Gorgeous blooms!
I don't know if this is the right thread to ask this, but if I were start seeds in milk container, I wanted to know if you drill holes in the bottom or just the top?
I have direct sowned poppies, larkspur and nigella that are starting to sprout. All way too close together.

Hi
Holes in the bottom are necessary for drainage. Good luck with your sowing you will be months ahead of us here in zone 5 .

Thanks. So far, it has been a mild winter. I am thinking of trying cosmos and zinnias.

For top ventillation, just don't use the screw on top.

Karen

>> "that wintersowing cult"

LOL! The Dark Minions of The Jugs, plotting to cover the earth with their pretty flowers and vegetables! How will we protect oursleves?!?

I always thought it was a little ominous when I saw peoples' WS photos with dozens of milk jugs in rows and columns, like an army of mini-Daleks. "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

(just kidding)

(breathy Darth Vader voice)

Luuuuke ... feel the power of the Dark Jug!
There is a movement in The Jug!


>> boojum, I always wait until spring, or very close to spring, to "wintersow" tender annuals like zinnias. Same method, only later in the year.

I always thought that "winter sowing" sounded fundamentally like the same kind of process as direct sowing in the fall, just with some protection, like improved soil in a mini-cold frame seedbed, or a cloche. Just improved and modernized and containerized and re-using discarded plastic.

Oh no! Those cultists are everywhere! They've joined forces with the Green Movement! And they have always been here, in secret! Secret cultists, the worst kind! We are doomed; lost!

It's the Illumina-jugii!

IT'S A COOKBOOK!

I finally started wintersowing yesterday. It took forever to get started. I keep my tools in a plastic tray in the basement. My utility knife for cutting jugs was missing- my husband "borrowed" it and put it in the garage. My duct tape was missing from the basement- he had used that, too, and put it in the garage. By the time I finally found everything, got organized and began, I had to stop to watch football. I only did 4 jugs of perennials, but at least I have a few done.

I put them in full shade on my deck. It's supposed to be 49° today, 53° tomorrow, then get colder again. I sowed some old penstemon seeds, maybe 4 or 5 years old, and those things still stink like dirty feet!

Karen

Rick, you have such an imagination.

One of the reasons I like the WS method for seeds I could just sow out in the beds over winter, is I don't have to fight the late winter weeds that start coming up. The seeds don't have to compete, and I don't have to try to weed around the tiny seedlings.

Lynn ,
that is the biggest reason I wintersow also, second has to be inside sowing my plants are always leggy before I can get them out. Outside the plants time sprouting themselves.

Rick,

I've tried the indoor sowing a number of times down through the years. Had terrible results.
The winter sowing methods is my kind of sowing, plant it and leave it, until time to put in pots or the garden beds.

This may be a silly question but-- How many seeds do you put in a Milk Jug?

I put way to many the first year I did WS. Still worked, but the jugs of germinating seed where like a lawn coming up.
Now I plant about 5 or 6 tomato seeds per jug. I will only need 1 or two of these plants and give the others away.

With tiny seeds, if I have a bunch of them, I sprinkle a lot. I call them my chia pets



For bigger seeds, like zinnias, maybe 8 or 10 seeds in a gallon jug.

Karen

I choose by a couple factors
old seeds or seeds with poor germination rates /more++
how many plants do I really have need of, or space for, of one type / less - -

and for me I most often do not re-pot into larger containers so they have to have enough space to survive till they get transplanted to their new spot. I use milk jugs so 6 is about all That will be comfortable till transplant. (I often plant 10/12)
Remember seeds are cheep and you can always weed out the weak ones.

>> By the time I finally found everything, got organized and began, I had to stop

I know the feeling! Every time my SO comes to visit, I have to put away all the seed and garden stuff. Takes weeks to find everything! What's worse, i can only blame myself for losing thengs. Sometimes I blame the cat for losing things; that makes me feel better.

>> I don't have to fight the late winter weeds

Right, I forgot "competition from weeds".

It must also help remembering WHICH little leaves are flowers, and which are weeds! Outdoors, I never know, since there tend to be as many weeds as flowers.


>> How many seeds do you put in a Milk Jug

Just last night I was shuddering with horror at having to deal with the "hunks of seedlings" when my re-potted year-old WS Penstemon varieties finally decided to grow past 1/4" (indoors, under lights, after months of wintersowing and more months in pots on the deck, 1/8" to 1/4" tall).

Now each pot that used to be the smallest chunk I could pull apart from the WS jug has grown up into a dense mass of 10 or more plants each trying to become adults.

All I CAN do is plant them out each 3" pot as a mass after frost, but I can't get past thinking of this as a mortal gardening sin. Isn't one of the Ten Comandments "Thou shalt thin them to 6-15" apart"?

I know many WSowers just plant out "Chia" seedlings and have no problemos, but it bothers me.

I don;t even start seeds in flats becuase I hate the idea of having to "prick them out" to thin them. I start seeds (indoors) in 72-cell trays or 128-plug prop trays.

I was thinking about some kind of dividers in each WS jug, like dividing it into 4-5 'slices' of soil. Some cardboard or thin plastic, or even Saran Wrap laid out kind of like baklava dough, but up-and-down.

The dividers would let the jugfull of soil separate cleanly into 4-5 'slices' without disturbing any roots.

Then maybe each slice of heavily-rooted soil would fall apart easily into multple chunks, without MUCH root damage.

I know I am trying to solve a problem that most WSowers don't consider a problem, but I can't get past seeing that tangled mass and thinking they will strangle each other.

I have a hard time with "weeding out the weak ones" Never can toss anything that might grow when it comes to seedlings.

Something like Popsicle sticks could work as dividers. Or cut up old venetian blinds. : )

I try to keep a soft medium in the bottles outside.. it's easier to pull apart tangled roots when it's time.. vermiculite worked well.. but after finding out it can have asbestos in it.. I am not using that anymore.. I had no idea

Rick, honey, you have issues. You must stay awake nights trying to think of things to worry about.

Penstemon Smallii, planted as a big hunk.


And your worst nightmare. Marigolds, in bud


Their roots


I just cut them into square hunks with a kitchen knife, then planted. They grew into big, beautiful, full marigolds

Karen

>> ... you have issues. You must stay awake nights trying to think of things to worry about.

Oh, they come to me unasked-for. It keeps life interesting. "Issues" or "neuroses"? Let's see ...
"distress" - check.
"hallucinations" - no
"delusions" - almost
"irrational fears" - Bingo!

Yup, one or more neurosis.

Probably, if I force myself to plant unthinned hunks for several years, the shuddering horror will subside SOMEWHAT.

I agree with Springcolor:

>> I have a hard time with "weeding out the weak ones" Never can toss anything that might grow when it comes to seedlings.

For example, these Penstemon will eventually go into the ground spaced about 5,000 times more closely than is ideal based on standard recommendations.

I would hate to kill sprouts I spent 14 months babying, so they will have to fight it out among themsleves.

Yes, that's about it. You don't have to be the bad guy. Mother Nature probably weeds out the weakest seedlings for you, but you can't tell with them growing so closely. All you see is a big beautiful plant.

Try it, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Karen