I have started with rose family seeds in their jugs. Next were witch hazels.

The next at-bat will be white birch.

How do you know when to sow what? I'm brand new to this. Thanks.

This is a good read. http://garden.org/ideas/view/v...

Rose family seeds (that includes apple) are truely dormant when harvested. Those I set out W/S around solstice.

Many tree seeds that require cold stratification are not dormant. The tip of a root peeking out of pawpaw, persimmon, white oak, chestnuts give hint to their activity. Those I set out about March 15th deeply bermed in their pot and well mulched. Till plant out they loaf in the fridge.

My first Winter Sowing are seeds of Rock Garden plants.
They are in an unheated garage until the days get longer.
The seeds know when to sprout!

A friend in my state said he'd done his peonies already. Is that OK?

Yes----peonies need warm then cold.
Apparently the best way is to plant the seeds in late summer and just let nature do her thing.
More info is on Peony forum.

Hello everyone!

I'm new to this web community. I've read a lot of the winter sowing posts, and also studied up on how to start my seeds. I also read
Tendingmygarden.com. This is the blog of a very nice older woman in zone 7 who specializes in winter sowing. So today I started! I've been collecting milk jugs from friends (I don't buy milk!). I planted:

Tomato Early girl
Red iceberg lettuce, sweet matina lettuce, endive tres fine lettuce
Chinese cabbage soloist
Pak Choi brisk green
Snap dragon day and night
Cauliflower violetta
Broccoli early purple sprouting
Fennel Florence
Calendula pacific beauty

Advice, comments welcomed!

Sounds like you have a great start on a very tasty garden
Having a bit of zone envy here I am in zone 5 and our long winter is just getting started.
When will they go into your garden?

I started yesterday getting things ready for winter sowing. I had jugs from last year that still had the lids attached so I started with them. I have dirt in 5 gal buckets from last year that I amended with organic compost manure. I dumped one bucket in a tote and added some miracle gro potting soil and some peat moss and filled the jugs with the mixture. Then I put them in another clear tote and added water to the tote so the water can seep into the jugs from the bottom. I have not added the seeds yet. Also I put toilet paper rolls in each one with dirt around them. That way I can just plant the paper roll in the ground and not disturb the roots. I did a few last year and it worked okay. Today I plan to get the seeds put in these and get them sealed and put outside. I have a bunch of jugs that need the holes punched in the bottom and tops so that will be my next job.

I think that list for zone 8a will be good.
Keep us informed as to how they do for you.
I want to start some of those here in zone 4 .

Yesterday I planted my first jugs. Here is what I planted:

Ipomoea Alba-Evening Glory
Ipomoea Muricata Lavender Moon Vine
Ipomoea Macrorhiza Pink Moonflower
Passiflora Incarnata
Sweet Bush-3 jugs
5 jugs of NOID flowers-two of which were from a trip to Winterset, IA that jumped into my pocket. Can't wait to see what they are.

Now I need to seal these 12 and put them outside. Then I need to start preparing more jugs by putting holes in the top and the bottom and cutting the top part way off.

Any comments/advice are welcome.

Jeanne, the Ipomoea Muricata Lavender Moon Vine and
Ipomoea Macrorhiza Pink Moonflower are not hardy enough for winter sowing you may want to hold off until spring for them or start them insied. At least save a few seeds just in case they don't make it.

If you leave the lid off the top of the jug you don't have to add more holes. I never have and they were fine.

Thanks Ronnie for the advice. I did go out on the deck and brought in those two containers of Moon Flower seeds. I hope they are still good after one night of being outside. I am going to put them under lights in the garage and see if they will sprout. I did save some to plant out when the weather warms up.

I plan to do more winter sowing today. DH started the wood stove so that it will warm up the garage. I am battling a scratchy throat and slight head cold. The cement garage floor sure gets cold.

The house thermometer says 14.5 but it could be colder than that outside. It is on the east side of the house so any sun peeking through warms it up to read higher than the actual temp.

Do y'all make your own seed starting medium or use a commrcial one? Inquiring Newbie minds want to know.

I use pro mix. I get a giant bag at the feed store for $27

I put out a few more jugs of seeds the last couple of days. Here is what I winter sowed recently:
Daylily--NOID 8 jugs
Canna--NOID 3 jugs
Canna "Miss Daisy"
Pow Wow Wildberry coneflower
Northern sea oats
Cheyenne Spirit Coneflower
Lupine-NOID
Allium--NOID

I still have more that I plan to do tomorrow and Tuesday since we are going to be getting freezing rain.

Are there any seeds that should NOT be winter/spring sown?

@Lalambchop1 I wish I knew the answer to your question. I hope someone who has the answer will let you know. I do not plan to winter sow any annual seeds, only perennial. Some perennials probably don't need to have cold stratification but I put them out to try to get a jump on their sprouting as soon as possible.

I did a few more jugs today. This time I planted Hollyhock. I did 7 different jugs/different colors but I know that they may not come true to the color of the original plant. One jug was Dwarf Hollyhock and one was from a trip we took where I collected seeds of unknown color. So far none of my jugs used have been milk jugs. I have used other plastic contains such as coffee creamer bottles, booze bottles, juice bottles, bigger size water bottles, and even a catsup bottle. So far 38 of them are done and outside except fir the last 7. They will go out tomorrow.

There may be some tropical seeds which might not like cold?