how to over-winter small perennial seedlings?

Hi

I sowed some perennials indoors ~12 weeks before the first frost, and they still seem too small and fragile to risk in the soil. I would expect them to be dug up by squirrels or cats, rot, or be eaten by slugs and bugs as soon as it warms up. I'm hoping to protect them until they are bigger and better able to survive, then plant them out several weeks after the last spring frost.

Columbines, Asclepious tuberosa and a few surviving Delphiniums and Penstemon.

Some of them are now several inches tall in 3.25" square pots or small "insert tray cells". I'll be moving the ones in little cells to 3.25" square pots ASAP, now that my last bulbs have been planted.

I hardened them off weeks ago, and they have been outside since, sometimes under a roof and somtimes exposed to light rain.

I'm 2-3 miles from Puget Sound (Everett/Lynnwood) and low temps have seldom been much below 40, so far.

Some Columbines surprised me by ALL sprouting and there are 3 per small cell. I FINALLY got a few butterfly weeds (Asclepious tuberosa) to survive to 2-3 inches tall. The faster-growing Delphiniums already went into the ground and were mostly eaten by slugs. The Penstemon came along slower and then died off or stalled.

I guess frost is likely in a week or so.

The question is:

Can I over-winter these seedlings in 3" pots?
What would be a good way to protect them, like a WS tub?

Or should I throw them into the ground, risk rot and springtime slugs, and maybe cover them with chicken wire so they don't become garnish for a cat box?

I don't trust my construction skills or time budgeting enough to think I could make a solar cold frame overnight, and protect them from frost all winter. But that's on the agenda for "one of these years".

Any ideas are welcome, including "you should have started them months earlier". The seeds that WERE started much earlier either went into the ground or died long ago.

Maybe I'm "too protective" or too reluctant to put seedlings out to fend for themselves ... but they quickly look machine-gunned and then gone, while the slugs get fatter. In trays on the porch, I can keep slugs away with just a little iron phosphate Sluggo, but once in the beds, the slugs win.

Corey

Corey why do you penalize yourself. Plant in the spring and none of these questions are an issue.

>> Plant in the spring

Mainly, the little area where I have lights and trays was idle in late summer, and I had seeds and the urge, and not enough self-discipline.

Or, last spring I was trying to do 100 things at once when not in the hospital or immobilized, only one delphinium survived, and I am often impatient.

Seed packets and gardening books said I "could" start them outdoors up to 8 weeks before frost, so I started them indoors around 12 weeks before, then chickened out when it came time to feed them to the slugs.

Except for the Delphiniums: they grew fast enough to make it into the ground in time to fatten the slugs for the winter.

I trust starting seeds outdoors for vigorous annuals like Marigolds, Zinnias, Bok Choy and Snow Peas. I assumed that slow-starting small seeds would not survive being just sown on the ground. I wanted to put out seedlings, and I'm too stubburn to buy plants. To me, "growing" them means "from seeds". (I've surrendered that principle when it comes to Salvia: I have some bare root plants that ought to grow while I'm learning how to grow them from seed.)

At least I got these Columbines, Penstemons and Delphiniums to sprout indoors and survive to a 2-3" height, so the experience was worth gaining.

I don't recall if I've said, (it should be obvious), that I've only had my own garden for three years. (And two of those springs were mostly lost time.)

Probably the biggest gain would come from setting out a dozen beer-traps and changing them 3-7 times per week from spring through fall, and use more slug bait, like every single time it stops raining in spring and fall, plus weekly in the summer. That has turned out to be a total necessity, I guess.

There seems no shortage of things I want to, or need to, do "first", or all at once.

Sometimes I list all my plans and prioritize them: I soon learned that I could only accomplish about 5-10% of what I expected to accomplish in any one weekend. There's always something else that turns out to be necessary BEFORE what I wanted to do.

But I am learning! Now I only plan 3-4 times more than I can accomplish, instead of 10-20 times as much! So I figure that means I'm 3-7 times smarter less-dumb now.

Creating drainage, soil and beds (and getting something to grow) has been Task One. I guess the War On Slugs is escalating to rival that in urgency.

Learning the smart way to do things, I expect to be an ongoing adventure.

I think the quote is:
"Experience is a dear school, but fools will learn in no other."

Corey

I like to split the difference, when I am experimenting, or otherwise named, learning in that dear school (which is the very best school, IMO.)

So, take some of the plants, pot them up a bit larger, take them in if you have a place that will not be too hot and dry in winter, just not freezing, I don't know wht you have for indoor plant areas.... but probably not much. So I would think keeping them from getting too warm would be key.

Take some others and plant them out and try out various protective coverings. If they are planted close to your house, they will not suffer from the winter cold anywhere near as quickly or as much as plantings further away and exposed on all sides. Try out some version of a cloche (WS container type thingoo) and see what happens!

all of course according to how much time and energy you have for all this...

Some really fine gardeners say one measure of how good a gardener you are is how many plants you have killed and continue to kill. Which is because we are always pushing the envelope of what we are told is "possible" or "best."

Good luck!

Corey I am a person who only plants the seeds that the PNW forum throws at me at the get together. So last year we planted in Feburary and I would say all of the plants that were hardy suceeded well. But they were all hardy to zone 4 where I live the ones I planted in zone 5 well are one of successful kills.

Kyla,

Thanks, "split and experiment " sounds smart.

>>>>>
Some really fine gardeners say one measure of how good a gardener you are is how many plants you have killed and continue to kill. Which is because we are always pushing the envelope of what we are told is "possible" or "best."

LOL! Yeah, sounding smart is something I am good at. Being smart is a whole nother item. Anyway, have fun with it!

Hmm, 80% of my last post was cut off. In short, it would never have occured to me to bring them indoors all winter, but I have several square feet under some CF bulbs and enjoy "plant pets".

And if I put floating "row covers" of spun fabric over Coke-bottle cloches, neighbors won't think I'm trying to grow trash.

Thanks,
Corey

I bow to you if you managed to learn that lesson that quickly! Avid gardener for over 25 years and I STILL think that I am at the "10-15 times as much as I can get done" planning level. ^_^ I also agree that you are not a true gardener if you have not killed a variety of plants, because "zone denial" goes hand in hand with a happy gardener.

I like Kyla's experiment idea if you have enough plants to do it with. I would suggest that you keep at least a few of your babies inside for the winter if you have enough room. It is fun to play with baby plants over the winter, and if things are in pots outside, it is always a gamble because Mother Nature likes to throw curve balls to us here in the PNW.

********NOTING...... probably wait until after next week to think about putting anything new outside.... the cold is supposedly coming, and temps in the 20's are NOT baby plant friendly! That said, I had best get out and put the last layer of protection on my banana......

Good luck!

>> "zone denial"

I like that! It sounds so much better than #$%^-stubburn-stupid!

So I'm a seed-head deep in zone-denial. That sounds about right!

>> "10-15 times as much as I can get done"

One thing that helps me (or makes it worse) is the time at the end of each weekend day when I sit outside totally exhausted in the dusk.

Grandiose plans run through my mind and I enjoy them vividly. It's almost as good as DOING them!

Corey