of old forum friends again.
I have winter sown beautiful plants for the past 2 years..and I'm looking forward to doing it again this year.
I live in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Here's a plant that I winter sowed from seeds I got in an exchange and it is supposed to be Moon flower...but the flowers are crimson.
Any idea what it is ??

{{gwi:541518}}

G'day - I too, am from the Ottawa Valley! I Winter Sowed for a couple of years a few years ago, then slowed down after running out of gardens for the seedlings. [Hubby and I both are always keen to add another garden but not so keen to maintain it ;-) - some common sense finally prevailed!]
Nice to see the old names on the board here. I haven't visited gardenweb in a while! Happy seed collecting everyone!

msjean... that looks like Morning Glory to me?

msjean, there's a Morning Glory called Ipomoea purpurea 'Crimson Rambler', Google and see what you think?

Sharon

Hello from north central B. C. Just found (and joined) this forum. Think I have found a community of like-minded gardeners...

Turns out that I have been winter sowing for years, but didn't know it by that name! I just called it Mother Nature's stratification plan for some seeds, or "I have no more room under the grow lights..." for others.

Glad to be here to learn what others are doing, pick up some tips and handy hints, and hopefully be able to help out on some questions myself. Cheers, W

Hello everyone. I live in Ontario Zone 5 . I will be trying winter sowing this year for the first time. I have seen the postings of how easy it is. I am hoping to get advice from the experienced sowers.
Judy

With the cooler temps creeping in I thought I should check in on our new forum. This is sooooooo great to have a WS Canada forum.

I'm Laura and I am in Z5b .. but I could be wrong about that. Im in Burlington Ont. I have been WSing for the past three years. I dont often keep many of my seed babies but pass them on to others. I keep trying to find the right plant for the hard to plant areas. I love tropicals so I bring in about 70% of my garden every fall.

MsJean is that a MG that I sent you .. does it look like this one .. if it is it is called Sunrise Serenade.

{{gwi:541520}}

{{gwi:541523}}

Hi: I'm Joan from northern Nova Scotia. I've never tried winter sowing but plan to this winter. I need lots of help, as I am new at starting plants from seed. Will let you know how I make out.

Hi, I'm Connie from Torrington, Alberta. I usually hang around on the Far North forum. Last year was my first year wintersowing, and it worked really well. I'm already getting excited about this year. I have some rose seeds I want to plant. Should they be done this fall, so they get the warm/cold cycles? I'm hoping I get some interesting seedlings.
Connie

I've just found this forum, what fun. No WS experience but I have been sprouting indoors for ages. Pet peeve on that is mould, so hopefully WS is the trick. Greetings to all from just west of Ottawa Ont.

Hey Madawaska, we're sharing the same garden centers! I'm in Constance Bay.

Hi everyone! My name is Trish and I live in Mississauga, ON. This will be my second year winter sowing. It's so great to have a Canadian forum.
Both my hands are up. I'm winter sowing again. My family thinks I'm crazy but I say you can never have enough flowers!!!
Happy Gardening To All!!

Hi WSers!

I'm winter sowing bigger scale this year. Last year I did a little and it worked well. I'm trying it a little different though. I have one of those Canadian Tire mini greenhouses 36"wide x 5ft high on wheels with four shelves. I have 160 - 4" square pots and put the plastic cover that came with it on with the top zipped open a bit for air exchange. It's in the shade under a pergola. If it works I'll post my findings :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Hummingbird Group - They're so much FUN!

Hi....Everyone

I am new here and we are also love to meet new members here....
In this forum we want to learn some useful info and also share a lot of information like Flower Girl Dresses,ivory dresses and many more other useful info....

Here is a link that might be useful: flower girl dress

Hi...Friends

I am John new here and love to meet new members. In this forum we share a lot of things about decorating and also want to learn from themselves.

Here is a link that might be useful: wedding candle holders

Hello !
I am also a new member. Would a newcomer be warmly welcome here? Good day you guy !
__________________
watch free movies online

Good!--- to get some activity on this forum.
Let us keep it going over the winter.

Caroline