I am in zone 6 also. I had hoped someone would answer who lives in your area. I am in the Kansas City area. I have winter sown tomatoes and have done so again this year. The winter sown ones usually catch up quickly to my indoor grown seedlings. I do both just to be on the safe side. Winter sowing is certainly easier and I don't feel I have much to loose. I say give it a try! Good luck!

I'm in SE PA (6b/7a) and wintersow tomatoes every year. You will get tomatoes at when you normally get them, the only difference being that the plants you transplant will be much smaller than what you see in the local nurseries. This is normal -- in a month they'll all be the same size.

I wintersowed my tomatoes on March 6 and because of the abnormally warm weather we've been having I already have a few sprouts. I usually don't see them till April. Wait till they have two sets of true leaves to transplant and everything should be fine.

Thanks all. I'm just now getting sprouts. I'm hoping it's a good tomato year. I'm going to have lots of plants.

So ponyexpress, what varieties did you sow? I'm having to live vicariously through everyone's gardens this year, as I have none.

This was one of the largest I managed to grow over the years - German Striped, came in at just over 2 lbs.

I just saw winter sowing for the first time on pinterest. I live in CT. zone 6a. Last year I tilled my garden In the fall and there were some tomatoes that got tilled under. I was just outside yesterday weeding and found at least three new plants from last year. This is awesome. I would like to try again. on purpose this time any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. I will be reading the above comments!

Hi Alan and welcome. There's a website that gives all the info on how to wintersow. It's wintersown.org. There's also a wintersow FAQ on here somewhere I think, and there's a facebook group as well.

I use translucent gallon milk jugs and 2L soda bottles, but there are many other containers you can use as well. It's a simple process and usually works quite well.