2010 My Winter Sowing

isn’t this exciting?
quite a garden you have started already!

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

Way to go Iris.Wasn’t that a lot of fun to do?A friend just dropped me off a whole bunch more jugs yesterday so maybe I’ll do some more.

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

This is exciting! I can hardly wait to do some more. :-)
Wyndyacre was here visiting me yesterday. She has that wonderful greenhouse that you have seen in pictures. She has so-o much stuff started! Every year I go through this…...I am so-o envious. Oh well. I do know I can beg some of her startings in the spring. :-) So I watch her successes carefully. :-)

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

haha and do you make suggestions for “her garden”? (so you can reap the benefits of course) :D

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

Great selection of flowers and vegetables, Iris. I hope they all thrive for you.

I really like cleome. I will have to collect some great flower seeds this coming summer so that I have something to trade for a few of your cleome seeds next year.

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

Looks good, Iris. We are using similar containers.

I’ve had cleome self-seed, so it would be good for ws.

I don’t make the soil moist when I start. I let moisture get in naturally via the holes in the top. We’ll see which way is most efficient. Experimentation is exciting.

It is fun to watch, isn’t it? Hopefully we’ll all have good success.

-- jroot

Good start Iris.

-- Gardening is Great Therapy!!.....Georgian Bay area....zone 5b

Wow, those look great, Iris.

I can’t wait for Spring!

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

Thanks for the encouraging words, everyone. I hope we all have success and lots of new seedlings come spring. I hope to add afew more containers to those already waiting in the snow.
Good luck to everyone!

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

Great job Iris! Mmmm… Swiss Chalet, and McCain Deep n Delicious cakes..

-- Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.. shine on you crazy diamond

LOL! When I start harvesting these crops, Dave, I’ll invite all the GT to share. LOL

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

lol sounds good :D

-- Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.. shine on you crazy diamond

We saw a lot of folks walking out with containers like that tonight when we stopped en route to St Augustine for supper at O’Charlies at Dayton, Ohio . Maybe they were going to do some WS … or maybe they chose not to eat the HUGE portions served there. LOL

-- jroot

One thing I noticed when we went down to Florida in the good old U. S. of A…. the portions really are HUGE everywhere. One restaurant had steak and baked potatoes at the SALAD BAR. Quality, people.. not quantity!

-- Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.. shine on you crazy diamond

There is a reason for the obesity epidemic…................

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

I remember when restaurants were a nice place you went to, once in a while, for a special occasion, to sit down and have a nice quiet meal.

Nowadays families are going out to these cookie cutter places 2 or 3 times a week, and they wonder why they are broke and obese.

-- Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.. shine on you crazy diamond

Looking at everyone’s seed set-up under lights has really got me anxious to start…....just like MsDeb. But for my own set-up, I know it’s still to early, bc I don’t have grow lights and really no place to put them if I did have some. :-) Just to give myself a little ‘fix’ I filled three more containers for winter sown seeds. Monkshood, malva zebrina and butterfly weed. These are seeds that the pkg recommended planting in the fall or required a cold spell before they will germinate. It’s getting late now but the seeds will still have a few weeks of cold bf the temps rise appreciatively. Here they are sitting in the snow. :-) The first ones that I planted a month ago are buried under a foot of snow.

While I was at it I planted some ‘Stevia’ seeds.($3.89 for about 15 seeds!) I sure hope they grow. They won’t go out into the snow, they’ll be in my sunny window and hopefully every one will grow.

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

Great job keeping busy with the winter sowing. I put a few more containers out earlier this week. It DOES give us something to do and look forward too, doesn’t it?

Great Job!

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

It really is addicting Iris.Today I put another jug out with yellow echinacea in it.That makes about 31 jugs I got out there now. (lol)

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

31???? Way to go Bon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

Thanks Brad.I kinda got carried away.(lol)

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

I’m coming to you, Bon, for my nusery plants this spring. 8^)

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

addictive :)

31 containers—that’s great and even if they don’t all come up you’ve had a great winter gardening!

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

Took a look outside today at my winter sowings, and there is one little sprout trying to come up..

Hopefully the next frost won’t kill it off! We’ll see what nature has in mind..

-- Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.. shine on you crazy diamond

The pkg of stevia seed that I planted had very few instructions on how to plant the seed, so I went to the internet (of course). The site I found said stevia is difficult to grow from seed. (Oh great! And I had only about 12 good seeds) Anyway, I went ahead and planted the seeds as shown above. First time I have used these pellets. I put the tray on top of the gas fireplace (turned off :-)) and prepared to be disappointed. Didn’t even look at it again bc I felt hopelees about about it. Looked at it yesterday morning to make sure it wasn’t drying out…...................... Eurecka! Those few little seeds have germinated! Everyone of them. How exciting is that! 8^))
I know this is not a winter sowing victory, but it is still a victory to see those little seeds sprout. Hurrah!

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

Wow way to go Iris.It feels sooo good when you can grow hard to grow plants from seed.You really do have a green thumb. :-)

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

Funny, eh. 8^)

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

I grew Stevia last year. I had two good plants go into the garden. The cats dug up one of them. I had one survive but I didn’t bring it in for the winter.

Congrats on your success!
(I now buy Stevia powder at Walmart and use it on my cereal. Love it.)

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

Me too, MsDeb. Even though that is mostly all I use it for, that, and to sweeten a bowl of fruit or such, I find it very expensive. My BIL, who is diabetic has also started using it, from a plant I gave him last year. I let mine freeze in the garden :-( but he took his in. I am hoping to have enough to be able to dry lots of it this summer and still maybe bring a plant indoors in the fall. I’ll also give him acouple more plants.
I have found that Shopper’s Drug also carries the powdered form…...same price.

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

one packet a day – the box lasted quite a while. For me, the investment is worth it. – for now anyway. I’m always checking out comparison prices, though.

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

Iris, stevia seeds are no match for your gardening skills. Way to go! What a great way to produce a local sweetener.

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

you can also take a snippet from a plant and stick in some soil. It will grow, (or I should say that I did that last year and they grew).

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

LOL That is what I read on the web site I found, MsDeb. That they are started more easily by cuttings. I wished I’d know that last fall when I still had a plant to take cuttings from!

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

go shopping, find a plant and accidently snap a little branch off :)
did I say that?? lol

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

LOL!

-- Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.. shine on you crazy diamond

tsk, tsk….MsDeb. 8^)

I just barely managed to resist temptation at the flower show on Sat. My friend physically ‘dragged’ me out of it’s guilty reach.(and saved us both from seeing the inside of Stratford’s jail) LOL Maybe not quite that extreme, but embarassment. :-)

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

oh I meant shopping at a friend’s house/garden.. yah, that’s what i meant.. after they said “take a piece” .. yah.. exactly what I meant! haha

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

I was so afraid my winter sowing seeds would start growing while I was in BC and I wouldn’t have a chance to cover/uncover them as needed. But all seems well. I have seedlings showing in all the containers but one. Hopefully we won’t get too cold temp. and have them all expire.

And the stevia I planted bf I went away is doing very well despite my letting it get too dry once. Tonight I’ll transplant the seedling into individual containers.

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

Congratulations on your sprouts, Iris and welcome home.

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

I’ve been keeping an eye on my Winter Sowing .. one jug was pretty dry the other day .. not now. Thanks rain.
I love watching the seeds develop.

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

Great growing, Iris. Well done. Isn’t WS a blast?

Some of mine are showing no progress so far, and others are doing well.

-- jroot

I really enjoyed the winter sowing project and I think I will use it again next year, too.

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

Thanks for the ‘welcome home’, Robin. It’s good to be home and get back to my ‘seeds and garden’. LOL I love to travel, but it’s getting harder to find a time that doesn’t interfer with gardening. 8^)

I agree, jroot, WS was fun and now as I see the little seeds come up, I know I will try again next year. Perhaps I’ll be braver and try chancier seeds…....and definitely more containers.

This has been an excellent Winter Challenge!

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

Iris, those look really good. Great job!!

What’s your weather been like?? We’ve had 60 and 70 degree weather for almost 3 weeks. But last night it got pretty cool.

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

Brad, I was away, (BC) for the last two weeks but from all reports the weather was outstanding here in SW Ontario. Actually hit 75*F and everything is far ahead of where they would normally be in April. Temps are dropping now and we expect freezing temps by the wkd. Just hope it doesn’t destroy so many early blossoms. My Star magnolia is in full bloom and the saucer magnolia is just about to burst forth. Frost will ruin them. :(

I expect the lids on my WS will protect them from minor freezing temps? Or should I put them in the garage for the night?

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

Iris,
If I remember correctly, in the last two years, we had weather that really sent the WS seedlings up. Then we had some freezing. Last year, we had REAL hard freezes for a week. I didn’t bring them in, but instead I laid plastic over the entire area of jugs and then placed bricks at the ends so it wouldn’t blow away.

In the mornings, I would take it off since the sun warmed the inside of the jugs to well above freezing. At night, I put it back on.
Everything came out just fine when the weather leveled out.

If taking them into the garage is easier for you, you could do that as well.

The odd thing is, when I forgot to cover the jugs, etc. in times past, I’ve never had seedlings die when freezing temps came. So with all of the above said, I would bet that they’ll be alright even if you did nothing. But, I also know that covering them like I did last year, makes a person sleep easier at night. :)

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

I’m all for the “daring”—or I should say the “laziness” .. if they survive outside: perfect. .. if not – well c’est la vie

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

Thanks, Dave. As you can see, I don’t have too many containers so I will probably bring them into the garage if need be. I’d hate to lose them when they have survived the freezing cold to sprout. Besides I am really looking forward to those flowers!

MsDeb, you have more courage than me. :)

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

I like “simple” .. so if they don’t survive the up and down of spring weather then I’ll have to change the strategy … but I won’t know if I don’t try!

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

Well, here it is. Time to plant…....

I didn’t take the seedlings out of their winter containers. They didn’t get so big (or so many) to need to be re-planted into individual pots. I didn’t have roaring success, but not total faiure either. Out of 8 containers, 5 have seedlings. 1 container had seeds that were several years old so I don’t really count that one. 2 others just didn’t produce.

Here are the seedlings, yesterday….

For comparison, I started seeds after I returned from BC, the week after Easter. I planted the seeds in flats, set them, on top of my gas fireplace. The pilot light gives just enough heat for germination. Once the seeds break ground, they are set in front of my large, south-facing window. By the beginning of May, I started to set the larger seedlings outside to harden them off. I only set them out during the day-time, the nights were still too cool. The last couple weeks they have been setting in the open doorway of my garage and if the nights are too cold, I close the door.

I took these pictures yesterday as well. They are of the indoor-started seedlings and some geraniums that I saved by pulling last fall and keeping in a bag in the basement over the winter.

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

Iris, I agree that indoor seedlings definitely worked better for you than the winter sowing method. I think winter sowing is a great alternative for gardeners who do not have the necessary warmth, space and light indoors to grow seedlings. Your indoor seedlings look like they are just waiting to be tucked into your gorgeous gardens. Wasn’t this a fun experiment?

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

I’m sitting here laughing Iris.You asked me where I was going to put my seedlings.I’m wondering where you’re going to put yours.(lol) Nice start to your indoor ones.Happy planting. :-)

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

Iris, tell me about the geraniums in a bag. My mother was quite successful hanging them upside down from the rafters in the basement. I tried it last year but they just dried out and died. Luckily I had cuttings from a few of them and just put them in pots. They did beautifully and transplanting them outside was easy. However, I wish the others had also survived.

-- Erika, Hastings, ON

erika, I don’t know that I can tell you any ‘secrets’ to make this work for you. This was the first time it worked for me. The bag that I used had previously been used for birdseed, so maybe that is why it worked. I didn’t tie the end shut. The material appears to be woven plastic, so air could circulate (sort of), but also would help some moisture to stay in the bag. My furnace is in the basement so it is an even temp., about 20*C. When I dumped the plants out, I was so surprised to see fresh green growth. There was lots of dead, and dried foliage that I pruned away. I also pruned obvious dried up roots, but the root ball was so tangled that I didn’t disturb it too much and just planted the whole thing into fresh potting soil, watered it well and let it go.

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