Hi Kim,

I'm in zone 5 (borderline 4 some years) near Binghamton. This is my fourth year to winter sow. I've already got 30 milk jugs outside, and I'll probably be over 125 by the time I'm finished. I start mostly perennials early, although some tough annuals like snapdragons and alyssum get started early too. I don't do heat-lovers like zinnias and tomatoes until the end of March. I space everything out in between, mostly because I can't accumulate containers fast enough, lol. I've had the most success using gallon milk jugs, so that's all I use now.

What have I winter sown? Let's see, here's a partial list:

ANNUALS: alyssum, snapdragons, annual lobelia, annual salvia 'Victoria,' marigolds, zinnias, amaranth, borage, culinary sage, hollyhocks, cosmos, lavender, tomatoes, nicotiana, violas, nigella 'Miss Jeckyll Blue,' malva 'Zebrina'

PERENNIALS: dianthus, columbine, hosta, daylilies, white coneflowers, maltese cross, rose campion, alpine strawberries

This year I'm trying some trees (hickory, Kentucky coffee tree, two different redbuds, and aralia "Devil's walking stick"). I also have a Rose of Sharon shrub that self-sows like crazy, and would be easy to winter sow.

I hope this helps you get started! Winter sowing is easy, and it has saved me a LOT of money on plants over the past few years. Did you check out the newbie seed project on the WS forum? You can get started with some great seed that way.

Laurel

Hi Kim,
I'm winter sowing too. It really is a great cheap way to start plants!
I've done all kind of perennials and am doing at least 100 kinds this winter. I like to get them all done around this time. Then I slowly work through the annuals getting them all out by the end of March.
A lot of people like Laurel prefer milk jugs. I prefer 2 liter pop bottles, but I'll use anything I can get my hands on : )
Remy

Laurel and Remy,
Thanks for responding. Ok, I've got my courage up. I'm in Utica area and I don't think its to late here. I will start some today. I have had moderate success with sowing in those little peat pots on the windowsills - plants don't get very big and the harvest is late. (I don't have a heat source.) Do they get bigger this way ? Lord knows I spend way too much $$ on plants every spring.

thanks
Kim

Hi Kim,

My WS plants usually grow very well. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the size of the root systems when you go to plant them out. Most people plant out WS things while they're quite a bit smaller than store-bought 6-pack plants, but they establish quicker and grow to catch up within a couple weeks or so. Winter sowing saves quite a bit of money, too, since seeds are much cheaper than plants, and potting soil isn't expensive.

Laurel

Ok, I'm now a winter sower. I planted 17 containers and will do more as soon as I get more seeds and containers. I did send a SASE for newbee seeds.
I'm mostly using 1gal milk and 3 liter soda ( I have 4 children - 3 are teens and they all bring friends over). I'm hooked. I will let you know when they come out so you can join me in a happy dance.

thanks - kim

Congrats Kim! Be careful now. After this spring, you will become addicted to it, lol. I've done 85 containers in the past 2 days.
Remy

I will be Wintersowing but just haven't started yet. I do have a windowsill full of rooted Cuphea, salvias, lantana, Hummingbird Bush, Abutilon, calliandra, etc. that I have been babying along all winter. I really do need to get started soon.
Penny

Hi Kim,
I wintersow in New York City... got 40 varieties in containers so far.
I'm sure you have already found the wintersowing forum here and

www.wintersown.org

Great resources! Happy Gardening all.

Peace
George

Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersowers site

Laurel,

I too am near Binghamton. I am new to the whole gardening thing. Got the bug last year. Anyway, when you talk about winter sowing and putting your jugs outside (and this may be a dumb question, but don't you have to worry about the temperatures? I happened to buy a bunch of seeds yesterday, mostly vegetables, and am anxious to get them started, but wasn't sure the best way to go about it.

Thank You,

Amazingrace

Dear Amazing,
I find the concept of "WINTER SOWING" to be amazing. You take some seeds, put them in contains that were made into "mini-greenhouses", put them outside in winter and God takes care of the rest (more or less). There are 2 main places that have good information on WS (winter sowing) one is the WINTERSOWING forum on Gardenweb ( please read the FAQ page too), the other is WINTERSOWN.ORG ( they have free seeds). Also, folks on gardenweb are most helpful in answering your questions. Not all seeds can be wintersowen, but most can. Read, Get your courage up and do it! I think you'll be hooked. Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: WINTERSOWN.ORG

Thank you misskimmie. I did check out the wintersown.org site and learned quite a bit. It doesn't look quite as difficult as I thought it was. I was looking forward to starting plants in my bow window which means they would have been at the mercy of my dog trying to look around them. Now it looks like I have another alternative.

Maybe you can give me a little more guidance. I have already bought the peat pots and was going to start them in the window mentioned above. Do you think it would be okay to put the peat pots in a shallow aluminum pan and then encase them in clear garbage bags? I saw at wintersown that you can use ziploc bags on smaller containers. What do you think?

thanks

Hello all,
I posted frequently on GardenWeb 3, 4, and 5 years ago, but not much in the past two years. A horse (unexpectedly) came into my life, and I've found it hard to ride and garden. Plan to work harder at it this year though, and I'm feeling a familiar itch to get working with seeds...

I've done some wintersowing in the past, and used both mik jugs and soda bottles. I've read the excellent info. on the WS Forum in the past, but have had problems with the roots of seedlings getting tangled. When I try to separate them, the tiny plants are usually damaged.

So if someone could get real detailed on this, I'd appreciate it. The info. suggests just sprinkling some seeds in, but it seems to have gone better for me when I attempt to evenly distribute the seeds. This takes more time, of course, but seems to mean I have less damage when transplanting. Also, do you folks tape the containers shut?

If anyone has pictures, they would be worth thousands of words!

I wasn't going to wintersow this year, but here I have a week's vacation, and y'all are wearing off on me!

Mountainsong, near Syracuse

MountainSong,
I try to sow with a lighter hand so I don't have as much of a problem with the seedling roots becoming too entangled. One thing that I do if I have a lots of seedlings in one container is to just dig out hunks of seedlings and plant them out. The strongest will survive and the weaker ones will fade away. Another thing I do with the larger seedlings is to tease them out of the container with a wooden shsh kabob skewer and then pot them up individually or plant them out if it is warm enough. At first it is hard to lose a few seedlings but if you have 20 or 30 seedlings of the same kind and you lose a few you will still have plenty to plant out.

Penny

Hi All
This is my very first time doing the WS thing.. I think I might have used the wrong kind of bottles.. I used the 20oz water bottle. Filled 1/2 way and added the seeds. I did cut the bottle around and taped it and put labels on them.. I just think the bottles I used were to small. I live in the Southern tier finger lakes. I'm in between Elmira and Binghamton ny
Should I just start over?? I love gardening and spend way to money on plants every year..

A trick for disentangling roots is to set the whole thing in a saucer of water, wash off the soil, and gently pull the mass apart. It works surprisingly well. Then you replant the bareroot seedlings.

Hi everyone,
A couple evenings ago my hubby and I had a couple couples over and we had a WS-ing party. We had a great time, they had never done it before and seemed to really enjoy it. They each did about ten gallon milk jugs. We had refreshments and chit chat... it was great!!!

Mulchy,
Tell me more...did you supply the "dirt" ? ( I said dirt instead of soil because when I winter sowing I make a real MESS !) A WS party sounds like lots of fun, but I can picture spilled dirt all over the place. ;) Who supplies the containers and seeds?

Dear Amazing,
I am such a newbie at winter sowing ( the kids use the word N00b) - I can't help you much. However, I would worry about 2 things with your suggested method - 1. Would the pots tip over ? 2. Would they have enough ventilation especially when it gets warmer. ?

Maybe you can post your question(s) to the winter sowing forum on garden web.

Good-luck,
Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: winter sowing at GW

posie grower, 20 oz. bottles will work just fine. I have used them with very good success. I also use the individual yogurt containers and 8 ounce disposable cups with a clear baggie over the top. You don't need to start over.

Penny

Hi Kim,
About our little get together--- I had the soil and some seeds. The guys got the containers ready, we used one gallon milk jugs, which we all saved. the girls each brought some seeds. I had collected several seeds in the fall. I put an old sheet over our kitchen table to collect soil. It was not real messy!! My kitchen is used to messy anyway!!! We sowed our seeds and when we were done I just rolled up the sheet and put out the refreshments and we visited!!! I just hope they have good luck, they seemed to be really enjoying the whole process. We used good seed starting soil, so hopefully it will be good!!

I would like to try winter sowing. Do mice ever get in the containers and eat the seeds or plant roots? Last spring I started seeds under grow lights in my basement and the little rascals dined on some of the plant roots. (This happened even though I sent my cat down cellar.)

I've got an assortment of 17 containers on my back deck right now. Most are covered except for a few deep conainers I left uncovered to see how well that will work. I still have lots to do, but am doing it a little at a time because this is my first year WS and I'm collecting conatiners as I go along.

Way to go disneynut ! I'm up to maybe 60 containers. It mad snowing tonight, I don't think I can find the "Pot Ghetto". But I'm excited that somewhere out there, little seeds are sleeping and will spout when the timing is right.

BTW, what are you winter sowing?

kim

I have never had a problem with critters getting to my wintersown containers.

Penny

BTW, what does that stand for? Sorry for sounding stupid.

Melissa

BTW = By The Way (there are no stupid questions).

Penny

Sorry this took so long. I got very sick on Sunday night and finally went to the doctors today to find out I have Strep throat. By the time I checked my mail box today, I had over 400 emails to sort through.

I am starting tons of stuff, most of it WS. Some stuff I won't put out until spring though. Most of my veggies I will start indoors.

here's my list:
Tomatos
Red Robin (dwarf) 55 days started indoors already
Yellow Canary (dwarf) 55 days started indoors already
Window Box Roma (large dwarf) 70 days started indoors already
Silvery Fir tree (determinate) 58 days
Italian Roma (determinate) 80 days
Tomato Super Bush (determinate) 75 days
Green Zebra (semi-indeterminate) 75 days
Red Zebra (semi-indeterminate) 75 days
Green Grape (semi-indeterminate) 60 days
San Marzano (indeterminate) 80 days
Speckled Roma (indeterminate) 85 days
Uncle Charlie's Giant Italian Pear (indeterminate)unknown
MariannaÂs Peace (indeterminate) 85 days
Mrs. Maxwell Big Italian (indeterminate) 69 days
SunsetÂs Red Horizon (indeterminate) 72 days
Chocolate Stripes (indeterminate) 79 days
Sun Gold (indeterminate) 57 days
God Love (indeterminate) 75 days
Isis Candy (indeterminate) 67 days

Peppers - sweet already sprouted
Romanian Rainbow Sweet, 60 days
Napoleon Sweet, 70-90 days
Mini sweet bells (orange, yellow, chocolate), 90 days

Peppers - hot already sprouted
Beaver Dam, mildly hot 80 days
Rio Grande

Carrots
Baby Little Fingers
Nantes Coreless

Collard Greens
Georgia Southern

Pea
Oregon Giant
Super Sugar Snap pea

Squash
Butterstick hybrid
Eel zucchini

Watermelon
Sugar Baby

Strawberries
Temptation hybrid, WS 2/19/08
Alexandria hybrid, WS 2/19/08

Basil
Genovese
Cinnamon
Thai
Lemon
Purple
Sweet
Lime
Licorice
Violetta

Various herbs:
Lavender, Pink
Lavender, Lady
Chives fine leaf
French Thyme
Dill Dukat
Oregano True Greek
Marjoram sweet
Parsley Italian Gigante

Mint Family
Catnip WS 2/27/08
Catnip, Lemon
Lemon mint
Apple mint
PineApple mint
Lemon Hummingbird mint, *annual
Tutti Frutti, horse mint, annual

Flowers
Perennial
Primrose, Showy Evening WS 2/27/08
Holllyhock, Summer Carnival WS 2/27/08
Hollyhock, Golden Yellow WS 2/27/08
Hollyhock, Queeny Purple WS 2/27/08
Pincushion, Purple WS 2/26/08
Pincushion, Mini purple WS 2/26/08
Pincushion, dark red WS 2/26/08
Pincushion, old fashioned pastels WS 2/26/08
Viola, Odorata
Viola, Penny Orchid
BeeBalm, Panorama mix WS 2/26/08
BeeBalm, Pink WS 2/26/08
Delphinium, Fantasia mix WS 2/27/08
Columbine, Harlequin mix WS 2/26/08
Columbine, Blue Star WS 2/26/08
Columbine, D. Purple WS 2/26/08
Columbine, Nora Barlow WS 2/26/08
Columbine, Pale Pink WS 2/26/08
Columbine, Irish Elegance WS 2/26/08
Columbine, Black Barlow WS 2/26/08
Columbine, Leprechan Gold WS 2/26/08
Foxglove cream WS 2/27/08
Gaillardia, Monarch
Gaillardia, Arizona Sun
Allium Giganteum, WS 2/19/08
Allium Azureum, WS 2/19/08
Coneflower, Magnus WS 2/26/08
Coneflower, Common WS 2/26/08
Coneflower, Sky Sunset WS 2/26/08
Coneflower, ArtÂs Pride WS 2/26/08
Coneflower, White Swan WS 2/26/08
Milkweed pink, WS 2/19/08
Butterfly Bush, Fushia
Butterfly Bush, Honeycomb
Butterfly Bush, Blue/purple
Obedient plant, white WS 2/27/08
Obedient plant, purple WS 2/27/08
Rose Champion, Magenta
Lambs Ear WS 2/27/08
Daylily ?, WS 2/18/08
Blackberry Lily common, WS 2/18/08
Blackberry Lily Hello yellow, WS 2/18/08
Toad Lily WS 2/27/08
Lupine, Russell hybrids WS 2/27/08

Annual
Alyssum, Royal Carpet
Alyssum, Carpet of Snow
Rudbeckia, Autumn Colors
Rudbeckia, Triloba
Rudbeckia, Chim Chiminee
Rudbeckia, Gloriosa
Rudbeckia, Cherokee Sunset
Rudbeckia, Burperiu
Rudbeckia, Indian Summer
Esperanza, yellow flower climber?
Clown Torenia, White Blush
Clown Torenia, Burgundy
Clown Torenia, Lemon Drop
Clown Torenia, Violet
Clown Torenia, Mixed
Four OÂclock, Mixed
Four OÂclock, Limelight Rose
Four OÂclock, Mauve
Four OÂclock, Bakers dozen yellow
Cardinal Climber
Malva Zebrina WS 2/27/08
Lavatera, Mallow mix WS 2/27/08
Lavatera, Rose mallow WS 2/27/08
Salvia mix
Salvia, Canary Island Sage
Salvia, Coral Nymph
Salvia, Hummingbird sage
Moonflower, Evening Glory
Morning Glory, Dwarf mix
Morning Glory, Chocolate
Morning Glory, Chachamaru
Marigold French Dwarf Double, mixed colors
Marigold Petite Orange
Marigold Crackerjack, mixed colors
Marigold Francis Hoffmans Choice
Dahlia, Unwins dwarf
California Poppy Sunset mix
Spanish Poppy Orange Double
Poppy Lauren Springer Grape
Poppy Ruffled Pink
Poppy Drama Queen
Poppy Royal Wedding
Sunflower unknown mix
Sunflower mixed colors
Sunflower Sunspot (dwarf)
Sunflower Vanilla Ice
Snapdragon tall deluxe, mixed colors
Helianthus, Lemon Queen
Blue Shrimp Plant
Poached Eggplant
Liatris Spicata
Sulphur Cosmos
BirdÂs Eye
Cypress Vine
Holy Clover
Love in the Mist, Oxford Blues
Zinnia Giants of California
Zinnia Thumbelina
Zinnia Dwarf Pumila Sprite, mixed colors
Zinnia Giant Cactus, mixed colors
Zinnia Lilliput
Zinnia White Perfection
Zinnia Apricot Profusion

As soon as I start to feel better, I'm gonna pick up a few more bags of potting soil, I ran out already. I have the contianers, just no soil.

Boy that is quite an impressive list you have there.
Penny

Ahhh, I don't feel sick any more.

I went to Lowes today and quickly walked past the seeds, LOL. I picked up 6 cu ft of potting soil to try tackling my long list of stuff left to start. I also got 2 gallon freezer bags at Aldi's to start covering these *perfect containers I have been getting at work for everything. I think since I have the large freezer bags, I'm gonna cover the plain containers I have already put out. Will try to take a pic tomorrow of how far I've gotten.

all my crops were started in the winter this year. I am kinda forced to living in arizona. We dont really even have a winter so all my stuff did great. Now im worrying about the heat.

I enjoy wintersowing too! I mostly plant in gallon milk jugs or the large ice cream buckets. The buckets you can use from year to year. I do tape the milk jugs around the middle. I'm in zone 5. I like the fact that you always have some plants to share with friends after you have finished planting. I have 30 containers going now, but yet have to get my annuals planted, probably within a week or two. I need to get more soil this week so I can be prepared.

I like the idea of the wintersowing party! A friend has done it with her local girl scout troop.

Marcie

I am in the Elmira area, I am new to Winter Sowing this season. Currently I have 40 containers started. I am off today from work and plan to get some more done today.