Wintersowing '11

[highalt]

Learned about wintersowing in '07, and now sow everything, except the peppers, that way. A search for this topic pulled up nothing, so I'm wondering if anyone else on these forums uses this technique?

Here are a couple of pictures of my jugs

The styrofoam cups have tomatoes in them. Probably 80% of them have germinated, but they will be much smaller than indoor sown ones when I plant them out. They will catch up quickly though.

So far, I've planted out some lettuces, which were sown in February, germinated at the beginning of March, and were planted out in April. Our last frost date in mid to late May.

Some herbs

Still have broccoli and cauliflower waiting to get planted, plus several jugs of basil, and quite a few jugs of annual flowers.

Would love to hear from others that have tried wintersowing!

Bonnie

 

[Nova]

I am just trying it at the moment with some peppers, basil and parsley. It's at the very start of our winter but we are lucky enough to get hardly any frosts (one or two a year but not every year. I want to get some cauliflower and lettuce going too.

 

[SuperHot]

Never heard of it, what are the benefits?

 

[Nova]

Benefits would include being able to plant whenever you want.

 

[highalt]

Well, the benefits for me are that I can grow much more than I have space to start inside my house, I don't have to harden them off, or spend money to run grow lights, heating mats, etc. It also gives you more control than direct sowing in the ground. They don't wash or blow away, or get eaten by birds or other animals, or sprout several feet from where you sowed them.

Here is a link that explains the process in a little more detail:
http://www.wintersown.org/

It's great for cool season veggies, herbs, both perennial and annual flowers. As far as edibles go, I've had success with all of the following, and I am in zone 5:

lettuce
spinach
Swiss chard
onions
peas
broccoli
cauliflower
rhubarb
tomatoes
tomatillos
ground cherries
strawberries
chives
garlic chives
chamomile
lemon balm
oregano
sage
winter savory
summer savory
marjoram
cilantro
dill
rosemary
parsley
thyme
basil - this one I sow late, like April

I'm probably forgetting something, but you get the idea.

 

[highalt]

Well, now that all the peppers are sown indoors, it's time to get started on the outdoor sowing. I prepped a dozen containers, but ran out of seed starting mix after filling nine of them.



Here is what I wintersowed today:
Lettuce, Flame
Lettuce, Four Seasons
Lettuce, Rouge de Grenoblouse
Lettuce, Simpson Elite
Lettuce, Thai Green
Lemon Balm - this makes my 3rd or 4th year to sow. Have yet to keep it alive a whole year.
Agastache, Tango - supposed to be more cold hardy than 'Apricot Sprite'
Gaillardia, Arizona Apricot
Gaillardia, Arizona Red Shades

As soon as I can pick up some more potting mix, I plan to sow some poppies, and petunias.
I usually get started in late January or early February, but this winter has been so mild, that I thought a later start would be a good idea.

 

[synclinorium]

Interesting. I might give this a try now that our temperatures have been consistently cooler...

 

[PaulG]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting the link.

 

[highalt]

Wintersowed tomatoes today. Trying to save a little money on potting mix, so I divided each jug in two with a piece of cardboard...

labeled both sides of the jug, sowed the seeds ...

watered them, and out the door they went.

Here is what was sown:

Amish Paste
Black Cherry
Box Car Willie
Carbon
Caspian Pink
Chocolate Stripes
Dana's Dusky Rose
Earl's Faux
Earl of Edgecomb
Gold Medal
Marvel Stripe
Matt's Wild Cherry
Neves Azorean Red
Rainy's Maltese
Romeo Paste
Striped German
Stump of the World
Tasmanian Chocolate

I may still sow a few indoors as back-ups, just in case, but with the weather we are having now, I'm hoping I don't need them.

 

[Sethsquatch]

THIS IS AMAZING! Thanks for sharing this! What a great idea!

Question: Do you cut into the backs of the gallon jugs on all of them? Do you reseal them? Wow, very interesting.

 

[highalt]

THIS IS AMAZING! Thanks for sharing this! What a great idea!

Question: Do you cut into the backs of the gallon jugs on all of them? Do you reseal them? Wow, very interesting.

I just cut the flap/window on one side of the jug. Some of the people that use this technique seal the window up with duct tape, but I'm too lazy (and cheap) for that, and I have had no problems. Maybe if you live in a location that gets a lot of rain, it might prevent some of the dirt and seeds from washing out, but that's not really an issue here. Our annual rainfall is only around 12".

All of my available indoor space is being used by my pepper obsession, so this method allows me to start all of my other veggies and flowers outside. They're like little mini-greenhouses, and the best part is the containers are free. Just wish the potting mix was too!

Last year, there was one jug that didn't sprout until really late in the season, once it was too hot to plant anything out. So I left it sitting there on the patio all summer, and ALL winter. Looked in there a week or so ago, and there was a Columbine plant just as green as could be in there. Planted it out today. I figure any plant tough enough to survive in a milkjug for a year, deserves a permanent home in my garden, LOL!

 

[highalt]

All five types of lettuce have sprouted now. Here is a picture of some Flame babies.

They'll show more burgundy once they are in full sun.

Thinking of starting some peas tomorrow ...

 

[highalt]

Finally found enough time to do some more sowing.

Getting organized, and prepping jugs

Used the wheelbarrow to mix and wet the soil. Used a mixture of seed starting mix, potting mix, and perlite. In the past, I filled the jugs with the dry mix, wet each one, let it drain, then added the seeds. Usually had a lot of water mess to clean up afterwards. Very happy with the result. It saved a lot of time too. Wish I had thought of this sooner!

Here's what was sown today:

Peas, Super Sugar Snap
Peas, Burpeeana Early
Marjoram
Calendula, Bon Bon Yellow
Calendula, Pacific Beauty
Calendula, Red Splash
Gazania, Daybreak Orange Cream
Gazania, Gazoo Formula Mix
Gazania, Kiss The Sun Mix
Gazania, Talent Red
Nicotiana, Baby Bella Antique Red
Nicotiana, Chocolate
Foxglove, light yellow
Coreopsis, Zagreb
Crocosmia, Lucifer

I'll wait a couple more weeks on the really tender stuff, such as Basil, Portulaca, and Strawflower.

Oh, and the Lemon Balm and California poppies have all sprouted now : )

Bonnie

 

[highalt]

After the 50 mph winds yesterday, and an overnight low in the mid 20's, I thought I better check on my jugs. I could hardly believe when I found not one, but two tomato sprouts. Last year, the first wintersown tomato sprout didn't show up until the second week of May! I thought maybe it was a record for me, but when I looked back at my germination records, I had tomato sprouts on 4 -7-08, which BTW was one of my best tomato crops ever. Hoping this is a good sign for this year's crop!

 

[highalt]

Today I sowed:

Basil, Mrs. Burn's Lemon
Basil, Lime
Basil, Red Rubin
Basil, Super Sweet Chen
German Chamomile
Lemon Grass
Thai Red Roselle
Okra, Red Burgundy (yeah, I know, I really should start this one inside, but my peppers are using all available space there)
African Daisy Mix
Helenium autumnale
Scabiosa, Ace of Spades
Strawflower, Monstrosum Fireball
Strawflower, Tall Double Orange
Strawflower, White & Yellow Mix
Strawflower, Earthtones Mix

Here is a picture of my winter/spring sown containers so far:

Don't have a lot left to sow, just some Nasturtiums, Portulaca, Cilantro, and Zinnias, but I'll have to wait until I have some more containers. Shouldn't take long, since my family goes through 3 - 4 gallons of milk per week!

 

[highalt]

The peas and lettuce were planted out last week:

Sowed 15 containers today. Well, actually it was 16 things, but I had to double up on the last container. I think that is pretty much the last winter/spring sowing for me this year. Everything else, such as cucumbers, melons,pumpkins, and beans, will all be direct sown soon.


Here's what was sown:

Black Cumin
Cilantro
Basil, Fine Verde
Summer Savory
Parsley, Big Italy
Parsley, Extra Curled Dwarf
Dill
Lemon Catmint
Black Eyed Susan Vine
Nasturtium, Tip Top Apricot
Nasturtium, Copper Sunset
Marigold, Lemon Gem
Zinnia, Zahara Bonfire

Portulaca, Happy Hour Red
Portulaca, Happy Hour Lemon

These last two containers probably won't germinate. My 5 year old daughter was helping me sow the seeds, which she did very carefully, but then as she was walking across the backyard to put those two jugs on the patio, she tripped and the contents went flying. I don't have any more seeds or I would resow, and they are so tiny that even though I put the dirt back in the jug, the seeds are probably buried too far to germinate. A small price to pay for being able to pass on my love of gardening to the next generation!

 

[Pepperhead]

Good Lord, how many acres do you have? That is a huge crop list! Sounds like an awesome garden!

 

[highalt]

Haha! I live on a standard subdivision sized lot. My veggie garden here is only 60 sq. ft., but I have 4 perennial flower beds, and an herb bed. I also grow lots of annual and herbs in pots on the porch, and rent a 400 sq.ft. plot at the local community garden.

Some of my wintersown seedlings didn't fare well this year. We had a very warm, dry spring, and I didn't get things planted out soon enough. Tomatoes did great, along with the lettuce, but my pots of annuals on the porch look pretty sad this year.