can I start now?

Can I start wintersowing now? I know I'm supposed to do it after the winter equinox, but I'm impatient and am worried I won't have the energy later. Would there be any harm in starting perennials now, and maybe even planting them in the fall?

xxxxxx, Carrrie

Winter sowing becomes spring sowing, becomes summer sowing, becomes fall sowing - with minor mods to the method, depending on the season.

So yes, you can start perennials now for planting out in the fall; the only caveat is that you would sow varieties that don't need cold strat.

Check out this link; it will give you an idea re: perennials (or fast-growing annuals) that you can sow now.

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/wtrsow/2002064114029680.html

Hope this helps ....

PV

But most of those seeds I have in my cool dry box of seeds! This is terrific news! Thank you, PV, thank you!

I kneel in the long shadow of your excellence,

Carrie

ROFL, Carrie! For Pete's sake, get up, get up ....

LOL!

PV

I got that as "feedback" on eBay once, and I really liked it, just to whip out at random moments. (I later found that the sellebr alternated that with a couple of other positive things to say.) That image just stuck with me, it's so visual! I am no longer kneeling, however.

x, C

LOL!!!

C, I started my winter sowing last weekend. I did Echinacea, Bee Balm, Rose Campion...even Hellebores but they will have to go to the fridge for sometime. I will be doing more this weekend.

good luck!
anna

Congrats, Anna, I can't even find my cool dry box of seeds. Waaaaaaah!

xxxxx, Carrie

Sorry Carrie, I hope you find them soon.

My first go at starting seeds was during the summer a few years ago. I ended up with a bunch of Shasta Daisies, a few 'Early Sunrise' Coreopsis plants, and a lot of lessons learned. It did a lot to get me ready for my first year winter sowing. I missed out on winter sowing this year, so I currently have 4 milk jugs of seeds going right now. I will transplant them into 4" pots (some are overdue, some are still tiny). This fall I will either get them in the ground, or sink the pots into a bed of mulch.

- Brent

All my seeds are sprouting. I planted them less than a week ago. Even echinacea that needs a cold period has germinated. :o)

Wowee kazowee, Spider, how awesome! Who put my seeds 'away'?, she wonders. I'll show them "away"! Grrrrrrrr.

xxxx, Carrie

so, you haven't found them????

Nope!

OK, I found some stray seeds, ordered some more from Valueseed, and I am summer-sowing them! Nice HOT baby greenhouses!
Wish me luck for my tiny teeny baby seeds.

xxxxxx,

Carrie

good luck tiny teeny baby seeds!

"Thank you" says a very little small chorus of tiny teeny baby seeds!

Awwwww.... how cute!

winter sowing - WOW- can I do that in zone 5 ("high desert" akaline soil just east of Reno, NV) I'm a newbie at this - what plants would work? When would they bloom. Thanks

Oh Oh! just read PVick's 7/5 post with link to gardenweb. I am so excited!! and I really like the "kneel in the shadow...." thanks carrielamont
I'm off to find some seeds.

Oh, I wish you so much luck!!! I planted a few a couple weeks ago and I have some seedlings, some sproutlings, and a few "hey it's way too hot for me to sprout!" Of course, since there were only three containers, and no more than two species per container, who needs to label? So now I'm not really sure what I have! LABEL and cross your fingers!!! LOL!

xxxxxx,
Carrie

catncrows, I'm not sure what plants would best suit your high desert environment, but I'm in a pretty average zone 5b location (for Canada - lots of snow cover Dec. to Mar.) and I had tremendous success winter sowing for the first time this year.

I tried all kinds of things: hardy annuals, perennials, vegetables, trees and shrubs. Only a few failures - mostly the vegetables and a couple of things that require more specialized soil conditions than I knew about at the time. But for the rest I had about an 80% germination rate in each container. As for bloom times, it will depend on the plant, but some of the perennials that would not normally bloom until year two have already started blooming for me, starting about 2 weeks ago.

Containers used: Plastic 2 Liter pop and water bottles. Cut the tops almost off, but left a little attached as a hinge. Added soil to at least 4 inches, dampened thoroughly, sowed seed (too thickly - should sow more thinly), closed top (did not keep the actual caps on though) and taped bottles back together.

Good luck!

--Ginny

Hey Ginny,
What kind of lighting do you use? I am in zone 5 also. Rachel

Hi Rachel. Because our sun is weak up here in the winter, I just popped those little "greenhouses" right outside in a fairly sunny location that was somewhat sheltered from our winter winds and then let them do their thing :-) Just keep an eye on the condensation in the tops of the containers. As long as there is lots of it you don't need to water.....and make sure you get the tops of the containers off in the spring before they fry the seedlings too. The heat can get pretty intense inside those bottles once the sun starts getting stronger.

I would imagine that, if you wanted to try "summer sowing" using this method, you might want to cut extra holes in the top halves of the pop bottles and put them in a partly shaded location. It seems to me that if you treat those containers just as you would operate very tiny greenhouses they should do fine.

--Ginny

Oooooh - you think my summer sowing projects should be out of the sun? Didn 't think of that. Only my heuchera mix has yet to germinate. So far I'm pleased.

Carrie

I was only thinking that covered containers in the direct summer sun all day long probably get *VERY* hot Carrie. You wouldn't want to fry those poor tiny little seedlings before they have a chance :-) As long as they are vented properly, just like you would in a greenhouse by opening the vents, they should be okay. I would just keep an eye on them for signs of heat stress. For me, because I'm away all day at work and can't keep an eye on things, it would be better to have them where they would be out of the hot afternoon sun, or at least only getting partial sun that time of day. Good luck with your "babies"!

--Ginny

Well, I took the cover off the cypress vine seedlings and they're still growing strong, pun intended. That was a few weeks ago. I'm still not convinced that what germinated in the poppies container is poppies! Whatever it is, it's still uncurling. And as I said, I'm waiting for my heuchera mix. Thanks, Ginny. (You think maybe I should have waited for DH to locate the sterile seed-startring mix at HD? Me too.)

xxxxx, Carrie

Yeah - I had the same problem with a couple of my containers. I grew the most luscious healthy weeds in those two :-)

--Ginny

Let me know if you have any luck with the heuchreas. Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, I started 4 containers of seeds this summer. I had good luck with the others, but no luck with the heuchreas. They were seeds from my 'Ruby Bells' plants. After about 2 weeks I was a number of tiny little sprouts (very small..but shaped like heuchera leaves). Yea!! but then they disappeared. I saw a few more sprouts, but they met the same fate. I tried to keep the soil most and to keep them out of the sun, but they did not seem to like the least bit of sun (or maybe it was the heat that did them in).

- Brent

Brent, that's the one container (out of three or four) that hasn't grown so much as a weed. Maybe I'll move into them into the "shady garden" (under the table).....

xxx, Carrie