speaking of lobelia cardinalis... both of my "red" and "blue" germinated yesterday.
Have not had them before.

Uggg - i'm still way so behind on this thread... havent read it yet... but light rain today, so i will be indoors most the day, especially if it keeps raining.

I'm in the process of updating my paper lists.

I only have the red, wintersowed it several years ago. I love it, and so do my hummers. Maybe I'll try the blue next year.

Karen

OK .. i finally read this thread...

Karen - you mentioned only sowing a few containers this year...
Whatcha sowing??

Mike -- good to see you here too. Hope the furkids are well. and I have TONS of those chive seeds that Karen had in that photo.

I dont prefer onions but i do enjoy chives, yes to the potatoes... omelets and soups too.
If you'd like seeds... gimme a holler and i can pop some off in the mail.

and regarding WS vs indoor sown tomatoes.. i'm doing both. I had told Karen that I'd try to keep good notes on them and report back as to who did better.

Karen --

I think I found your list, at least of what has germinated...

you wrote --None in platycodon, as always. This is year #5 and I've never had a sprout!

i've done them 3 yrs i think, at least 2, and I recall only 1 seedling. Surprisingly, it bloomed but it was very small. the plant i mean. I'll watch it this year... and so far, no germination this year either.

How odd, I've found Platycodon pretty easy? I didn't do anything any different with them, but I've successfully wintersown them 3 times now. Did y'all sow purchased seeds? All of mine were from saved seed, twice from other gardeners and once with seed I'd saved.

I've had a couple of very busy days, have been a bad plant Mom. Some of my indoor seedlings dried out, might be lost.

Today that storm moved through. We didn't get any rain, just wind. I know people doubt me when I talk about the strength of the wind on top of this hill. This was the result

Karen

These 6 gallon jugs were in that bin

Karen, I live on a hill too, and do we ever get the wind! Luckily, my deck is on the opposite side of the house from where the most wind comes, and has railing around it that holds the jugs in place.

I have sprouts in about 80 jugs now, some are ready to plant out. Hope to start that Monday

Oh crud! That 2nd pic hadn't posted yet when I replied- so sorry. Are they salvageable?

bummer... one of the reasons I keep the containers close to the house

These were my tomatoes, sown in 16 oz. cups. I had a brick in there to weigh it down against the wind. Obviously it made no difference.

I dumped the soil from the maters in the compost bin. Of my 15 jugs, a few came out relatively unscathed (White echinacea, white liastris, yellow rud hirta, 2 alyssum, one snapdragon), a few I was able to restore pretty easily. Five were a complete mess. I had a jug FULL of tiny pensetmon smallii, which I really wanted. I tried to replant those microscopic seedlings, maybe a few will survive. Also lost dwarf snaps, dianthus albus. Was able to find and replant about half dozen teeny rud cherry brandy seedlings. Also a mess was platycodon- no loss there, I didn't have any sprouts. (Neal, I've WSown both traded and commercial seeds. I know they wintersow great for everyone but me.)

All said, not expecting much this year. I'll re-sow tomatoes when I can, I do have more seeds.

These were my tomatoes.

Karen

I do keep my jugs on the less windy side of the house- northeast, so they only get morning sun. The other side of the house faces southwest, and our weather always comes from there.

We've had to get more roof repairs than anyone in history I think. It was so bad in 2008, we had to replace the wood base below the shingles, too. And then there's the siding on the house... won't even go there.

Karen

what a bummer... such a sad sight

How many Penstemon smallii were you wanting to plant out? I may be able to help you out there- I wintersowed P.smallii 'Violet Dusk' this year and they're up, and have plants I wintersowed last year of the straight species, that I kind of clump planted, so they're dividable. And they look like they'll bloom this year.

Oh, Neal, thanks so much. So kind of you. I'm hoping some of these I replanted will survive. I also have a clump from last year (wintersowed in '08), so if they don't make it I'll hopefully be able to get more seeds. I'll watch these seedlings for a few days and let you know.

This was my plant last year- loved it!

Karen

Oh Karen... what a mess. I'd be heart broken... yea they are only seeds.. but in a sense, they are like our kids til we get them out into the garden.

Yes, that's true, Terese. I usually use half a a dog crate (big enough for a cow, I think). But since I did so few jugs this year, I didn't get it out. It holds 20-25 jugs.

Here is a picture of it in 2008.

Karen

Karen sorry to read about your jugs and the wind. I've had wind damage before and it is very frustrating.

I have a question for you experienced winter sowers. How long after germination do you move the seedlings out? Do you transplant them straight to the ground or into larger pots? My leaf lettuce seem to sprout almost overnight in the jug! Now both it and my spinach mustard look like a tiny green forest.

MollyD

Molly -- I dont know if i consider myself "experienced" ... but usually the first things i plant out are the Poppies. they may go out next week in between rainy days. [that way i dont have to water them]

most every thing else starts going out in May. I've gotten lucky and planted out my Tomatoes the first week of May, but i did add a bit of protection by placing a halfa 2ltr bottle over it on windy days.

I've never done lettuce, so can't really help ya there.

I'd think if they are quite hardy, they can go out... you are warmer than me.

Yes, Terese, you are a veteran wintersower now!

All of my wintersown seedling go right from the jug to garden bed without any potting up. I'm sure your lettuce would be fine, Molly, in your zone. Also since lettuce is cold hardy.

I usually start planting out my hardy perennials and hardy annuals around April, I guess. As soon as they're big enough for me to handle. I don't usually plant out the half hardy, tender ones until mid May. Too much risk of frost here, and too much work to cover everything. I'm a lazy gardener.

Karen