Hi, Beth. I've been wintersowing for a few years now.

1. Don't use anything labeled "GARDEN soil". The best soil for WS'ing is POTTING mix. MG is fine, as well as any other good brand. Don't skimp on an off brand. You're looking for a light weight mix, not a heavy one. Fill your containers with at least 3-4" of the mix (after watering). Make sure you put drainage holes in the bottom of your containers. I like soda bottles that I cut about 2/3 for the bottom portion and 1/3 for the top. Toss the bottle caps. I can never make the milk jugs work as well for me as the soda bottles. I cut a vertical slit (about 3") up the side of the top portion of the soda bottle, so you can fold it a bit to fit inside the bottom portion. Don't forget labels. Use a good grease pencil or waterproof marker. Condensation and wear will cause the label to fade otherwise. I put my containers in partial shade. Too much sun in our fuctuating temps can cause your seedlings to burn.....or burn up on warm, sunny Oklahoma days.

2. I start wintersowing after New Year's Day and kind of do it successively thru the end of January, first of February, so that my perennial seed gets sufficient stratification time. Also, I sow my hardy annuals then, too, that tend to reseed. like Cleome, Cosmos. some Salvias, Snapdragons, Larkspur, Gaillardia, Dianthus, Four o'clocks, Malva, Hollyhocks, Love in a Mist, are just a few that can be wintersown. I wintersow tender annuals and half hardy annuals the first of March to mid-March. I have to keep a close eye on my containers then so they don't bake the new sprouts.

While one of the reasons I winter sow is to get a head start on plants, stratify seeds that need it, I also do it because you don't have much of a hardening off period. I do remove the tops eventually (at first it may just be during the day, replacing the tops if we have a very cold night, especially with the half hardies and the tenders). But that's it - easy peasy. And such a marvelous way to expand my garden at a reasonable price, acquire plants that are not offered locally, and just to enjoy the seed-to-plant process.

Have fun!!!

Susan

Susan, I am laughing as I read because my DH took a huge bag of bottles to the dump today, because I prefer milk jugs. We are not milk drinkers so I buy only 1/2 gallon jugs and fight for the gallon ones from friends. LOL

Beth, It is probably the easiest way to grow, so just jump in and do it. I like everything except the unsightly mess. I'm going to have to do better on that part.

Very good! That's all I needed, jumping in NOW. :)

Susan,
I figured that garden soil just wasn't right. It wasn't right for many things... lol!

Carol,
If I lived closer, I'd share milk jugs with you! Two boys means I go thru about 3 to 4 gallons of milk a week. I'm not kidding.

Thanks for your help on this.

Beth

Beth, I cut all the way around the milk jug except for the handle part. I usually punch 2 holes with a heated ice pick opposite the handle and about one-half inch from the cut, one in the top half and one in the bottom. After I plant, I use wire bread ties to push through each hole and secure the two parts together. I leave it like that until I have to start opening the top when the sun gets hot in the spring. You can still lift the jugs by the handle if you need to move them.

I cooked a couple in bottles so I know the cloudy milk jug works best for me.

Oh, no, all those soda bottles, Carol? My heart weeps! LOL I am pretty sure I'll have plenty. I keep trying to cut back on the number/amount of seeds I sow because I get so frustrated in spring when I have to move the bottles around to keep them safe from hard rains, excessive wind, too much sun, or whatever. But, no matter how hard I try, there is always something else I want to experiment with.

Beth, I'm sure you'll do great. and if you have any questions there are a lot of folks, like Carol and me, who will be more than happy to help you out whenever we can. It is really easy to do and I'm sure you'll discover, like we did and still do, that you'll have more seedlings than you ever dreamed of. It's sooooo hard to throw out those excess seedlings, darn it!

Susan

Oh, I won't have to throw out seedlings this year... I think. I'm helping a local women's transitional house start a garden this year. Between my garden and their garden, all will have a happy little home to live in! This will be a BIIIIG help on this! I'm so excited!

so, if i'm kinda bad at starting seedlings, (ok, i'm really bad) this might be a good way for me to go? i have very poor natural light, and no real indoor space to speak of. i can get them to germinate, but then they are either stunted or get leggy and die.....)

i've been reading up on it, and was considering it, so thanks for posting the question, beth! i might actually be able to do something with all these seeds i have :)

dody

Dody, I never had very good growing conditions inside either. It seemed like nearly everything failed no matter what I tried to do. Wintersowing was definitely the solution for me. While it does have its ups and downs in our fluctuating Oklahoma weather, it is still the best proven method IMHO.

Susan

OH my, a question about wintersowing and I'm just now answering! I'm falling down on my obsession :)

It looks like Susan and Carol already did a good job, so I'll chime in and say, I don't use bottles of any kind :) I usually use plant flats. It gets a little dicey if I plant multiple seeds in the same flat, but I'm learning to use smaller containers within the flat. I really like the clear plastic lids.

Dody, this has been the ONLY successful method for me. I have a tiny house and bad light. I didn't have room, I didn't have light and I didn't have the patience to deal with hardening off the few that actually survived.

Last year I got lazy and didn't do many seeds. I really need to buckle down this year and do more.

Lisa

Thank you Susan and Carol for picking up my slack :)

thanks for all the encouragement! i've been collecting the chinese take out containers and i've got a coke addiction, so i've got plenty of 2 liters, and i've even got some of the seed flats, so i should be set. i'll keep my eye out for when y'all start talking about it in the new year! yay!

So there you are Lisa! I have just been 'sub-ing' until you are seedmama got around to reading this thread.

I still grow transplants inside under lights, but I have a pretty good place. I have a small bunkhouse and have very little company during that time of the year, so I can keep the temp just right for the plants. Once they germinate I grow them pretty cool.

I started tomatoes by winter sowing one year and they were just as good as any other transplant but they were a little later than those grown under lights. I wintersow more flowers than veggies, but there are some early veggies that I start in jugs, like broccoli and lettuce. After it is up, I transfer it to small containers until I am ready to put it in the ground. That way the entire root ball gets planted so I don't disturb the roots at that planting.

Lisa and seedmama sent me flower seeds and taught me how to wintersow. I'll bow out now and let Lisa have the floor. LOL

Well, I think I'm good now, lol! Everything is such an experiment with me, I just needed nudged. I'm going to do a bunch wintersown, then do squash/cukes/melons outside when the temps get right. Beans/corn will be direct sown! My main flower will be the marigolds I saved seed for this year, and I'll do zinnias an sunflowers! YAY! I'VE GOT A PLAN! LOL! Now I just need my Baker's catalog and I'll be set. :)
(I've got TONS of seeds to work with STILL, and again I say THANK YOU DAWN!)

I don't wintersow a lot because I have a good seed-starting set-up and use it for the warm-season veggies that are grown from seed, like tomatoes and peppers, and sometimes squash and melons.

I do wintersow herbs and perennial flowers, but I have to be very careful about keeping my wintersown containers in a safe place where the possums, skunks, coons and such who roam the rural countryside at night can't find them/tear into them. Like Lisa, I tend to use flats, but the problem with that is that one cat or another decides the flats with their little clear domes surely must be cat beds.

Beth, You're welcome. I'm glad you still have plenty of seeds, but you know if you ever need any seeds that all you have to do is holler because I always have extras.

Winter sowing has an enthusiastic following because, bottom line, it works. Each of us adapts the basics to suit our own style and available resources. There are a few basics that are key to success.
1. Potting mix. A good quality potting mix will reward you because it makes a difference in moisture retention and adequate drainage. I hope you choose not to use junk.
2. Proper ventilation and drainage. You must have holes in the tops of your containers, whatever you choose, and you must have adequate drainage. If you choose milk jugs or pop bottles, toss the screw on cap from the beginning. (Or save them for discreet pot feet.)
3. Depth of potting mix. Don't scrimp here either. 3 inches is the minimum recommended amount, again for moisture retention. Given that most of the things you are mentioning are more commonly thought of as 'spring sowing' or warm weather annuals, this is even more important. Your containers can dry out on a warm spring day before you know what hit you. It is for this reason that I lean toward milk jugs and pop bottles. I can put deeper potting mix in them.

Keep in mind that Winter Sowing as we know it today was begun by someone who lacked adequate indoor growing conditions and sufficient funds to start things indoors. If you find yourself spending lots of money on anything other than seeds, or if it becomes a lot of work, "you aren't doing it right." (My favorite line from the old Michael Keaton movie Mr. Mom.)

That said, old timers have lots of tweaks to add that will help maximize your success. Just remember these are just tweaks and don't get too bogged down in them. You will be successful regardless.

Here are a few of my tweaks.
1. Traditionally Winter Sowing suggests that you don't transplant until the seedling has its first set of true leaves (and that you do so as soon as they do.) This is sage advice for perennials and a lot of flowering annuals. However, I have found that for certain quick growing vegetables, I am better off just getting the seeds to sprout with the method, then sticking the plug in the ground. This is especially true for okra with its tap root, and cucumbers, squash and melons which can become root bound overnight.

2. The smaller your container, the more closely you have to watch it. My life is a series of interruptions, so I go with bigger deeper containers in case I get distracted for a few days in the warm spring. My exception to that is pre-sprouting okra in the smallest of plastic "Dixie" cups. I find I need to watch it daily, almost twice a day, so once I sow the okra I put my family on notice to make their own sandwiches for dinner and remind them where the laundry detergent is.

3."When the heck do I do it??? It needs to be dead cold outside, doesn't it?" Not necessarily. Lots of perennials need something called cold stratification in order to sprout, or they need cooler temperatures to germinate. That's why we sow in the dead of winter. But the things you have mentioned are warm weather items and can be done later. I rely heavily on Tom Clothier's database because it tells me what at what temps a seed sprouts, and whether it needs cold stratification. The first seeds to be sown are the ones that sprout at coolest temps and require longer colder stratification.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tom Clothier

And if you are botanically challenged like I am, this site might help you find the name to look up in the Tom Clothier chart. LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Gardener

Thank you SeedMama! I guess I did need to know a few more things! I've allready told the Hubby I need to buy a good quality potting soil, so that's no problem. Hearing you're able to do okra makes me want to try it too, haven't had good luck with it in the past. Thank you for the information!

Dawn,
I know you'd send me more, but I do believe I'm good right now. I do have a couple of things I want to order from Baker's, but that's it! I wanted you to know early so then if someone else needs "adopted", you could without worrying about me, lol!

I don't like to transplant my seedlings into the garden too early either. The slugs and snails love, love, love, those little plants. You can make some barriers around them with tuna cans, etc., but my first transplant is generally into a small 3-4" pot where it can grow some more first. Some I may continue potting up a size toward eventually becoming a large container plant anyway, so will never be in the ground.

Sounds like you are well on your way!

Susan