New to WG - green house question

First, let me tell you i feel like i discovered honey. Can't get enough of this, and thank the heavens i am NOT alone :) ( was starting to worry).

Back to my question, i bought a green house on sale, is about 5' high by about 2' wide with 4 nice shelves. Now i am very excited about WS, can i use the green house for my WS? I am a bit hesitant because i read it is important that rains and snows over the jugs/gallons/bottles.

Thing is that anything i leave with soil outside tends to get "disturbed" by either birds dirtbathing or squarrels digging and hiding stuff. It would be perfect to keep my seeded pots in there. The green house is currently outside too.

Your input is very appreciated! By the way i live in zone 6b
Thank you

This is an interesting question.

As I understand it, the wintersowing method wants the seeds to be left out in the elements, as it were--though they ARE tucked comfortably into their containers and soil, cozily protected with a perforated cover until Spring's warmer temps come along. But the freezing winter temps and then the Spring rains and warming temps all are very important in germination of the seeds.

It might depend on how cold your greenhouse gets. But you'd still have to be paying extra attention to your jugs of seeds (are they getting cold enough for stratification? Do they need extra watering?) and the beauty of wintersowing is that you can just let Mother Nature do her thing.

Having said that, I don't see why you couldn't put your WS containers in a greenhouse--it just adds a level of care. Could you cover your jugs and containers more securely so the birds/squirrels would be discouraged from disturbing them? There are many different ways of protecting the jugs--some folks have placed the containers inside large plastic storage boxes or those zippered plastic boxes that quilts and comforters come in (sort of mini-greenhouses--but all equipped with drainage holes in the bottom and holes in the top to allow watering by rain.

Thank you cape, i want to do it as natural as possible. You know now that i think about it, the times critters destroyed the pots in the patio they where really exposed i dont think they will make the effort of actually opening the pots once i cover them.

The most natural way is to leave your WS containers outside in the elements for Mother Nature to care for them. If you sow containers and put them in a greenhouse, you will need to make sure that their soil does not dry out. This requires more work on your part.



Soil & seed disturbance is a natural occurrence. We are mimicking Mother Nature, but taking it one step further by providing ventilated covered containers to reduce the disturbance by critters. http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/Vented_Covers.html