Lessons learned for next year #2

When I poke my jugs, I do it really fast, and when you do it that way, you can just hold the jug by its handle in front of you. You don't need to put it down on anything.

I use a box cutter/razor blade type knife that I have from work. I've been cutting sort of V shapes and just folding the cut plastic back towards the inside of the container. I leave a wider center area for the strip of hot pink duct tape for labeling.

Pirl, is that for real???? Too goofy to be fake LOL

Yes, and she was the talk of the town, or at least the local Fire Department, for a very long time.

Pirl, Rotary phone?

leave it to Dave...

I use a box cutter and cut four triangles out of the bottom and small cuts on each lower side as well.

Tongue touch phone, Dave.

Looks like I'll get my 15 minutes of fame Pirl, if you keep telling people about my 911 call. I wonder if I could have dialed on a rotary phone? Love this winter sowing idea. Now I know what to do with all the seed I get and forget to plant! I have saved containers from the chinese rest. but they are only 2 inches deep. not good enough Iguess. I need 4 inches of soil, right?

Yup, 4".

Lynn - you can use the 16 oz. "party" cups from BJ's - punch holes in the bottom first. I have some if you need them today.

looking foward to trying this-- thanks for the input

I priced Rye Straw this morning when I bought some ProMix. The straw is $4.75 a bale but it sure looked clean. It's grown for straw so it gets cut and baled before seed heads form. I'll have to think on whether I can spend that much money, as I need 20 bales.

Darius: What would you use it for?

Vegetables, but not sure what yet other than lots of tomatoes. My best garden area is over the drainfield where I cannot plow nor till and I want a big veggie garden this year!

This message was edited Feb 9, 2007 5:13 PM

Boy, first wintersowing and then raiding the neighbors' recyclables! What next? We don't generate much in the way of plastic bottles in our house ordinarily, and upon reading Happy's musings over the neighbors' recyclables, I did it.

Pitch black dark. Am legally blind without my glasses which I cannot wear when temps are under 32*F because the lens fall out. So, talk about feeling your way around. There was only 1 plastic, gallon size container I could use, so now I have to grope my way back down 22 slippery, icy steps to the slippery, icy street and put things back - hopefully as decorously as possible so as not to attract any undue attention. I can see the police interview now, "But, officer, how was I to know it was a bag of recyclables without my glasses on?" I wonder how many other gray-haired, legally blind old ladies reading this thread on the internet tonight lost their sensibility over this? What some of us won't do for flowers!

I took home all the plastic bottles, saved for recycling, from a neighbor's big birthday party last September, just knowing I'd need them.

Thanks, pirl, that makes me feel a little less peculiar about raiding my neighbors' trash. Some of them have been helping me out, but being middle of February, I'm hoping to wintersow now. Well, my list of the hardiest and self-sowiest is finished - tomorrow morning is the day. This whole process of learning and preparing for tomorrow's big event has been the perfect antidote to winter - thank you everyone in this thread and forum.

I got my 2 liter bottles at the recycling center. It's supposed to be a No-No but the attendant helped me, LOL.

Ah! A partner in crime - welcome aboard Darius. I'm going to sow my most flamboyant, favorite poppy in that jug - the black peony poppy so I can celebrate tonight's departure from my normally less adventurous life. What will you sow in yours? Looking into my crystal ball a few posts back, I see you mentioned something red, also -- tomatoes?

Karen, your tale of sneaking the reclycables is a hoot!

I hadn't planned to wintersow any veggies, just flowers so far. I have about 30+ jugs and still have quite a pile of seed packets to go.

BTW, I got my prescription glasses for reading today so I also have cause for celebration!

I know how much you love books - I am thrilled beyond words for you. Maybe we don't want spring to come too soon, now; no better time to suspend oneself out of time with a book than on a starry, winter night.

Thanks... but I'll take spring and read in the evenings, LOL.

Blue...don't worry you are not crazy. You are resourceful, dedicated, motivated and passionate! You are in the right place!

I finally got my stash of containers - the snow finally melted. Meanwhile I was collecting new ones and have done 20 so far - my hope is to do 50 total

Wish I could find more bags like this. they came with coir potting mix. nice and tall but not too wide. they would be great for anything you only wanted a few of. about the same as a 1/2 gal milk jug.

and I didn't have any clothespins to use to hold the bags open for ventilation, so I just pinched the centers and put a piece of duct tape on them. you could just as well staple or paper clip them.

jan (aka gram)

Congratulations on having started Gram!

Dave, I started sowing over a month ago. I ran out of milk jugs, but I wanted to do some in baggies anyway. for a complete list of what I've sown check out Anita's thread

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/693140/

there will have to be forced labor (son and granddaughters) to plant the billion plants I'll wind up with...unless nothing germinates LOL

I've just started... have about 40-50 of the 2 liter soda bottles planted, and need a few more bottles.

Those look cool Gram, I might have to check those out.

Oh my god! That is quite the list!

Almost forgot, I wanted to try a couple of soda bottles, too.

I've noticed that seeds planted in my soda bottles started to germinate already. None have started to germinate that are in my milk jugs. Some are the same kind of seeds. Could it be the warming effect of the plastic soda bottles, I wonder?

Hello every one,call from Denmark.
How warm is it outside in your part of the world? Here in Denmark its too soon to sow inside the house.The plant's will soon be too long and thin.I cant put anything in the garden before in the middle of May.This picture is from february last year.coooold

Rosa - all these seeds are sown outside. It's 17 degrees Fahrenheit here, which is -8.33333333 degrees Celsius

Hi, Rosa. same here. too soon to sow anything inside. I won't start anything inside until probably April 1. we can't plant out until at least mid-May. End of May to be really safe.

Anita, it's 17F here this morning, too.

32.7 at 9:18!!!!!!!!

It is 18 degrees and windy with 4 inches of snow on the ground at my place this morning.

My thermometer tells me it is -10º C right now. It is starting to snow and the wind is blowing very hard. The sowing I have done is outside.

Rosa, Where is Helsing? While living in Norway we traveled from Kristiansand to Hjørring by ferry two times. The first time we spent 10 days camping around Denmark the second time was in December in a snow storm we were on our way to Berlin, that was a very difficult drive.

Got a question,

I received some pansy seeds and monkey flower seeds last week.
I also have several different types of ornimental grasses,

Can these be WSed?

Thanks Connie