Maybe some gardeners have some new experiences with wintersowing in 2012 that they would like to share. Mother Nature was good to most of the country this year, No 6 or 7 ft. of snow to deal with; a very mild winter, and here in Feb. we expericience temps in 70 and 80's in Feb and early March. A few days of temps in those figures, then it would be back to 30's and 40's..If we were confused, think of what the poor seeds/seedlings were!

Do you still have some seeds that have not germinated? Will you give them some more time to show there spouts or just abort them altogether and chalk it up for experience?

What are you sowing for the first time? Do you have a plan in your mind or on paper where you will plant them once the soil warms up? Are there some plants in your flowerbed that you need to transplant elsewhere to allow enough space for your new plants? I was just looking over my flowerbeds to see what has popped through the last few days and what I want or should transplant elsewhere.

Good subject. I split it off to a new thread so it gets noticed.

Now in my 7th year of wintersowing, I don't change much from year to year anymore. Some things I've learned over the years remain constant
-Use large deep containers with some headroom for seedlings. Milk jugs work best for me for most things
-Tomatoes do well in 16 oz cups, adding soil to the top as they grow.
-Contain jugs in larger bins weighed down by 2 bricks. Otherwise they get blown away. Even one brick allows them to blow.
-Once weather warms, check daily for moisture
-When weather gets warm, open sprouted jug
-Keep in morning sun only
-Follow weather forecasts in spring. Cover tenders for overnight frost

I used a lot of older seeds this year. Some show a few sprouts, some don't, particularly annuals. Most that have germinated only have a couple of sprouts so far. Despite a warmer than normal winter season, the majority of my seeds haven't sprouted. It's still March, very early in the growing season here. (I never see sprouts before March). It's way too early to give up on anything here. Many years I haven't even sown annuals yet by the end of March.

Karen

This applies both to WS and in door sowing (and, I guess, even to outdoor, direct sowing):

Don't sow tiny, "surface" seeds on a coarse seedling mix.
Esepcially if they need light to germinate.
For example, Petunias or Lobelia.

I like very fast-draining seedling mix, so I add a lot of coarse amendments, mainly pine bark. However, if the surface is too rough, tiny seeds can fall into the cracks between chunks of mix and never germinate (or never emerge).

if you like a coarse mix, spread a little fine stuff on top, and firm it before sowing, to support very tiny seeds ON the surface. I would use medium or fine vermiculite.

Coarse vermiculite might be an exception to this theory.
Maybe pine bark is the only coarse amendment that has that problem, and indeed, I only lost 1-2 trays of seeds that way, so I haven't really proved that "coarse" is the problem.

Jonna Sudenious says medium/coarse vermiculite lets enough light reach seeds so that they sprout. She starts all her seeds that way - in pure vermiculite, in sealed tubs.

http://www.seedsite.eu/zaaiins...

http://cubits.org/ellasgarden/...

Mother Nature has really been playing games with us this year. I covered up my creeping phlox and Calif. poppies last night that I had planted in the flowerbeds on Wednesday. It got down to 32 so I was glad I did. I took the nursery pots off this morning about 7 am. It's 3:30 pm and it's only 48 or 49 degrees..I have an outdoor digital thermometer in front of house and one in back and they always differ a few degrees..no Sun out today.

Weather like this makes me want not to do any WS in 2013..it is frustrating. Palm Sunday is April 1st. it should feel like Spring weather! Anticipation is stressful.

It's very spring-like here- warm days mostly, with some cooler ones thrown in. And cool nights. Yesterday was wonderful- temp in the 70s, sunshine, and a nice breeze. Cooler air moved in last night with thunderstorms. Yep, very spring like. The warmer temp just makes it seem like later in spring.

I'd like to do a little weeding today or tomorrow. I still have a few whopper-sized ones to get, plus a fresh crop of tree volunteer birch and maple trees popping up everywhere. I got a handy new weeder-"the weed hound". It's great for things with big fat roots, like dandelions and thistle weeds, but not so hot on things with skinny roots.
weed hound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Karen

It went down to 42 last night; I think it is to be nice today. Won't get much accomplished today because we have a Memorial Service to attend. Looking ahead, forecast is for better weather next week. Sure hope so because I've got to open up some of my WS jugs, the plants inside want to get out of there. The lupine I will take and pot up into a qt. size nursery pot and let it get some more growth on it before I plant it into the flowerbeds.

Our night temps are in the low 40s, too. But our normal hi/ low for this date are 58° and 38° so we're ahead of the game.

The worst thing now is this blasted pollen. There's a green film on every outside surface. If I clean it, the same is back the next day. This is starting off the worst allergy season in years.

Karen

I am so happy it's raining... I have a tray of baptistia that didn't germinate in the house.. with the warm weather I decided to put it outside.. was watering that thing every day in the shade .. figured there is no reason to keep it in the house.. won't bloom for years.. no rush.. but I do love the foliage

I will not use an open bag of planting medium!!!

Critters added cleome seeds to an open bag last fall and now half of my containers are sprouting....cleomes !! ...lots, and lots of cleomes!

Arggg!

I can of course, continue to clip them off, but it's spoiled my careful record-keeping!

Live and learn, I guess.

Cleome are beautiful, but I stopped growing them because I couldn't stand the stench. They smell like B.O.

Karen

Oh, I like them just fine, but they sure don't need to grow in a container!

way too tall for that!

Karen

Definitely deeper containers!

it does help