Sprouts!

Wintersown seeds are germinating like crazy! I already have 10 containers that have sprouts!! Here's what's germinated so far:

Hollyhocks
Digitalis
Lupines, 4 varieties
Lettuce
Tricytris
Aquilegia
Agrostemma

What sprouts do you have???

California Poppy Aurantiaca Orange
Clarkia Amoena Fruit Punch Mixed
Clarkia elegans Royal Bouquet Mixed


I'm debating on if I should transplant the Poppy..

Hi,
I'm new to this and I am trying my hand at starting seeds in a variety of containers. I have sprouts. Now what do I do? Do I have to have a grow light and heating pad to keep them growing and healthy? I have lots of hollyhocks and some dahlias. I planted them in a made for seedlings potting soil. This is fun but I don't know what to do now. josdancal

Hi josdancal & welcome! Congratulations on germinating your first sprouts! Don't do anything!! Mother Nature will take care of your babies by giving them plenty of moisture in the form of rain or snow. No need to move them to a heating pad with a grow light. Plus, if you move them inside now, they will weaken! They are doing just fine outside. Plant your Hollyhocks & Dahlias now! They are hardy perennials and can take the cold, plus the fluctuation in temperatures will help to break their seed coat open and let them sprout!!! Way to grow....yeah!!!!!

Congrats Jos!!! I keep checking my sprouts and them seem to be fine...so far..

Shirley,
I'm jealous! My aquilgeia haven't sprouted yet and I'm super curious to see the"Roman Bronze"foliage. I LUV my "Woodside Variegata" I grew from trade years ago so I was happy to see the RB in T&M.

P

bigred: I have sown Aquilegia, "Origami Blue & White", "Origami Red & White", "Origami Pink & White" plus "Rocky Mountain", "Rose Queen" & "Songbird Nightingale". To date, "Origami Red & White" germinated 2/6/06 and "Songbird Nightingale" germinated 2/10/06! There might be more that have germinated under this blanket of snow, but I won't be able to give you an update until it melts!

I sowed 100 containers on Jan. 1st and have my first sprouts today - feels SO GOOD!

YEAH, Kay! What did you sow???

Woo hooo - - way to go everyone!

100!!!!!!! ????? WOW!! I'm going to have to work hard to reach that!!

After what I just ordered from valueseeds, it shouldn't be hard.

:)

Susan

I better get busy too...25 more until I reach 100...hardy perennials sown!

I don't have any sprouts yet, but am so happy I got some things sowed! I'm hoping to sow lots more, and am going to make phone calls this afternoon to recruit more container savers, lol. So far I've sowed...

Scabiosa
Columbine
Delphinium
Daylilies
Tree Mallow
Johnny Jump Ups
Lobelia
Clematis
Hollyhocks
Bachelor Buttons
Datura
Hosta
Foxglove

I have lots & lots more to do. So, is 100 containers the goal I'm reaching for? lol I better get busy then! I don't even know if I could find that many containers! I might have to look into raiding our local recycling center (we don't have pick up here).

I did 3 more containers last night, but they are still in the garage. I have my winter sown seeds in a gardening area which is at the bottom of a steep slope, and it's snowy and icy right now. With degenerative disc disease, I dare not carry them down today.

I am up to only 19 containers. Having discovered that my favorite container is the Fiji water bottle, and in fact, that is my favorite drinking water, I ordered two cases to be delivered to my house. The bottles are square, tall, smooth, easy to cut, and the labels come off easily. So I have to drink a bottle of water before I can sow, which is very good for my health.

Last night I sowed Agrostemma, scarlet flax, and lobularia maritima. It might get too warm here for flax, but I'm trying it anyway. Last summer was cool.

missgarney-- good idea about drinking a bottle of water before you can sow! If I'm using aluminum baking pans, does that mean I have to eat a pan of brownies before I can sow?! LOL

I'm working on a couple of roasting pans full of perennials as we speak--bells of ireland, campanulas, ammi (annual), parsley, coriander....and lots more...

We don't have anything like the snow you Easterners have though! What a storm! Good thing you have your seed babies tucked away in their little milk jugs!

Happy Wintersowing...t.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/560437/

p.s. I just discovered today that the Upper Midwest Gardening Forum has a huge Winter Sowing contingent chatting away over there in private!
Maybe we should crash their threads or invite them over here!?



This message was edited Feb 13, 2006 5:31 PM

I've had that thread watched for awhile - very interesting..

I have sown many perennial, annual and tropical seeds. The first ones up are morning glories!

Hi all,
I've been a member of DG for a little while now, but rarely post anything. I'm an avid reader of all the threads though.
I guess I'll have to de-lurk and ask a question now.
I just got some seeds for winter sowing. Is it too late to start? I don't plan on doing 100 but I have about 10 or so different seeds I'd like to try. I'm in z6 (NW metro Boston).
Thanks,
Lora B.

nope - you're not too late - sow away!!!

Great. That's good to know. I'd hate for all my recycled containers to just sit there after I collected them all.
Wish me luck!

Lora! so good to have another poster. I was thinking this thread was a little too quiet!

I'm sort of new at Wsowing, too-- (although I have tried for the past two years but got side tracked with bad storms and travel so I didn't have any success to 'show and tell')... but I've found the DG threads full of good tips and very supportive.

And, yes, it's a good time to get planting away. I did shasta daisies, more campanula, coreopsis, bells of ireland this morning.

I'm trying to keep a record of my Wintersowing in my Garden Diary, but already I am getting confused... oh, well, as long as a few things come up!

Good luck. t.

tabasco! *smiling alot here* Love your name. I'm from Louisiana and have a great fondness for Tabasco. :-)

I was actually going to start my seeds today but I've been doing some reading and it seems the containers I've collected are too shallow.
I'm going to scrounge around for some more this evening and see what I come up with.

LoraB.

You can always go scrounging in your neighbor's recycle bins for milk jugs and 2 L pop bottles

Karen

Lora--

We don't drink milk, so no jugs or bottles around, so I ended up going to the dollar store/big lots and buying some cheap aluminum roasting pans and covering them with plastic. They are about 4 inches deep and I think that is deep enough to work.

Also used disinfected old plastic flower pots covered with plastic bags.

I think when I first signed up on DG we had just returned from the beautiful Tabasco Plantation in Louisiana so I used that as my 'name'. (Our cat is also named Tabasco.) We love Louisiana. My DH does a lot of business there, so we get to go quite often. So sorry about the devastation from K. though. So destructive to everyone's lives. Makes me so sad.

I use 1 gallon plastic water jugs, as well as, 1/2 gallon milk, apple juice containers. Plus, I have told several friends at work to save their empty clear plastic containers for me. For their effort, I will give them plants in bud stage this Spring/Summer that I have wintersown. Basically, the barter system is alive & well and works for everyone concerned!!

I have a couple of milk jugs I can start with.
And I'm keeping my eye out for more useful containers. I'll become the scrounging queen of the neighborhood. :-)
Lora

I checked all my containers yesterday, and it looks like the lupines sprouted, but they don't look so hot. They're really tiny and it looks like they came up about a millimeter or two, then drooped over. I'll check them again in a few days.

I just checked. I don't have new sprouts.

Well, I finally was able to check my containers today...after all the snow melted! These are the newest containers that have germinated to date:

#30 Musella Lasiocarpa, "Cold Hardy Chinese Dwarf" (Banana - I'm thrilled this worked!)

#37 Salvia, "Blue Bedder"

Excellent - congrats. Have you ever grown Banana? Is it hardy in the ground by you? I would love it be by me. We have some zip codes on Long Island that are zone 7, I wonder if I could create a microclimate so it would be hardy through the winter?

A fellow Dg'er in this zone puts black pots upside down over her tropicals and they live.. her husband doesn't like the look, but they look great when they come back.

Susan

I saw somewhere they have a cold hardy banana in Chicago so I think it would be good for zone 6-7. Key words are cold-hardy, but should work, esp if protected somewhat.

Haven't started my WS-ing yet but hoping to btw now and end of the month. Yay! Officially down to only one job in workplace, plus my job as single mother, which is def a hard job too! Prob the hardest job that I have ever had.

Any sage words of advice you all want to donate now about the WS-ing, before I do it?!

Later, Suzi :)

how about - go for it!! :)

Thanks! Plan to! Got containers; got seeds; got a couple days off... couple months off before plan to start back to school... lots to do, but WS-ing is right near the top!! ~ Suzi :)

Since Musa basjoo comes back each year for me, Musa lasiocarpa should too. It is a dwarf hardy banana reputed to be able to take temperatures as low as -10C (14F). Exotic leaves are followed by a yellow globular flower. (copied from T&M seed catalogue).

Also, I just found out that Musa sikkimensis is another unique hardy species from the Himalayas, producing strong, vigorous, tough green foliage, flushed with ruby-red tints. Very frost & wind tolerant in borders or large containers. (copied from T&M seed catalogue).

You never know if it can be wintersown until you try it!

that is so true - I would love to give them a try, but I really don't want the hassle of digging them up each fall. Maybe I'll see if Thompson still has some seed left - the other site you had mentioned had a minum order amount.