@gardenglassgems No I don't have drainage holes on the bottom. I use the large container for other things, so I dump it out when we have lots of standing water in it. I also cover them if we have a lot of rain. The toilet rolls are a creative way to do your milk jugs, I will look forward to the updates (from you too @cem9165).

I stopped by starbucks inside the grocery store and I can get 6 milk jugs a day from them. They are enabling me to do a lot of WS I don't like milk so that helps a lot!! Now the booze bottles....I would love to drink those but I get migraines so the amount that I would need would have me crying in pain!

I started the colder crops those ones I will not have tops on them. My warmer veggies will be for the milk jugs. I do have flowers I need to sow so I will need more containers for them. Oh my!!! I'll have lots of seedlings!! I was going to experiment with fruit tree seeds too! I'm curious how the citrus and the fig will do.

I will keep taking progress photos to update everyone what does well and what method. I might do a few with the toilet rolls to try it.

My girlfriend and I actually started saving the tp rolls for Iris fans and other flowers like Liatris that I want to dig up in the spring and pot up to sell at Farmer's Markets. Then I got the bright idea about using them in my winter sown milk jugs. I have 10 raised beds that are full of Yellow Iris, double blooming white Iris, Dwarf Iris which were all single fans when I put them there late summer. I also have lots of Liatris that need to be relocated so why not try to sell them at Farmer's Markets. I want to plant veggies in my 10 raised beds this spring so I need to get all the flowers out of them in order to be able to plant veggies. I have a new 8 raised bed area for flowers that I did last fall but I want to plant cut flowers in them. Plus I have lots of Glads and Dalhias that need to go in them. I will have so much to do in the spring, I am not sure what to do first, second, and third.

Gardenglassgems ,, I have done that will paper rolls for years , Weather like this , when I have small depressions made in a garden bed , I would pack the mix into the cut roll part and plant poppies , easy in frozen cold weather ,
Worked pretty good , until the cats got several , Easy to pack the seeds onto the surface with seeds like poppy ,
when only a few seeds of unknown type it works well in the jugs for recognizing what your growing also ,

Karen I have drainage holes in the Jugs , only when it rains heavy , they tend to get soggy , and also when seedlings are real small , the rain , the frost , the beginning is what I am talking about , (the seedling first 15 days or so ,) that is where I lose a lot of them ,
For that time I have to watch , of the other times and sometimes I get the foot tall plant from seed in 10 days , ( i enjoy this when it happens )

Ahh, I see jimard. I know you always have good answers to my questions. It's why I always ask you about something. I learn something new everyday and I never know when it might come in handy for me in the garden.

Cheryl, that's really nice Starbucks will help you that way. I really wish we had stores like that around here. But I just keep saving them myself. Luckily I can get 3 or 4 jugs a week. When I run out, I'll switch to flats. I suppose that's the nice thing about country living with no amenities. You can always find some kind of solution, lol.

Today at lunchtime , planted oriental poppy , Dark Red Beets , and another jug of Hemerocallis

Karen .. I have a lots of fails and a lot success , so I usually answer , whether or not it applies to where the question comes from ,, is another question ,
about 12 degrees here now , sunny ,, nice day ..

@KarenHolt Yes it is very nice of them! I was discouraged because I would go there and they would tell me oh I'm sorry our night/morning crew threw them away. I go there today and I got 2 trash bags of them! I told them I would come back in a few days for more! So I know what I'm doing tomorrow clean house... what house....

Winter sowed today onto moist vermiculite in plastic containers.

Asperula orientalis
Phlox divaricata
Phacelia bolanderii
Antirrhinum species
Eritrichium peclinatum
Hepatica nobilis
Myosotis albo sericea
Viola Bowles Black

Some of my winter sown seeds have sprouted. It's the middle of winter, and I don't know if they're going to survive. I have 2 jugs of stock and 2 jugs of lupines that are growing.

They look like happy little seedlings.

I've read that lupins are fussy about their roots: they want to put down long roots ASAP, and then resent the roots being disturbed.

Have you found that to be untrue, or plan to pot them into something deep soon, or just hope they will hang on until spring and then plant big chunks?

Some lupines are very cold-hardy, but I don't know if seedlings would be. Is it possible to break just a few out the jug extra-early, maybe pot a few into some deep pot and then harden them off gradually for a few weeks? As an experiment?

I guess that would kind of defeat one purpose of winter-sowing, to reduce the amount of fiddling around.

Hi Rick,

I plan on leaving them as they are, and then planting them in the garden this spring when it warms up. This is my 1st time growing them from seed, I didn't know they were fussy about being transplanted.

I do have more seeds, so if these die, I'll winter sow a few more.

They develop long tap roots, so will do best if transplanted to the ground as soon as weather allows. I wintersowed them years ago and they did well at first. After a few hot humid Cincinnati summers in my alkaline clay soil, I evicted them because they just didn't do well in my soil or climate. However, they wintersowed well.

Karen

Thanks for clarifying that. I was recently given some naturalized lupin seed by a co-worker and want to try them.

Some open spaces here they will self sow ,, No Blooms and only a few small plants last year (lupine Perennis ) Only one I have had much luck with ,
Ground hogs ate my Hybrids ,,,

From what I remember, I think they like cooler summers, low humidity, acidic soil, good drainage. I have hot humid summers, alkaline clay soil... but they did wintersow well!

Karen

Well, I really wasn't planning to do any winter sowing this year -- truthfully, it seems like more of a hassle to me than just starting seeds under lights -- but, I have SO many seeds, some still left from the 2014 Piggy Swap, and then more from the ATP beta swap, and there is just no way I can do everything that I want to start under my light setup, which holds 12 flats... so, 14 big (kitty litter) jugs later... I've started

Amsonia (blue dogbane)
Wild bergamot
Columbine
Sweet Annie
Goatsbeard
Chocolate Daisy
Oenothera
Buttonbush
Spotted Wintergreen
Spring Beauty
Dicentra (bleeding hearts)
Foxglove
Baptisia
Blackberry lily
Liatris
Canada anemone
Poppies (of various types)
Nicotiana
Rocky Mountain Penstemon
Johnny Jump-Ups
Swiss Giant pansies

If nothing else, it sure feels good to be starting some seeds!!

I am going to try a few more , with this self watering Winter sow jug , Every morning a dew collector ,, Does not take as much bottle ,, only a good funnel ...

I have several things that have sprouted! It has been nice too early. So now I'll have to go out every night and cover those containers and uncover in the morn

I let my Delphinium Pacific Giant seeds dry out for a couple of weeks, then throw them in the freezer until ready to plant. Works well for me.-

I have quite a few things coming up too...lupines, salvia, agastache, hollyhock and a few others

Only flowers I am seeing that can photo , as Wintersown and there are a few more really tiny sprouts

These might also be Delphiniums ,