Winter sowing 2015

This year for the first time I will be starting most of my seeds outside this winter.  Winter Sowing is a  technique in gardening that I only just learned about this fall.  I'll be planting my seeds in clear plastic containers, such as milk jugs, clear soda bottles, lettuce containers or anything that will allow me to fill with potting soil and plant my seeds in with room for growth.  There are many sites on the internet that will take you through the process.  Here are a couple links... Winter Sowing 101 and  WinterSown.org

My interest in Winter Sowing comes from  my years of sowing seeds indoors in the early spring and not really producing the strong healthy plants I want.  I simply don't have the space or the light to make this happen.  Think of the volunteer plants that show up in your garden from seeds that fell from your last years plants.  They sit in the soil over winter then sprout when they are good and ready, strong healthy plants that need no hardening  off as they are already used to being out of doors in the elements.

I'm excited about this process, as of this writing, I've already planted echinacea, carnations and red leaf romaine lettuce.  These seeds were planted in January and are now covered with 4 feet of snow.  I've set them in a sunny location so as the temperatures heat up and the snow melts the heat inside of the containers will act as a mini green house.  My next round of plantings will be my hardy annuals the first of March then later, the end of March or the first of April I will plant my tomatoes and more tender plants.

I'm planting my seeds in these air pots for easy transplanting.  This is my own experiment, seeds can be directly sown into the soil in the bottom of your plastic jug.  The soil has been well moistened and the seeds are set as indicated on the seed packet.  Then labels are added and set inside the containers.

The plastic lid is taped shut with duct tape and set outside in a sunny, safe spot outside.

This is a new process for me so I will be keeping records of what I'm planting and how many seeds I'm sowing.  I will record how many actually germinate so I can have a record of my progress (if any) for next year.

Echinacea  sown on  1/19/15,  16 pots

Carnations sown on  1/19/15,  6 pots

Red Leaf Romaine sown on  1/19/15,  12 pots