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It is amazing to me that if a natural occurance, self seeding, is given a catchy name, winter sowing, a bunch of people will jump in and do it.

Self seeding is great but winter sowing is a little different. The point of winter sowing is to take the natural occurance of seeds sprouting in spring and control it to design your garden. I'll be sowing seed from plants that I don't already have growing, and starting them containers allows me to plant them where I want them. Then my new plants growing in a bed of my design can self sow next year.

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I have never used, nor heard of anyone using, compost to start their seed.

I've been using my screened finished compost mixed with promix to start my seed indoors. Last year I ran out of screened compost and only used promix for a few flats and the difference in the plants was noticable. My son said he was going to use that idea for his next science fair project. I just wondered why people would sterilize their compost.

Thanks for the list franeli.

I love self-seeders - less work for me!

But the problem with self-seeders is that his weird weather wrecks havoc on them.

Winter of 06 when we had the warm spell in Dec. my gaillarda burst out of seed, only to be zapped when the cold spell came.

This year the same thing happened with my California poppies which I was expecting a big crop of them come Spring. But in the last few weeks, a of of them sprung up and got zapped.

So i'll augment with Winter sowing.

el

I can get a few annuals to reseed here in Z4,LOL, but,
those seedlings don't appear until late in the growing season and don't bloom until September.
Tomato volunteers are only the height of my thumb by August,LOL

So, for anyone with a short, cold growing season, these little mini greenhouses give you a 4 to 6 week jump on blooming annual flowers.
A good cold frame works and a nice greenhouse would be ideal.
You cold add a dozen more indoor lights,but,the seedlings would have to be hardened off.


I have found the best containers for Z4(and I reuse these every year):

gallon size milk containers and
the big anti freeze containers

I had bad luck with that chicken-roaster-plastic dome thing last year. I think it was too shallow
and the soil got too wet.

I also found it better to use deeper containers. One year I used the round tins that Chinese food comes in, and the plant, which I forget what it was, but its roots had circled round and round the pan, cuz it was too shallow.

Maybe there are some plants who have a shallow root system, but now I always go for deeper. I like the gallon water bottles. Some people use the top of the bottle, after they have cut it in half, as a cover. I never figured out how to do that, so I cover with plastic.

My favorite containers are the kind I sometimes can get in the bakery, which are 3 inches deep, and come with their own cover, which makes it much easier when it comes to removing the cover to check the babies.

One thing I would recommend NOT doing is what I did one year- in a large container I mixed seeds of different varieties. The problem is that they emerge at different times, so I had to keep some covered, while others were open to the air.

ellen

Good about the gallon milk jugs, I've been saving those. How deep do you plant them? Or how far up from the bottom of the jug do you make your cuts? I've been cutting them about 3 inches up, so the jug is about 1/3 dirt and the rest air. Now I'm thinking I should have more dirt and less air, like half and half. ???

Hi Pogo,
cut up to the bottom of the jug handle(I think that is what you have done). Make sure you have good drainage holes in the bottom.

I slip the top part a little way into the bottom(after filling with moist seed starting mix and seeds) and then duct tape the cut around the jug.
I think this helps excess moisture to drain down the side of the jug (if and when the sun hits it).

I label each jug on the bottom because the sun will fade the label.

My jugs(no pun intended) are placed on a stone drip line up against a stone foundation facing south.
I think this is important for cold zoners...this jug position sometimes gets seedlings to sprout even during freezing night time temps,but, the sprouts that survive are very hardy!

Gardening to me is always a series of pleasurable experiments.

How FUN to do something different with soil and seeds and plants in a COLD CLIMATE during the winter when 3 feet of snow covers the ground! LOL

Bettcha can't stop looking in those jugs for germination come spring,LOL

I used milk jugs too but instead of cutting around them and then taping it back together, I cut an upside down "U" on one side. Then I folded it down and used a clothespin to hold it open so I could plant the seeds. Take the clothespin off and it pops right back up. In the spring when you need to vent them more I just stuck the pin back on. When it was time to plant, I cut the tops off so it was easy to get to the seedlings.

Some seeds actually require a period of cold temps to germinate properly... I think the cold period is called stratification?
I think columbine flowers are one example of seeds that germinate better with cold treatment.

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Bettcha can't stop looking in those jugs for germination come spring,LOL

Especially when people in warmer zones are gloating about their sprouts.
That's when germination envy rears its head!

el

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Especially when people in warmer zones are gloating about their sprouts.

You got that right ellen! And nearly everyone is in a warmer zone than me. The germination envy gets really ugly here around March.

pogo...from a lady you lives where it might not be as cold as where you live, but most definitely is darker...HOUSE PLANTS!

Also, sprouts, lots of indoor forcing bulbs, that tiny garlic bulb sprouting sounds good too.

If I didn't have things flowering and green in the winter...I would loose what little mind I have left!

I've had the best luck with a 50/50 mix of compost and native soil which protects from damping off. Someone in this forum - sorry, I've forgotten who - got almost 100% success with compost tea on seedlings.

And make sure there's plenty of air flow under the cover. Moisture under a plastic cover can be too damp, even if it's cold, because of the condensation. And don't let the frozen cover touch the soil or the seedlings because it is frozen and will burn them. Stick sticks in the soil to hold it up overhead. You'll start to see green algae on the soil pretty quickly if it's too wet.

It doesn't snow where I am, but it can get down to freezing for an hour or two, and I can overwinter impatiens in a big planter next to a floor-to-ceiling window. Enough heat is coming out that window (or sliding glass door) to help keep the temp up, so that's a good location.

Surrounding your pots with bales of straw works great, too. I overwintered tomato plants as an experiment, and they never had any problems.