I tried it a few times and it didn't really work for me. If the containers don't blow away and spill, at best things sprout only about 2 weeks earlier than if the seeds were just sown in the ground.

The things that do seem to work best with winter sowing are the very hardy and prolific annuals and perennials that reseed themselves anyway. For fussier plants, if I'm going to start them early, I'd rather do it inside where I have more control.

Not to knock it, though. It seems a lot of people really enjoy it and have better success than I.

Capeheart, it sounds as if you are talking about direct sowing in the winter - sowing the seeds in the places you want them to grow - as opposed to winter sowing, which is starting seeds outdoors in covered containers. I don't direct sow, largely because my beds are seldom as prepared as I'd like them to be in the fall (I add compost in the spring), and my weed vs. plant identification isn't foolproof yet. Also, I like the idea of placing plants in specific places, which I can't control as well with direct sowing.

I do a lot of wintersowing, though - most of my perennials were plants I started from seed via the wintersowing method. I now have, 4 years after starting this process, significant clumps of hollyhock, agastache, echinacea, lychnis, toad lily, lupine, platycodon, geum, Joe Pye weed, perennial sunflower, daylilies, helenium, and asclepias to name a few.

I also start my annuals this way any time after January 31, doing only the tenderest or tropicals indoors. Wintersown plants germinate usually between late March (hollyhocks, bachelor buttons, sunflowers, lettuce, & poppies) and mid-May (columbines & roses, among others). The annuals are NOT ready at the same time as you buy flats from the store (Mother's Day, usually) - my annuals often don't start blooming until June, but they hold fast through the summer droughts. If I get really antsy for color sooner, I buy a couple of flats to tide me over - also, I usually have impatiens, coleus and geraniums I have started indoors.

This year I'm going to take a leap of faith and do all my tomatoes via wintersowing. I've found my wintersown plants to do as well as the tomatoes I've started indoors in the past - although they produce a little later, for the most part - and I'm tired of the indoor jungle. Peppers I'll still do mostly indoors, though, although I've felt the pepper performance to be mostly a disappointment regardless of whether/how I start them from seed or buy plants.

I suggest that if you're interested, you visit the wintersowing forum on Gardenweb & read through the FAQs. Good luck to you!

Capeheart, I think drippy is right - it seems like you are thinking of direct sowing outside as opposed to "Winter Sowing". Visit the winter-sowing forum for tons of info!

I'm on my fourth year of winter-sowing and I find it very successful. BTW, drippy, I WSed my tomatoes and peppers last year, and had great success with both.

:)
Dee

I'm on my first year of wintersowing, we'll see :-)

I think the point is not that they germinate earlier than direct sowing, but rather that you dont lose so many seeds to critters, you dont have to deal with hardening off as much as you do with indoor sowing, and you get to play in the dirt in the winter. At least in theory. I'll report later on how mine worked....

Do I ever!!!
I'm on my 4th year and I've had immense success. They are in a controlled environment (small containers) rather than in a garden bed, which means better germination and no risk from being eaten.
Also, as CJSmith said, you don't have to worry about damping off or hardening off, only the strongest seedlings survive out there.

I suffer from plant greed so this is the cheapest way I get huge numbers of plants LOL ;-)

Mine tend to germinate in mid March after the first real warm spell. It is so amazing to see seedlings peeking through the containers in the snow, and then to watch them survive through subsequent wintry spells!

Ellen

I made a brief attempt at winter sowing last year, and failed. I realized, though, that I actually like having the plants inside, under lights, so I can visit them often!!
I have a great place for hardening off, too (an enclosed, unheated porch), so I am not as inclined to work harder on my WSowing...I have heard great things about the method, though.

Since most of what I grow are annuals, and getting them off to an early start is *very* important here, I've never really seen the point. If people want to play in the dirt, growing under lights is a lot more hands on.

Given the number of years we have to try every trick in the book to get ripe tomatoes before fall, the idea of putting them back even a week doesn't work for me at all.

I too have been using lights I set up in my basement for close to 14 years now. It has worked well for me. Last year I read through the winter sowing FAQ and forum and contemplated doing it. Like 'mskee' I like that I can visit the plants in my basement day or night. Plus I hate the cold weather so I don't know if I could keep up with the watering and checking outside that the winter sowing seems to require.

If you're interested in setting up lights it is easy and relatively cheap to do. I just got a set of heavy duty metal shelves (5 shelves variety) and shop lights. Put the shelves together and drilled holes to hang the shop lights using the shop light chains from the bottom of each shelf. I can fit two standard flats on each shelf for a total of ten flats. Each flat can hold 8 to 12 -- 6 packs. So you can start a lot of plants this way depending on how many 6 packs you fit on each flat. I use recycled 6 packs people save for me so I usually only need to buy seed starting soil. My basement is unfinished and unheated and I find the lights right out of the box work well. I didn't need to adapt them as others have done on the 'Growing under Lights' forum seem to talk about.

Growing from seed has let me try so many varieties not available in my area. Of course now a days the selection at the nurseries seems better and better each year. If I hadn't started and had so much success with the lights I would probably give the winter sowing a try. Go for it! One of these days I may give it a try...

This is my first year Winter Sowing. For three years I have tried to start seeds indoors. I don't have space or access to electrical outlets in my basement, so growlights and warming mats are out. I tried to start the seeds in peat pots on my windowsills. The cats knocked them over, the steam radiators cooked them, I forgot to water them, etc., etc., etc. In all that time, I got one (ONE!!) Impatien plant to show for it.
After lurking in the Winter Sowing forum and reading about it, I concluded that Winter Sowing just mimics what Mother Nature does anyway, just in a slightly more controlled way. I am cheap and I want a yard full of plants. So, I'm Winter Sowing. I also like the control of having my seedlings in containers instead of direct sown into the ground. You don't have to do much with them during most of the winter, just when the weather gets warmer do you have to monitor them a bit more closely. And the seeds are supposed to freeze, that's the whole point -- freeze -- thaw -- freeze -- thaw -- sprouting.

I want to try indoor sowing as well, but at the moment the space and the start-up budget arent available. I do have one good window that I can start seeds in, and I probably will start some flats there. I'd like to do the whole grow light thing in the basement, but I need to buy lights and shelving to do that.

The winds yesterday did damage some of my wintersown stuff, one negative to the outdoor thing. But I do like not having to worry about watering, at least not til spring.

I agree, if you are looking for early blooms or harvest (eg tomatoes), winter sowing is not your best method. I always do quite a few different seeds indoors under lights each winter, for certain annuals, coleus and other stuff that I want to see earlier in the year.

For things like perennials which don't always bloom the first year, and for sheer volumes of plants, winter sowing is much easier than growing under lights, and kinda fun for getting your hands in the dirt in early winter :-)

Ellen

I have done WS and under lights and both are good. I overwinter my geraniums by putting them in my basement windows and my postman tells me it's so nice to see them in flower when it's snowing like the dickens outside.

You don't need anything fancy like shelves to grow under lights. Shop lights are around $15 at a hardware store, and that's really all you need. That and your imagination. For years I started plants under old fluorescent lights with big reflectors. The reflectors supported the light, which were set on top of piles of old bricks. That was it. I did have old timers so the lights turned off at night, but the major expense was the fluorescent light.

I have now advanced to a PVC light stand, and a four-tube fluorescent that hangs by chains from a bamboo pole suspended between chair backs. Right now, only the bottom light on the light stand is on. There are some coleus, tender salvias, and a verbena underneath. Since the big light can go up higher, most of those things need to be moved to under it, and repotted.