How many Wintersown Containers?

I have 6

what will you be putting out later?

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

Looking good, Brad. I was planning on doing a few more today. Your containers are much superior to mine, but I use what I can. This time I will use larger containers than the previous ones, just to see if it makes a difference. My wife gave me some of the cellulose spinach boxes to use. I may break a few trying to get the @#$% labels off so the sun can get in. Right now I have them soaking in water. Hopefully, I’ll have another 4 containers out as of today.

-- jroot

MsDebbie,
Later I’m going to put out some petunias, pansies, and…...uh crap…I can’t remember the others. I’ve got a list made.

Jroot,
Good luck getting the labels off…sounds like soaking them is a smart idea. I used some “goo-be-gone” one time to get a sticky label off. It worked pretty well.

-- Brad, http://www.container-gardening-for-you.com

Brad what is there in the container? Not being in the cold zone I don’t know about this. I am sure you will excuse me.
Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

I would be interested knowing what seeds you have planted in there, Brad. Also, how large are your gardens that you can make use of the seedlings. I couldn’t possibly do that many. I don’t know where I would plant all those plants. Do you do mainly perennials, veg. or annuals?

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Brad encouraged me to “get going” with my next step of winter sowing. This is what I did today. They are going onto the deck with the others. That makes 12.

As you can see, the plants to winter sow are those that will usually self seed and SHOULD thus withstand the cold. Here are marigolds, peas, sweet peas, annual poppies, and cosmos.

-- jroot

I have Bachelor’s Button, Aster, Alyssum, Baby’s Breath, Black Eyed Susan, Marigolds just to name a few. I’ll have to look ar my list when I get home tonight.

I have for example though, Aster in 2 different jugs, so I don’t have 15 different seeds out.

Iris43, I’m not for sure the size of our yard (bad with dimensions), but I’ve got 5 pretty good size places to plant things and several smaller locations as well. When my wife and I moved into our neighbor a few years ago, I couldn’t believe how large the lot sizes were…especially for a subdivision. I really love it a lot!

Sharad, are you asking what wintersowing is? Or just what’s in the jugs?

Way to go jroot…are we racing?? Lol!!!!
I’ve never been able to get cosmos to come up for the last few years. I must be doing something wrong.

Hope all the best for everyone’s winter sowing!!
Brad

-- Brad, http://www.container-gardening-for-you.com

Well, I thought that I would try. Sometimes they came up wild. Other times, they didn’t. We’ll see what happens. They say, “Nothing ventured …. nothing gained”.

I will wait with my beans, tomatoes, pumpkins etc as they are more tender.

-- jroot

If anyone could get cosmos to come up, I’m sure you can.

Sounds like a good plan with the beans, etc.

-- Brad, http://www.container-gardening-for-you.com

I am at fourteen containers so far (see my wgc blog for the list of seeds I planted) and want to do a few more when I get empty containers. There are some perennial vegetable seeds I just received that I want to try, but some say “Wait until all danger of frost is past to sow” on the packages so I am hesitant to try those. I might anyway, just to see if they grow any better than directly sowing into the garden. One jug doesn’t use very many seeds and there are always more in the little packets than I can use in a year.

I am not racing (I suspect Jroot has the gardening experience equivalent to a Corvette and Bon has a Porsche and Brad has a Ford Mustang and the list could go on and on…) but I am loving the journey. I wish you all the best of luck. If we all have lots of seeds sprout, we all win!

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Radicalfarmergal,
Your list is quite impressive and looks like you’re doing a magnificent job. You’re right, if they sprout….we’re all winners!!!

-- Brad, http://www.container-gardening-for-you.com

Brad I want to know what is the medium in the jug where you sow the seeds. Why this type of container?
Where can I find more about winter sowing?
Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

Sharad, the containers hold a few inches of potting soil and seeds. For more information, go to the the link Brad included in the original post and here is an interview with the person who originally tried this type of winter sowing.

Like Trudi Davidoff, I have very little room inside that has adequate light for growing seedlings, so I am really looking forward to my winter sowing results. I usually end up having to buy plants from a local greenhouse/farm but that gets expensive so it really limits what I can buy. Seeds, if they grow, are much cheaper than seedlings!

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Sharad,
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. Radicalfarmergal, summed it up well. It’s basically a simple way of getting ahead of direct sowing. And gives people with little indoor growing space a chance as well.

The containers are kind of like mini-greenhouses with potting soil and seeds of your choice inside.

Brad's WinterSowing Tip's

-- Brad, http://www.container-gardening-for-you.com

Robin, Brad thank u very much for the information you have provided. The write up on the wintersowing tips is brilliant. The instructions are so clear that not an iota of doubt remains after reading it. I have rarely seen such perfect writeups where the doubts or questions of the reader are anticipated and answered well in advance. I also read the interview with Trudi Davidoff. It was so nice.
Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

I have had great luck with cosmos and sweat peas. For the cosmos i use about 4 inches of potting mix. Transplant when they are about 4 inches tall. One scoop of compost in the planting hole and watch out.

Well so far I have 27 jugs and containers and I may do a few more this month.I’m hoping to get a good start for the berm this year because I want to change the top row to perennials.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

I updated these photos of some I took today. We got hit with some snow on this first day of Spring. Supposed to get 6-8 inches by tomorrow.

Several of my jugs have seedlings popping up like you see in the second picture. It always makes me worry at first, but…...every year the same thing happens,......snow and ice after they pop up…....but they always survive!!

-- Brad, http://www.container-gardening-for-you.com

Thanks for clarifying this, Brad. I am going away for two weeks and I was worried about my WS pots. Especially after the wonderfully warm weather we have had. I peaked into some of the containers and can see that some of the seeds are ready to pop. I am actually more worried about them starting to grow too much while I am gone, and worried about the cold weather returning after they grow. It is re-assuring to see what someone else is doing, since you have past experience.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Brad have you tried just direct sowing with your cosmos seed.I plant them every year and the ones on the top layer of my berm are direct sown.They grow really fast.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

very exciting.
I wonder if any of my seeds will grow—I was counting on the onions but they were bad seeds ..oh well.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan