Milk jugs

Tamara, where do you get those 2-gal bags. If I used Ziploc bags (1gal), they are not inexpensive if you have to use a lot.

Aldi's! It's the only place I've seen them and they're cheap! Gotta love that! I do plan on reusing them next year, so that makes it an even better deal. Tamara

The bags that I am using are standard 1 gallon baggies (Safeway brand). They fit snuggly over the container. I have not taped any, at least not yet. I will probably need to tape the bag on some of the first few containers that I used to keep then from slipping and filling with water. Keeping the handle portion of the jug in place helps and with this round I kept the rim 2" above the soil line.

- Brent

I went out today & scored a bunch of 1 gallon jugs from Costco from my neighbor's recycling. They're perfect for cutting in half & turning upside down for self-watering containers. I have a zipped plastic bedding bag to tuck them in, until it warms up....

Thistle: What do you mean "turning upside down for self-watering containers"?

I'm going to tuck the top half (w/ the cap off) into the bottom half & probably drill a hole just below where the top rests for overflow-I don't know if self-watering containers will be good for seed starting, but if it doesn't work, I will use them for patio containers for this summer, when watering constantly is a pain! The soilless mix should wick the water in the reservoir up, I'm going to block the hole w/ a coffee filter. I tried Earthboxes last year & everything seemed to grow well, I stil had to water, but not quite as much...

This site has some pictures:

http://toppertwo.tripod.com/pop_bottle_pots.htm

2-liter bottles make good plant waterers, too. You cut the bottom off the bottle, drill a small hole in the bottle cap, and jab it in the soil next to a plant. It works well in containers, too. They sell spikes that screw on 2-liter bottles, but it's a little pricey if you need a lot of them.

This message was edited Mar 10, 2007 8:07 PM

I felt a bit guilty raiding my neighbor's recycling bin (I did ask her first), but her milk jugs were nicer than mine...

What a great way to make self-watering pots. Thanks for the link.........it really helps to see exactly what is being done. This is something that I am going to try.....but maybe not for WS.

Thanks to you all. This is my first year to wintersowing and you have given me such good ideas for containers.

Being March 17th today, am I too late for winter sowing? I will be looking up what seeds will do well (esp ones that I currently have) tonight.

In past years, I have done all my seeds on a germination mat and under the grow lights. This way, I could certainly grow even more. And it seems sooooo simple. Thanks.

RatherB,

good to see you in WS forum.

as a newbie -- i dont know too much about timing -- but i think now it may be called Spring Sowing
I guess it depends on what your weather is right about now... i know i'm still sowing seeds.

here is a link to the wintersown.org zone6 seed page
http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/WS_Database_Z6.html

Terese

RatherBDigging ... It is not at all too late! I'm in zone 7b and have barely begun to sow annuals. Last year from March 17 through May 8, I sowed alyssum (gold dust and Maritime tall), annual phlox, African daisy, baby's breath, balsam impatiens, basil, bat-faced cuphea, breadseed poppy, brocccoli, bachelor button, cabbage, Canterbury bells, carnation, castor bean, cauliflower, celosia plumosa, chives, cleome, Convoluvulus, cucumber, datura, dill, forget-me-not, 4 o'clock, foxglove, hyacinth bean, Johnny jump up, kohlrabi, love-lies-bleeding; marigold (several varieties), millet, morning glory, motherwort, nicotiana, okra, onion (white Lisbon bunching), pansy, parsley, pepper (several varieties), petunia (several varieties), pumpkin, Queen Anne's lace, scabiosa, snapdragon, squash (winter and summer), sunflower (several varieties), tomato (several varieties), vinca, wildflower mix, and zinnia (several varieties).

Everything germinated. Go for it!

Thank you, bjoan and terese (terese, what are you doing over here...I was just dmailing you!)

Wow...looking at your list, bjoan, one would really need a huge grow light set up to do that inside, huh? Impressive.

The link was helpful, thank you. It did give me the answers I was looking for regarding the types of seeds best used. Althought, bjoan, some of the ones you grew I would not have even thought could be done with WS. Wow. I think you many have another dedicated WSer in the group.

If the weather now will not be as harsh with the major freezes and then thaws, could this now affect the ability of the harder seed coats to break open as well now? I was thinking about soaking some of those in warm/hot water for a day prior to sowing to catch up...does anyone think this is necessary? or helpful at all?

RatherB, this is only my second year, so I hesitate to give advice other than from my own experience. Last year the really hard seeds (peach pits were the hardest) I sowed in late December and early January because they definitely needed all that freezing/thawing to crack the pit, let alone the seed inside! I did not nick any seeds I sowed, annual or perennial. I did soak the morning glory seeds in water over night simply because the packet instructions said to do that. I don't know if it is necessary in winter sowing, though, and if I sow them this year, I will skip that step.

Maybe the experts will chime in on this one for you.

Thanks, Bjoan. Anyone else have any thoughts on soaking to help if you sow a little later in the season? Or should I start a new thread to allow other WS gardeners to see it?

Yesterday i put my bean vine, and 2 kinds of Morning Glories in water, and sowed them tonight (yea... i'm up late)

last time i asked about soaking the morning glories, i was told that the freezing and thawing when winter sown would do the trick -- but I wasn't sure how many freezes i'd be having from this day on... so i soaked.

>>new thread to allow other WS gardeners to see it?

sometimes threads tend to go off topic...as i see this is the "milk jug" thread... I do find it helpful to have something i'm looking for in the topic line... but that's up to you.

We would probably get more advice if you started a new one.

That is what I will do...I need to catch the eyes of all those experienced WS experts. This is off topic now. And others may be thinking the same thing...

I spring sowed Morning Glories last year without soaking or any type of "extra" preparation. They germinated & grew just fine.

It's best to start a new thread as this one is getting fairly long.

T hank you, Shirley I did start a new thread on WS. Thank you for your reply. It is appreciated.