So....what do you think?

For all of you who tried winter sowing for the first time.....what do you think? How was your success rate? Will you do it again? I'd like to see if all of the "enabling" worked. :)

I've been doing this for four years and (for me) it's the only way I'll garden from now on. Not that I don't buy a few plants here and there, but I find that I really can't find anything that I don't have growing in my containers.

Are you kidding???? lol Except for some replacement perennials and the roses, most of the plants in my garden were sown by me - about half were winter sown. I could never afford all these plants if I had to buy them!

Lots of batchlor buttons, delphiniums, pansies, violas, baby's breath, carnations, pinks, linaria, snapdragons, larkspur, red poppies, oriental poppies - I can hardly wait to get started again!

It is winter here in SA at the moment, and although our temperatures aren't as low as some you experience during winter, I must admit there is no going back to buying plants! First of all I never would be able to buy the number of seedlings I am raising right now, and then the variety is something every gardener in SA will be jealous about as we are only able to buy a limited variety of plants. Some of the things I am growing at the moment is plants that one only sees in overseas magazines. I can't wait to show them off!

Winter sowing is addictive!

Elsa

So what are you growing Elsa?

Well, I can't wait to see photos of your gardens!

I have done WSing for 3 years, now. Took a while for me to get the hang of it (really slow learner and seed sowing klutz) but I love it.

Last winter I did very little (too preoccupied with other things) and now I regret not having set out more seeds.

I will definitely be winter sowing again next year. I do plan to be a bit more selective (as opposed to sowing any and every seed I could get my hands on) next year and I have already started looking for unique seeds to put into my jugs this winter. I had a blast with this!

Where do I begin? I started some Hostas-inside my house-(a bit early because I just couldn't wait any longer) and they are little, but can't wait to see them get bigger.
I have the following growing outside:
Aquilegias (we can only get seeds of Mc Kannas Giant) all of them from DG trades
Antirrhinum "Tequila Sunrise", "Maximum T&M Mixed", "Madame Butterfly" and a dark red that I got through a trade. Madame Butterfly wasn't that successful - only two seeds germinated.
Coreopsis "Early Sunrise"
Calendula "Sherbit Fizz"
Bells of Ireland
Different Azaleas
Caryopteris divaricata "Blue Butterflies"
5 different Clematis seeds (waiting patiently for something to happen)
Dierama "T&M Species mixed"
Echinacea purpurea
Echinops blue and white
Eustoma grandiflora
Digitalis p."Candy Mountain" and "Apricot"
Forget-me-not
Gomphrena "Strawberry Fields"
Geranium pratense Mixed
Geum "Mrs Bradshaw"
Helianthenum
Liatris
Leonotis nepetifolia
Linaria
Lychnis coronaria
Phlox
Rudbeckias
Trollius
Anagallis
Verbascum ( If I remember correctly it was "Southern Charm")
Meconopsis betonicifolia (Hope they grow into healthy plants. They are about 1cm tall at the moment)
Anemone japonica (still waiting for them to show)
Dianthus (Sweet William and "Arctic Fire")
Bachelor Buttons
Achillea "Summer Berries" and "Summer Pastels"
Primula auricula "Douglas Prize Mixed" (still waiting for them to show)
Lewisia (In the fridge)
Begonia x tuberhybrida (inside my house - started 1/7)
Salvia "Blaze of Fire"(still waiting for them to show)
Carnations "Giant Chabaud Double Mixed" (still waiting for them to show)
Petunia
Helebores (Have some outside and some in the fridge in case it isn't cold enough outside)

Some are already nice strong little plants. The Antirrhinums had to be pricked out as they were getting too big for the pot I started them in. Didn't want them to get any deceases.

Needless to say I will have many plants to share, but I tried to keep my calm and just sow a few seeds of each. The extras will go to my mother and my aunt's gardens.

When it gets a bit closer to Spring (1 September is the official date) I will start all the different sunflower and gourd seeds I got through trades.

Even though I ordered a lot of seeds from T&M this year, more than half of I got through trades. Thanks to everybody that were so generous. I hope to harvest a lot of seed the coming season (in order to get some others hooked on WS!) LOL!

Wow! You will have LOTS of little plants. It will be so great!

Elsa, That is so great! Can you harvest seed from any S.A. wildflowers? Those would be very special to us, including the S.A. Impatiens which a lot of us covet, tho I think it is a weed there. LOL!

Suzy

Hi Suzy,

I will have a look. We sometimes have difficulty in laying our hands on our own seeds ( had to trade with a DGer in Pakistan to get hold of Adenium!), but I will keep my eyes open. We do have nurseries specializing in indigenous plants. Maybe I can get hold of some seeds through them. Will let you know.

Elsa

MerryMa -- I didn't answer your question, I got so excited about Elsa's S.A. weed seeds that I forgot to type what I was going to type. :))

Growing from seed, yes, I'll do that again for sure, but 300 jugs of wintersowing, no, never! It took soooo long to plant out the babies, and I didn't like worrying about the trashy look and what the neighbors thought. I hated thinking of them cooking under the lid, freezing without the lid, too much water, not enough water, too much sun, not enough sun....all the things that can go wrong. My idea is to let a lot of the easy ones just go to seed in the garden and start more seeds inside under lights. I hope to have about 1 dozen jugs or so of things that need the stratification, and that's it.

Planting out about killed me. I really think it will be easier to weed out the ones I don't want than plant the babies from jugs that I do want. For example, I planted a lot of 2 leaved babies singly one by one. You have to pull them from the jug, untangle them from one another, set them the exact depth, and cover them so gently. Water with a fine mist and not let them dry out. That got old very quickly, so I started clump transplanting. Unfortunately, most of my seeds were mixes of some sort...so even Rudbeckia 'Cherokee Sunset' which is a named varieity has different kinds of flowers in the one pack. When you plant those all together it's really unfortunate when they bloom. Not ugly, just that they should have been separated. Like the different plants should just have way more space between them (in terms of feet, not inches) or even be planted yards awau from eachother with other plants in between.

Suzy

Whoa, Suzy! You definitely do things the hard way! Heck - I thought I was nuts planting seedlings into paper pots! Here is what I have learned . . . when I seed this year - the dirt will defintely be 4 inches deep. And I will space the seeds so I won't have to spend a lot of time potting up - I can just let the seedlings grow until they are easy to handle. Of course - this means I might have lots of milk jugs outside, each with say 6 seedlings - not 30! With really little seeds, I might have to start them first and put into paper pots. But that's okay too.

I'm still undecided...

it was my first year and if i do it again, i will do some things differently.

as mentioned above.... min 4" soil. some of my containers were less and the roots were all tangled.
less seeds per containers.

though i did do the HOS thing a few times.... it certainly was easier plucking out 1 lil seedling at a time to plant it... though i guess too it depends on the size of the seedling.

I lost MANY to rabbits... so i need to find plants that do not appeal to them
I want more sunflowers, but they all got eaten with the exception of 1.... but that one toppled over and now the
"head" on it is gone.

So -- many things i will have to rethink

"The unexamined (Wintersowing) life is not worth living." Very good question, merryma. I loved my first experience with WS--it was so exciting to be planting jugs in the bleak mid-winter and waiting for seedlings--and appear they did, mostly and eventually! In some ways, that amazing moment when those tiny green sprouts first appeared to my sight was worth everything! Spring is coming! Tra-la!

I'll do it again next year, but slightly different: I will plant with a minimum of 4-inch deep soil; I will try NOT to plant so many seeds in one jug ( though I still don't exactly have a handle on which seeds are sure to germinate); I will be prepared for the fact that some annuals will NOT be garden-center sized in June. Those that I really want for early color, I will grow under lights--remembering always that WS is SO much cheaper and easier. I will also realize that the puny WS seedlings of June will be in full glorious color in July!

All in all, it was a wonderful ride and I am already planning for next year!



This message was edited Jul 5, 2007 9:48 PM

This message was edited Jul 5, 2007 9:49 PM

I think you all sound like wintersowing pros!

Yes, we all learn from our mistakes like always using a minimum of 4 inches of good quality potting soil, not planting tooooo many seeds (lots of luck), keeping the name tags with the seedlings, planting via the "hunk-of-seedling" method, watering, sun, containers, etc, etc.

Personally speaking, I love wintersowing not only for all the beautiful blooms, growing plants from seed that would not have germinated via other methods, saving a lot of $$ plus, growing varieties of plants that nurseries just don't offer. For me, it's a win-win situation. I am very happy that I have decided to grow the plants in my garden via this method.

I absolutely loved W/Sing and will do it again. I gave a few plants to a neighbor ( who laughed at my milk jugs and watch me plant my babies out; one who asked me if it was worth it, when the late hard freeze killed many of my milk jug babies..and yes the same one who admires my bountiful gardens of beautiful flowers and watches me bring cuttings of fresh blooms in on a regular basis. I'm a bonafide W/S enthusiast ! ;0)

And I'm making my WS seed list for this winter now while my gardens are in bloom and I can see what I need (and what I don't need!). (am trying to be more selective and grow even more unusual strains)

I'm looking at the Chiltern http://www.edirectory.co.uk/chilternseeds/

and Jelitto sites: https://www.jelitto.com/haupt.html

If you have any experience with them, please let me know, or maybe I will start a new thread.... (sorry, off topic).

Wintersowing obviously got my 'seed sowing' confidence up!

Tabasco,

On all of them -- and don't forget Stoke's www.stokesseeds.com who has the most single colored varieties of anybody -- you might form a sort of consortium of seed buyers to help defray the cost of shipping. I think at Stoke's it's $9.50 to ship! If that were to be divided by 3 or 4 people, then all of a sudden you have saved enough for a free pack of seeds or TWO! I imagine freight in from England or Germany? isn't cheap, either.

The thing about a consortium: the people in it have to be sort of easy going. Sometimes the seeds don't get shipped from the company as soon as we'd wish, there are outages, maybe you see a pack that somebody ordered and you want to pull just a few seeds and would that be ok with them?, etc. It's just sooooo much easier with people who aren't so nitpicky!

If you are like me and tend to see one pack of seed you really really want at some obscure place, it's nice to have 5 or 7 people you can dmail to say, Hey, take a look at this place, I'm ordering, so you want anything? And it's nice to receive dmails saying the same thing and pointing out companies you might not know about, or sales you might not know about.

People know they pay their per-pack freight inbound and their bubble envie postage outbound...it doesn't even have to be said. The hostess generally provides the bubble envies because it's easier.

Suzy

P.S. If you do this, I am IN! :))))

P.P.S. I got some Chiltern seeds i was really excited about last year -- a yellowy-orange primrose. All seeds germinated, but about 1/3 of the plants were howling bright pink or purple. Very sad because I needed them all, and I needed them all to be some form of yellow or orange.

Well out of all the seeds (hundreds) I WSed I had good germination at the start, but then our weather t'ward the end got most of everything, some I had extra seeds for, some I didn't :(

I am saving 1/2 gal jugs to use this coming winter. I am not going to be doing a whold lot of WSing, I will have my greenhouse this winter and plan to put it to good use :o) But I will WS some.

Suzy - I went to the Stokes site and they list a whole bunch of perennials that are supposed to be started in July! and more in August - and more in September? now what do I do?

Interesting tips on seed 'acquiring', Illoquin. I would love to purchase seeds from abroad if I can't get them here, but would not be a good person for organizing a seed consortium of sorts! Too much of a procrastinator and too dis-organized!

Jelitto has an office in Louisville, so I thought I would call them. The Jelitto website is a little difficult to sort out the way it's set up, but I know some gardeners really love their products, and it may be worth an inquiry.

Chiltern is wonderful and I generally have English sources for their seeds who travel back and forth between here and there. Chiltern is pricey though, and will have to hope for the dollar to get stronger!

Stokes is a great website. I haven't studied it much recently. Thanks for the tip.

I will d-mail you if I put in an order somewhere. Could be fun.

Seandor--thanks for pointing out that Stokes seed sowing list. Very useful info for summer sowing of the perennials and biennials.

http://www.stokeseeds.com/cgi-bin/StokesSeeds.storefront

Stokes gives some detailed seed sowing info for each variety. Have a look at this example for digitalis:

http://www.stokeseeds.com/isroot/StokesSeeds/webroot/ftp/detail_growing/Foxglove.html

This, of course, wouldn't be Wintersowing per se, but fairly clear instructions for perennials and biennials...

And we wouldn't have to purchase the seeds from the Canadian source, we might very well find them here in the states. Quicker, I would think.

This message was edited Jul 6, 2007 11:50 AM

Sea, Get a jump on it all for 2008 bloom and follow the Stoke's detailed directions.

Suzy

Suzy - I think I should do this - but who will look after the seedlings when we are on holidays?

It depends...if you plant them in the ground in part shade, just water them before you leave. If you have them in pots,,,do you have somebody getting your mail or feeding/walking your pets? Not sure. I have 2 kids in college, so no vacations for us :)

Suzy

Well, vacation consists of putting a 35 year old camper on the back of our 18 year old truck and going camping 80 miles away from home for 2 weeks. No Caribbean cruises or trips to Europe for us, I'm afraid. :-)

.. but getting away is getting away.

so days i take a lil vacation just going into my 3 season room in the back yard [no phones, no TV, no kids or spouse] and just read a book. that too can be a vacation.... i'll take what i can get at times.

You bet! Escaping into a good book can be MORE relaxing that taking a vacation. I remember some nightmare vacations with small, but annoying children!

LOL -- been there done that!!

now it's mostly me and DH... last time the kids were with us [1 son, 1 girlfriend] i actually became annoyed... since it's normally me and DH and pooch... and they just get in my way... sleep too late when i want to go home.. etc.

back to the subject....

yea -- i'll WS again. ;-)
but with many changes that were mentioned above.

Shirley, always great to have your input.... still on the mend, or back to normal? [i was thinking of you the other day, hopeing you were all better]

tabasco: Both Chilterns and Jellito are two very reputable seed companies. I personally have ordered from Chilterns several years ago because there is no language barrier & the ordering was very easy. I do know of wintersowers (at a different website) that are very happy with Jellito. I believe that person orders a lot of ornamental grass seeds through them. However, I have no personal experience with Jellito, but I'm more than willing to give them a try. Believe it or not, I've never tried Stokes for seed. Anyone have experience with them?

Perhaps, we might try and organize a seed buying venture from one of these companies at the WS Forum, instead of going through the Co-op Forum.

Thank for asking tcs1366. I'm now 5 1/2 weeks post surgery and it's getting a bit easier every day. Had to undergo an out patient procedure last week to have the stint removed, but that's considered making progress! I'm now moving faster than "Yertle the Turtle". I've been watering the garden, so everything doesn't die from the heat, but I haven't tried digging in the yard....yet.

Yes, these days you have to take vacation where you can get it! Every morning is like a little vacation for me when I go out to check my plants. Last year we went on a trip in late June and the whole time I was distracted thinking about my new seedlings and garden and missing my flowers! My family was very upset with me! LOL

Shirley, thanks for the observations. Yes, the Germans are big innovators with Ornamental Grasses and Jelitto leads the way on those. Jelitto bought the Ferry-Morse Seed Co. here in the States and I think is somehow using Ferry-Morse channels for distributing.

I would love to 'shop' the European seed sites but am not organized/responsible enough to do a 'group' project! I hope someone takes up the idea, though!

Does anyone ever buy from Geo Seeds? Just wondering what their seed list looks like...
http://www.geoseed.com/

Shirley, sorry to hear you have been 'under the knife'. Hope your recovery goes well.

This message was edited Jul 11, 2007 9:32 AM

Glad to hear you're doing well, Shirley.

I will definitely wintersow again next year. I've done it twice so far and I have many more plants now, by far, and many kinds new to me. I had never heard of or seen many of them before. I can just buy or trade seeds to get things generally unheard of in garden centers.

My first year I did 80 some containers, this year I cut it back to 60 some. Next year I want to decrease it even more because planting out is so tough, especially in a year like this when it got so hot so early. Also, I'll be running out of garden space, and if my luck holds out, there are all those re-seeders thrown into the mix.

Karen

Hi!
With all this discussion of sources for WS seeds, I wondered if folks had much experience or opinions with J.L. Hudson, Seedsman (a DG WatchDog Top 30 company) whose "2007 Ethnobotanical Catalog of Seeds" just came in the mail. This last WS season was my first time buying seeds, so I am a novice at where the "experts" (you guys) go.

I'm not sure whether Hudson http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/ focuses on really unusual seeds, but their attention to native, non-hybridized "time-tested" varieties, as well as their claim of careful attention to germination rates, makes me wonder whether these would be especially good seeds for WS.

Oh yes, this past winter I used Park Seed and a few Thompson & Morgan packets that I found at the garden center.

Thanks,
Emily

I think that I am going to direct sow some in the fall, and some in the spring, and start the tender things indoors under lights. Tamara

Well . . . all my seeds that I ordered during the T & M sale have arrived. I must be certifiably nuts! I can believe how many things I ordered . . . I must not start all the seeds... . I must not start all the seeds . . . it's okay to save some of the seeds . . . . seeds can keep for a while . . . no need to plant all the seeds . . . . (help me to remember this when we start winter sowing!)

Cape - I had great germination from Jlhudson seeds. Jlhudson and Gardens North are by far the best I used for WS this year. I purchased from WAY too many places last year and plan to only use my favorites in the future. Hardyplants.com, Dianeseeds.com and swallowtailgardenseeds.com also had very good germination.

Joanne

Thanks for all the get well wishes! It's much appreciated!! :~)

CapeCodGardener: I've ordered from J.L. Hudson's website many times. He has a phenomenal variety of unique and hard-to-find seeds. He runs sales on his seeds during the Summer, so check out his website. I've been very happy with all the different varieties of seeds that I've purchased from him.

In 2005/6, I wintersowed about 180 containers (waaay to many). In 2006/7, I only managed to sow 60 containers (much more manageable), but now I plan to wintersow even less. I am picking and choosing my seeds with more care and planning.

Hi netwiz! Good to 'see' you posting here again. We've missed you! I totally agree with all the seed companies that you've mentioned. I've purchased from all of them, with the exception of Gardens North. I was very pleased with the germination rates.

Hi Shirley! Good to be back. Glad to hear you are recouping from your recent surgery and hope you'll be weeding like a mad woman soon. I would love to hear how your WSing went this year!

My mother has been fighting rectal cancer and put an early end to my WSing ambitions. I did do quite a bit of spring sowing though and hope they grow large enough for fall planting. We are still running like crazy with my mothers chemo schedule but I hope to get some more stuff sown this month. What is an addict to do? lol

Joanne

Thank you, seed-mavens, for the feedback on J.L. Hudson seeds. I now feel confident about ordering from that catalog. Yes, I DO need more seeds, yeah sure, that's right. Seandor, I am with you.

Thanks again
Emily

Joanne:

I'm so sorry to hear about your Mom. I'm sure you are a great source of strength and comfort for her as she undergoes her chemo treatments. I hope & pray that she will be able to 'fight the beast'!

Yes, I totally understand about having your wintersowing curtailed. Mine was definitely shortened by my surgery last November and then again in May. Regardless of that fact, I still managed to sow 60 containers and the majority of them germinated & survived while my DH watered them when I was unable to. I was able to plant out a few prior to my surgery, but the majority of them are growing & blooming in their 1 gallon milk containers. I will plant them out this Fall once the temperatures & humidity subsides.

What did you ws this Spring? Is any of it blooming yet? You can definitely 'summer sow' now and plant out in the Fall. I plan to do that too.

Don't be a stranger on this forum. We would love to hear from you & see your pictures when you are able to post.

Take care and best of luck!