Question about wintersowing

5 years ago

Hi guys,

I'm posting this to a few forums because unfortunately the winter sowing forum isn't nearly as hopping as it used to be, so I'm trying to reach a wider audience.

I was asked to do a winter sowing workshop for a local garden club. I've done many of these, but usually in January or February. This time its in November.

I'm kind of at a loss as to what to sow. It's a hands-on workshop; I always have attendees sow their own container and send them home with an extra container and more seeds. I usually do lettuce and some easy annual like alyssum or marigolds - something that will be successful and therefore inspire them to continue wintersowing.

I personally usually only sow annuals and veggies now - it's been a while since I've done perennials, and I'm thinking these (perennials) might be better suited for such early sowing - thinking that perennials may need more of a warm-cold-warm stratification. The only thing I can think of is columbines, but these can be finicky, and again, I want them to succeed.

So, I'm looking for suggestions as to what to sow. I'm actually wondering if lettuce or greens would sprout and grow quickly, but I'm not sure I want that - I'm introducing this as a way to start in winter and have things in spring. I wondered if biennials would work, but don't know if November is too late and also if they sprouted early if they'd survived over winter in containers. And again, there's that spring germination thing.

Is suppose it's possible that here in CT zone 6 it may be cold enough to wintersow in November and not worry about early germination, but who knows anymore? Weather is too unpredictable these day.

So, has anyone had success starting something so early?

Thanks!

Dee

Featured Answer

diggerdee zone 6 CT
Original Author

5 years ago

Cab84 thank you, that's a really good idea. I often have people do at least one milk jug of seeds, two if there's time. If not, I send them home with the second jug and some seeds. So I'll pick some reliable seeds and tell them for best results to sow them in mid-winter or later.

Mary, you're not too far in the world from me. I'm in southwestern CT, between Bridgeport and New Haven. Actually, I have grown melampodium before (can't remember if it was from seed, it was so long ago!) I just never heard it called butter daisy. I forgot what a nice little plant it is. Might have to add it to my list for next year!

Thanks!

Dee

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Comments (10)

diggerdee zone 6 CT
Original Author
5 years ago
Hi Mary,

Thank you yes, I do ws all those successfully. But I usually do so in January, February, March, etc. My fear is that most things sown in November may germinate too soon, and then die over winter.

So I am looking for a seed that I can wintersow in November that will not germinate till the following spring. I'm thinking perhaps perennial that needs a warm-cold-warm stratification.

Anyone have any thoughts?

:)

Dee

P.S. To clarify, I am talking about winter sowing with containers, not direct sowing in the ground in fall. Thanks everyone!
sw_gardener
5 years ago
How about Dianthus? Perhaps D. chinensis or a similar species. First year blooming perennial, easy from seed and very cold tolerant so if they sprouted early there would still be a good chance of success.
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deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
5 years ago
The answer is easier than you think! Sow any seed that needs ”cold stratification” or a chilling period and you are good. Do a web search on ”cold stratification seeds” and the world (of seeds) is your oyster. Last year I wintersowed my cold strat seeds in November to avoid the problem I had the year before—life got in the way, I didn’t sow until March, and several seeds needing long periods of cold didn’t germinate. Now I sow those seeds as soon as I get them.
diggerdee zone 6 CT
Original Author
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
See, all of these reseed for me, and, deanna, yeah I had thought about the cold stratification. I guess my fear is that they will germinate too early. I guess I don't trust nature any more to be reliably "in season" lol.

Nigella, cleome, cosmos, larkspur, columbine, echinacea, feverfew, agastache, etc.- While most of these plants drop seed in my garden which doesn't germinate till spring, some have sprouted in fall, and I worry that the added protection of the container may make for warmer conditions which may encourage germination by, let's say, December, and then I worry if the plants will survive the winter in the containers. So I'm not sure how to proceed. Do I find something that needs a LONG period of cold strat (which seems off the top of my head to be more along the lines of perennials, which IME can be trickier to get germination on) or do I go for something that may sprout early and survive in the protection of a container, like the dianthus sw_gardener suggested? And who knows what the winter will bring? Can't trust it to be consistent anymore.

Thank you all for your input. Much appreciated! You've given me something to think on. This presentation is for a garden club, and the person who asked me to do it realizes its quite early for this, so I'm hoping that not only will an explanation up front suffice to give a head's up of potential success or failure, but that if there is a failure that, being gardeners, they'll understand why and not be discouraged from trying again.

Thanks! Please feel free to keep the suggestions coming!

:)

Dee
diggerdee zone 6 CT
Original Author
5 years ago
Okay, so now I'm thinking that I'm overthinking lol. You guys are probably right. If I just look around and see what reseeds for me - the self-sowers, the direct-sown, fall-sown reseeders - I probably can't go wrong with one of them. Of course I have between now and November to waffle back and forth haha!

Thanks!

:)

Dee
sw_gardener
5 years ago
It just occurred to me you could do a mix of seeds, perennials and reseeding annuals. That way they're almost guaranteed success with at least one or two varieties.
cecily 7A
5 years ago
common milkweed or swamp milkweed
diggerdee zone 6 CT
Original Author
5 years ago
Mary can I ask where you are? Our winters here in CT are getting quite irregular as well. Snow on Halloween (with wet leaves on the trees bringing down power lines so the kiddies can't go trick or treating), then it warms up to the 50's and even low 60's, then no snow or real winter till February. It's crazy, and so who knows just what to expect?? Which is why I worried that the added protection of a container with possible 50-degree "winter" days might prompt germination. Oh well, it will be a gamble, I guess!

Thanks, sw_gardener and cecily, for your input. Good ideas there! Mary, what is butter daisy? I've never heard that name!

:)

Dee
cab84
5 years ago
Maybe do something that needs longer cold stratification in November and send them home with an easy annual to sow during normal winter sowing time themselves. They’ll have the instructions on how to do it and even if the container from the November event doesn’t turn out they should still get plants from the second container they start later. Just an idea :)