I just heard of the term and was wondering if anyone uses this method other than on pastures.

http://articles.extension.org/...

I've only heard of that being done with poppies. Some people sow them on top of snow or surface-sow poppy seeds onto frozen ground (and then hope the birds don't eat it all).

Unless you count 'winter-sowing", where people sow into cut milk jugs or soda bottles and then leave them outside to freeze over.

I never heard either of those being called "frost seeding". But I would like to coin the term "snow sowing".

"...snow sowing" - funny!
I've read about it being done for pastures. Some say it should be on top of snow with more snow eminent and others say seed has to be sown on earth with snow eminent. I was just curious if there were other applications and you brought up the poppy seeds. Gets me thinking although it's in the 60's here today with no snow in the forecast.

Actually all those methods were called winter sowing before that term got hijacked by the person who popularized milk jug planting. In the old days many people who sowed mixtures of wildflowers often tried to time their seed spreading to coincide with the last snow. heh

Frost sowing is a variation used in late spring when the ground is no longer frozen 24/7 but freezes at night and thaws during the day.

So basically, it's the same thing that gardeners have done over time - getting those seeds out before winter is over. I just had never heard the term "frost seeding".

Frost seeding is more agriculture related. "Final" snow sowing is often used for grass seed.

Ah - that's why the term is new to me. Heard it on a permies website so that would make sense.

I had heard dead or washed away topsoil field , being referred to as a Frost field . Seeding to restore I thought it meant .
Long time since I heard that expression ,

You may be right, Jim. I did read it in a permaculture website regarding pasture.
Are you ready for the deep freeze or are you going to stay warm?

Warm in here , and stay I hope too going to be 7 degrees tomorrow night ? brrrr

It's 7° here now... hate it!

Karen

Bare ground and cold - ugh. My outdoor temp sensor says 11 but it's on the south side of the house and protected from the w/nw wind.

There are several aspects to sowing with either first frosts, last frosts, and on snow.
Sowing in the late fall frost gives the seeds a prolonged chill, and then the winter snows give them insulation, so they are warmer and might germinate under snow.
Sowing on top of snow is also done which gives seeds a chill, and also moisture so they are ready to germinate when weather warms. Sowing on top of snow also helps the gardener to distribute the seeds better. It also prevents critters from getting most of the seeds.
Sowing with the last frosts gives seeds a light chill which may encourage the breaking of dormancy too.
Try to find information on where seeds originated naturally so you duplicate the amount of chill they require. The data bases are good too. Some seeds are to be chilled between minus 4 º C and plus 4 ºC ( 18 ºF to about 40 º F ) These temperatures are when frost is likely.

I read that, whether sowing on bare ground or on top of snow, it's best to sow the seed just before an expected snowfall which would hide the seed from predators.

If you can time it that well Cindy. :-)

And if you can do that with the last snow of the season, that is the best for sowing new grass seed.

Re: grass seed - depends on the type of grass. It's not going to sprout until the soil warms up into spring. Around here, the spring-sown grass plants haven't developed enough of a root system to get them through the summer. We've learned the hard way to sow cool season grass seed in late summer/early fall with great success.