Wintersowing 2007 Prep!!!

Wow! They still sell milk in glass containers!

16oz plastic bottles and 1/2 gallon milk containers work beautifully! You definitely DON'T want to sow every seed that you have, unless you have acres and acres of gardens to plant! Look back at the "sticky" post that is entitled "Lessons Learned".

I have personally tried to use the smaller sized plastic and aluminum containers that are available at salad bars in the supermarkets. That was a disaster because the majority of seeds dried up because you can't put a minimum of 4" of soil and leave enough head room for the seeds to germinate, plus the soil dried out to quickly even with daily watering! It was a hard lesson to learn, but one that I have never repeated. The deeper the container, the better off your seeds & soil will be.

Hey, there is nothing wrong with "dumpster dipping", even though your neighbors might give you strange looks! Ask neighbors, relatives, co-workers & friends to save their plastic containers for you and as a thank you, share some of your seedlings with them. You never know, you may convince someone brand new to take up Wintersowing too!

Yep Dave, milk is still sold in glass bottles....at least organic milk is. We get the $1.25 bottle deposit back when we return them. We only buy organic, non-homogenized milk from pasture fed cows. I usually buy the raw milk. It's straight from the cow to the bottle to the market. Reminds me of the milk my Oma used to get in Germany when I was a child.

Whether winter sowing, spring sowing or summer sowing, starting more seeds than one has room in the garden seems to be a consistent gardener's affliction!

Just after hearing what winter sowing was and becoming intriguied, I happend to notice the clear plastic self-standing double closet my sister left at my house. A few speculative moments later, I'm wondering how I can use this? I have a couple of things I could move into it for shelving, but I've never had a greenhouse. I don't know if this would work. And if so, work inside in our unfinished basement or outside as a tool for wintersowing?

Help anyone?

Thanks,
w

People have used a variety of containers:
-aluminum roaster/lasagna pans
-supermarket rotisserie containers
-rubbermaid storage containers
-liter soda bottles
-supermarket salad containers
-ice cream tubs

Doesn't matter what you use as long as it is deep enough to hold at least 4" of soil and has a cover that you can put holes in and leaves enough head room when your babies start growing. Be ingenious and use whatever you can get your hands on.

This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 7:09 AM

Just found this thread. Here are a few things I learned/do that are a bit different than above ideas.

-The roots grow fast and deep, make sure you get them in the ground before they
tangle around each other.

-I use markers made from venitian blinds cut to size, write on them with a paint
pen and then that is my garden marker.

-I put the marker inside the milk jug so that I can read it from the outside and it
won't get lost

-Even if the directions with the seed say sprinkle liberaly on the surface, don't.
Germination is so good with winter sowing that you will have a hard time
thinning.

-Don't feel like you have to use the whole pack of seeds, share them or save them
for next year. They are great for trading.

I love all this information and help -- thank you all so much!

Tomorrow is trash day -- I'm going scurrying through my neighbor's stuff looking for gallon containers! (I hear you that smaller containers will work, but I am sold on the idea of the gallon containers.) And we live in a very pricey part of town, so I am definitely going to get some funny looks! ("Poor girl must be down on her luck, etc.!") They just won't understand the grin on my face.

And my kids will be HORRIFIED~

I don't know about your area, but where I live it is considering theft to take anything out of recycling. Once it is out there it is city property because the city sells the recycling to help pay for the collection of it. You don't want to have to do your winter sowing from a cell. Every so often we will get a mailing from the city asking us to report it when we see someone taking the recycling.

I tend to go dumpster diving on occasion, my daughter is very embarrassed and my son thinks it is cool. I got a beautiful very ornate garden chair that way.

YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! I had no idea it would be anything other than embarrassing to take stuff out of recycling! I guess I'll just see who using the most gallon containers and give them a call. There is a family down the road with (I think) 6 kids -- bet they drink a lot!

Hey it might not be a problem there, but I wouldn't do it here. It is ok if we take junk, just not the recycling. I guess it was becoming a problem since the price for cans has gone up. The recycling paid for itself, but if there isn't enough to sell then it costs the city money to pick it up.

That's the first that I've heard that you can't take "stuff" out of a recycle basket. Like I mentioned above, I just have others start collecting plastic containers in return for seedlings. They are absolutely thrilled when they receive their plants, because all they were going to do was toss out the containers anyway!

Wow, our town sells recycling too to pay for their collection.. And I thought the correct term was dumpster-diving!

xxxx, Carrie

Garden-mermaid, Good for you. After I wrote my post I did remember the glass bottles at our health food store. Funny that I keep my garden organic but not my refrigerator.
Anyway, it spurred memories of having a milkman and the frozen cream pushing the round cardboard top out of the glass bottle.I imagine this will only be familiar to those that have crossed the half-century mark. There was no plastic for wintersowing back then!

In the summer you could get chunks of ice to eat from him as he was taking the milk out of the truck.

Yep, the cream floats to the top and needs to be mixed back in. I remember the milk man stopping by at the kichen door in the morning. Glass 1/2 gallon and quart bottles in a crate. As a child we objected to milk in waxed cartons and plastic containers. Guess our young tongues were able to taste the contaminents that leached into the milk from those packaging options. I can't drink the highly processed, adulterated product that is passed off as conventional milk in this country. It makes me sick. So it's real milk only, or almond milk.

Back to the topic at hand, in this state it is illegal to take bottles or cans from the recycling bins that people put out curbside on trash collection day. If you live in a area with gale force winds in the winter, it may be more feasilble to keep a low profile on the row cover or plastic sheeting and to cover all the edges with soil and brick or stones so that there are no loose edges for the wind to get hold of.

winging-- I am not quite clear on the dimensions of your storage closet, but if it is tall and you are thinking of putting shelves in it, it may not be quite right for Wintersowing since generally WS containers are only one layer ...

If you haven't checked it already, here's the Wintersown.org site that shows lots of pics of containers that might work for you...

http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/How_to_Winter_Sow.html

I am thinking about how you can use the closet but haven't come up with anything yet--does it have a clear plastic front so light can get in? Sounds intriguing...

New topic---

I have had pretty good luck this summer with my WS Butterfly Garden plants. Had loads of monarchs visiting today. And three kinds of Swallowtails. (So much fun.) So I went out and collected more Milkweed seed pods and went through my seed box planning WS for next year! I hope I'll have a nice collection of Butterfly nectar plant seeds to share around with everyone! LOL Also, I'm doubling the size of my BF garden (worked on making the lasagna layers today) in anticipation of a really great WS crop!

Thanks, zenp., for all the tips on WS and labeling, etc. I definitely need some direction on that!

I think I will have to use roasting pans again--Our kids are grown and when they are home I try to get them (brow beat them in)to drink milk (out of gallon containers), but they just laugh at me--they know what I'm up to! And they think I'm WS obsessed and yes, I am!

Gosh Tabasco, if you didn't live so far, I could drop off a trailer load in a WEEK to you! The pumpkin patch drink 2-3 gallons of milk a day! If they have friends over ..well there's another milk jug for you. Maybe your neighbors could save some for you?

Edited for spelling.

This message was edited Aug 31, 2006 10:27 PM

LOL well thanks, garden6, but maybe you'd better save them for the future! Your kids will grow up before you know it! It happen in a flash!

Tabasco, you are so right!! Sage advice for sure!... Are your pumpkins grown already?

Yes, well, pretty much gone. 2 in college and one out of college and living in San Francisco. That's why I'm on DG so much!

Tabasco, sounds like you enjoy a close relationship with your pumpkins...that's very nice.

Hi tabasco,
Thanks for your comments about the closet. I'm guilty of neglecting to point out the shifts my "monkey brain" takes with ideas. I leapt from thinking about using recycled stuff for winter sowing to recycling the closet. My friend calls it "conversational whiplash" at times, but this one wasn't so off topic. :)

The closet is pretty much all clear plastic with a zippered front. After joining DG, I've been inspired to root some cuttings, and I'm going to try starting seeds again, both wintersowing and indoors. I just figured this closet might make a useful sort of makeshift greenhouse, but I don't know how I'd use it, yet. I know pretty much squat about greenhouses.

About monarchs: I've spotted some in the yard over the last week. Lovely. And I've seen more hummingbirds recently, too, although I don't know exactly why now and not before.

Thanks,
winging

Hello Everyone - I too am thinking very seriously about winter sowing. I read about it last winter, but decided against it then. I am getting supplies together to use. I ordered some seeds the other day and also have seed leftover this year too.

Since this will be my first try at this, I am sure that I will be here plenty and with plenty questions. I remember last winter was spent a lot of time on computer reading about gardening. This year has been my first one to speak of. I have several beds going on already and plans for more. I started a few things indoors last spring and they didn't do so great. Gonna try the winter sowing and see if I will be better at that.

Another thing that I have just begun is a compost bin. My bin being a large trash can with a lid. I decided to do that while I was freezing some peaches and some green peppers earlier in August and had so many peels and things that I didn't just want to put down garbage disposal. I am going to try posting on soil and compost forum too.

Thank you all for the participation on this board. I live in Virginia and also post fairly regularly on the mid-atlantic board. Hope to be back to see you folks soon.

Ruby Watts

Welcome, Ruby!

Compost is pretty much always a good idea. I'd love to convert my family to the concept. This will be my first year wintersowing also, but it makes so much sense... and since I don't have space inside for a zillion seedlings, it seems like it will fit my lifestyle pretty well too. Keep us 'posted'.

xxx, Carrie

Ruby: I'm in your geographic backyard, so to speak. I'm also going to be winter sowing for the first time this winter -- I really look forward to talking with you and other WSers as I muddle through this first attempt.

winging --here's the thread on the Monarch Migration in the Perennials forum--

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/641683/ which highlights some of the monarch gardening info and issues for our area.

Have a look at the Migration Maps there and you can tell when the peak season for Monarchs in your (our) region is. It's kind of fun. (And I notice Glenwood Gardens Park is having a Monarch Festival in a couple weeks.)

Hummingbirds are migrating south now too so we have many visitors from Canada and other northern parts this week. Here is a detailed report on HB migrations FYI

http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet/22years.htm

Have fun gardening this weekend.

Welcome everyone. This will be my second year w/s'ing. My first year was such an amazing success!! I am definitely hooked! I'll be repeating alot of what I sowed last year as well as quite a few new cultivars!

Hi everybody! It's wonderful to see so many new gardeners on the Wintersowing Forum!

I hope you will find wintersowing as addictive as I do. May your gardens be filled will your wintersown plants. We look forward to seeing and hearing about all your successes (yes, ones that were not too) help us all learn & grow together.

Shirley, you sound like you're welcoming people to a prayer breakfast, LOL.

[did not mean to offend anyone.]

xxxxxx, Carrie

I'm just trying to encourage EVERYONE to try Wintersowing. I didn't mean for it to take on a religious over tone. However, if you choose to pray for your WS seeds to all germinate & grow....GO FOR IT!

Thanks for the welcome. It will be nice to do this with others who can answer questions, commiserate over tricky seeds, celebrate successes, etc. :)

w

Thanks for the links and info, tabasco. Perhaps I'll spot more this weekend since it's finally dry!

(Was I the one complaining about no rain earlier?)

w

LOL, praying for seeds to germinate? You should be praying they don't ALL germinate! This year, I'm going to use individual plastic pop/water bottles; one plant per bottle. Maybe three seeds per bottle. Unless you are planning to line a driveway or something, newbies should be careful about sowing too many seeds. I was giving plants away last year and it took up way too much time to deal with everything that germinated. When people tell you NOT to plant more than nine or ten seeds to a gallon milk bottle, DON'T.

It really pays to plan for what you want for next summer. Impluse sowing, as in impluse shopping, will only get you into trouble. I also suggest you check for invasiveness of certain plants. If you've never had the plant in your garden before, it would be wise to do some research. First clues to invasiveness may be a statement such as "readily or reliably self-sows" or "prolific seeder".

Excellent pointers, beaker_ch! Definitely realize that if you sow lots of seeds and at least 80% or more germinate, you've got a lot of seedlings to plant in your garden! You can always trade "extras", give them to family, neighbors, friends, co-workers, or anyone else you can pawn them off on. (just kidding)!

Yes, yes, yes!!! It does pay to research your seeds that you are planning to sow. Case-in-point, "Ibicella lutea" or the common name is "Devil's Claw". I SHOULD have done my research FIRST! It is VERY INVASIVE. Thankfully, I didn't plant it in my garden. It's planted it in a container and sitting on my deck.

Wow -- Shirley -- I love your description from the Plant Files (quoting from the International Carnivorous Plant Society): "They have a rather unpleasant smell--something like rotting gym socks. The leaves and stems are covered with a resinous slime that you can't easily wash off. It gets on your clothes. It gets on your hands and arms. It gets on your garden tools. It won't come off. And then there are the seed pods. Those suckers are evil. They are very sharp. They are designed to snag onto animal feet and hold on until the poor beast dies and serves as fertilizer for the next generation of Devil's Claw." I can just imagine my poor dogs -- or kids -- being gobbled up by the Devil's Claw. What a way to go!

Ibicella lutea a.k.a. "Devil's Claw" would be the perfect plant in the movie, "Little Shop of Horrors"! :~) However, it did wintersow very easily...now we all know why!

But if you have this monster in a pot, it will die, right? It's not perennial in the temperate zone...

xx, C

ahhhhh! Can we start yet?? i'm so anxious... This year i have a giant bucket filled with containers that i have safed for ws. I have collected over 30 types of flower seeds that i'm going to play with this winter. This will be my first winter sow ever and i can't wait!!!!!

So, can we start yet???????
ed

Not till it gets cold.

I kinda figured we could put the sterile potting mix in the containers, 'cause nothing's happening until you mix dirt + water + seed.

Specialty Perennials reccommends planting some seeds at 65 - 70 degrees, then moving them to cold, then back to warm. How does that translate to Wintersowing?

xxxxx, Carrie