Here is how I prep a Ziplock Freezer bag for sowing

What I do is cut the bottom corners off the ziplock bag and make wide fringes across the bottom crease for extra drainage. Fill bag about half or a little more with seed starting mix (it will compact with freeze/thaw cycles so adding a bit extra won't hurt, water the mix and sprinkle seeds on mix and press into place and then sprinkle a bit of mix on top to cover the seeds if need be.
And when you're ready to take it outside zip the bag almost shut to still allow air flow. Once it starts getting warmer out you can zip the bag more and more open until you can just fold the bag open like a cuff. Perennial and hardy annulas you can do now.

Hope this helps!

Here is a picture of all the freezer bags (and one juice bottle) I've done so far.

Here are 'Venus' poppy sprouts!

and here is the Poor-Mans-Orchid. These sprouts don't seem to like the cold as much as the poppies do.

Great idea for those of us who used up all our milk jugs.

Steven, thank you for illustrating this! I saw your illustration before and made a mental note to remember the details. . . . but couldn't remember where. So glad you started a new thread with the topic.

Your Welcome! I'm glad you like it! It was rainy today so when it's nicer I'll get more sprout pics!

Thank you, Steven. I'm also in the out-of-milk jugs camp, so look forward to trying this.

hhhmm would snow smash those zippies???... and thanks for posting them!!

Onewish, not too much once the seeds start sprouting you can 'lift' the bags back up if they fall.

not sure if it would work here.. I had snow here up until 2 weeks ago... and I mean a foot of it

I've used them before under snow cover and they were fine Thats one of the reasons I use ziplock brand freezer bags. The plastic is thicker and doesn't cave in as much.

worth a shot I guess... will give it a try next year

It's hard to imagine a plastic bag holding up under our snow. A few short weeks ago my jugs were under here

Karen

They do smoosh down a bit but a simple lift of the bag fixes all your problems!

...then there's the inch of rain tomorrow. As long as I can get milk jugs, I'll stick to those. I think they're perfect. My next favorite is a 2 liter pop bottle. Next comes cups in a bigger bin.

Karen

Those are all great ideas Karen! Its best to use what works best for you The bags have held well for me in rain and snow so I use them plus they are fairly cheap and easy to use. I do however do more spring sowing then winter sowing so there is little to no snow by the time I put them out.

That would make a big difference!

Karen

yes it would... the 2 feet of snow on my deck would have smooshed them for sure

We don't get that much snow, do i have to keep them watered if I try that Steven???