WS Frequently Asked Questions? FAQs? Need to Know?

Hi, everybody--

Are you a beginner WSer or a relative newbie, like me?

I am getting excited too about the next season and when I was researching I found Trudi Davidoff's FAQ page on her website "Wintersown.org" that I thought had lots of good answers and was well organized.

Here is the Link to the Wintersowing FAQs

http://wintersown.org/wseo1/FAQs.html

She answers lots of questions about kinds of containers, where to site them, what kind of soil/planting medium;best kinds of seeds to try/when to plant out/how to and when to water and all kinds of other questions.

It covers a lot of material in a nicely organized format to get you started.

Of course, there are also alway new developments and other creative solutions to know about and I am sure DGers will have lots of good answers for those, too.

Maybe we should make a DG WS FAQ list? Or is there one and I haven't found it?

These are my WS rudbeckia 'prairie sun' from last season...

Good Idea. Would you like to organize one? We could make it a sticky. Sheila is a good source of info too.

Wow Tabasco! I thought most perennials took two years before they bloom. Winter sowing really gives them a head start plus yours are healthy looking plants. Is that A. currassavica tropical milkweed next to it? What ever the orange/yellow plant next to it is, did you winter sow it as well?

Deborah

Looks like Silky Red Milkweed.

Beautiful.

Yes, they are A. curassavica

http://www.butterflybushes.com/milkweed.htm

A very nice milkweed for the monarchs and for a filler for the garden. I tried to wintersow them this spring but went out of town for a few weeks and lost them to weather issues.

The rudbeckia 'prairie sun' is a nice daisy to wintersow. I love them in the garden and try to have some every year, either from seeds and/or nursery plants.

FYI--here is a list of perennials known to bloom the first year. I believe the list is from 'Gloria's' post. I do not know how long her growing season is...

Balloon Flower
Black-Eyed Susan
Purple Coneflower
Blanket Flower 'Goblin'
Cardinal Flower 'Fan' series

Carpathian Bellflower 'Uniform' series
Columbine 'Song Bird' series; 'McKana's Giant' mix
Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise'
Delphinium
Dianthus

Digitalis 'Camelot Mix'
Feverfew 'Tetra White'
Hollyhock 'Summer Carnival' mix
Shasta Daisy
Hybrid Sage 'Blue Queen'

Iceland Poppy 'Meadow Pastels'
Maiden Pink 'Zing Rose'
Mallow 'Disco Belle' series
Maltese Cross
Purple Coneflower 'Magnus'

Shasta Daisy 'White Knight'
Veronica 'Blue Banquet,' 'Sightseeing Mix'
Yarrow 'Colorado,' 'Summer Pastels'

Good information of first year bloomers. I was wondering which ones would bloom their first year.
Thanks!
Deborah

For newbies to wintersowing, you might find the FAQs link helpful.

Although wintersowing doesn't really get started until after the New Year, it's nice to plan ahead a little. It was very helpful to me.

tabasco, this is my first year, too.....I am on the west side, but we will have to compare notes. I love your prarie sun.....did you get any seeds you would like to share?

This will be my first year w/s also. If I understand correctly, you begin to w/s in Jan. You sow your seeds and put them outside? I am going to try some outside and some in my unheated greenhouse.

The reason we put out containers outside is so that the rain/snow will keep them moist and basically maintenance free. If they are placed in an enclosed area, you will have to water them when dry. When I w/s last year, I put the containers out and basically forgot about them until they started sprouting in the spring.

It can't be any easier than that! I will most deffinately do this this year!

I thought I had posted this question, but now I can't find where, so I'll try again!

I remember seeing a post about a place to buy inexpensive seeds in $1 packs. Can anyone remind me where that is?

Park's seed currently has some $1 seed

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=gatepage&gate=1DollarSeed

Karen

www.valueseeds.com

Thanks so much!

Hi Anita,
I have been trying to figure out what annuals can be winter sown, and am getting a head ache reading and reading and getting no where :o) Would you by chance have a list of annuals that can't be WSn? or someone?
I am trying to get everything together and have it ready, I am going to be looking for a job here shortly and afraid I won't have the time to get all my seeds sorted after I start work... and i would hate to ws something that I shouldn't...

Connie

Connie,

Wintersown.org has lists of Annual, Herbs and Perennials that can be wintersown here:

It includes Zones too:

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

Hope this helps!

~Sunny

Connie - I also have an excel database list on my website http://www.lakehousecreations.com/winter_sowing.htm . I got it from another site and it was very helpful. I am also of the mind to try it anyway - what do you have to lose?? $1, $2?

Anita, awesome spreadsheet, thanks for sharing!

~Sunny

Sure thing Sunny - Ron did an incredible job of it. I wish he would come over here and join us.

I'm trying this for the first time too. I have great expectations every spring and then poor results. I ended up with a bunch of bulbs and tubers this past summer and I missed all my odd annuals. I have a guy at work who blows through 3-2L of soda a day so containers will not be an issue:LOL:
Thank you for the WinterSown link--very easy to follow instructions and so helpful.

10/20/06 I recieved my SASE back with a really nice variety of seeds and a nice leaflet about growing tomatoes in a 5gal bucket and a mix of tomato seeds. Thank you for the link to the site:)

This message was edited Oct 20, 2006 7:18 PM

I've been doing some site updates and put together a nice set of seed list links on the bottom of this page:
http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/Seed_Lists.html

Enjoy!

Trudi

Thanks Trudi :-)
I'm finding it hard to wait till January

Thanks so much Trudi,

justfurkids, Me Too... :o)

Connie

Hubs and I went for a walk today at a local nature center. They had an enormous garden of wildflowers that attract butterflies. To the average person, it might look like a patch of weeds going to seed. To the artful seedsnatcher, it was a lovely sight to see. I found only three pods of Asclepias speciosa that were not flying away on the wind and so pocketed them to take home. The seeds are now drying on a plate next to my arm. Most of the other plants were primarily asters and boltonias which are just peaking here.

It was good to see that the parks are teaching how to attract butterflies with native plants. Native plants are very important to our gardens because they're going to attract the beneficial insects that we need to control pest imbalances. Winter Sowers should be looking at nature centers and wild areas near them to see these plants and how they can be used in home gardens. Native plants, especially bushes and trees, make for smart landscaping. They respond well to pruning and because they're inherently used to the climate, they're not going to be water hogs or require extra foods or plant care.

T

So true

We were at Garvies Point in Glen Cove, Anita. They have several walking trails, one is a braille trail (how nice!) and they have a very nice museum that is Geology themed. It's all free too--my favorite price!

I will be teaching at Bayard Cutting Arboretum on November 11th.

Here's the info link:
http://www.bayardcuttingarboretum.com/Pages/news.htm

Thanks for the link Trudy. How did you come across that job? I found the other classes interesting as well. I never knew they offered any.

While I was checking out the following on WS container creativity I actually broke out laughing at http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/Photo_Share.html#TXTOBJ7D4311610121F1041
Trudi writes:

Anita, they called me and asked if I would come and teach. One of the members of their education board wintersows ;-) and she asked me to come out. I met with the education board, they all very much liked the idea of WS and so a date was set. Hubs and I have loved Bayard for a long time--when we were dating we walked along the water there.

I keep meaning to go, but life always seems to get in the way. Then before you know it, the growing season is over. :(