I tried a different approach this year for winter sowing. I used dirt filled solo cups in clear totes with holes in tops and bottoms. I did have to water them, but I had almost 100% germination for all of my cool flowers! No more milk jugs from now on for me.
Thanks for sharing! That sounds like it would be much easier than washing and cutting the milk jugs, and it sounds like you could grow more varieties in a smaller space that way.
I have thirty-three 105 quart plastic totes in my driveway, all full of winter sowing plants. I plant almost my entire garden this way. In all those bins, I had no failures this year--but in order to get there I had to give them a lot more attention than a lot of folks recommend. I checked them almost every day for moisture. And after germination, I covered all of them with moving blankets any time the temperatures dropped below freezing. I also took the lids off whenever the weather got into the mid 70s, so they wouldn't get cooked. I feel like you can get decent success by just setting them up and leaving them, but to get a more consistent success they need more time than a lot of people would be able to put in.
Also: I have six varieties of milkweed by the dozens in there, but I left the seeds in the garage all winter before I planted my winter sowing bins in March.
I really leaned hard on winter sowing to bulk up my new pollinator garden this year. I just didn’t have enough room inside to start everything I wanted to grow along with my veggies. My yarrow mix grew like gang busters, I’ve had half of it planted out for a month now but I’m still looking for places to put the other half! My bachelor buttons were pretty intense as well and they are blooming in the garden like crazy now. Lots of other flowers did well; coneflower, calendula, viola, snaps, soapwort, Hollyhock etc but my big fail was the Bells of Ireland. And the milkweed took FOREVER but I eventually got a few small starts. Enjoy your salad 🥗 😄
It was my first time doing winter sowing and I went a little overboard. I had great success with Lupine, Bachelor buttons, Many types of poppies, Strawflower, pansies, Yarrow, Hollyhock, Hyssop, Snap dragons, Onions (by seed), foxglove, carnations, dahlia (by seed) and I just notices my peppers and tomatoes are starting to sprout. I may have thrown a few away as I was getting rid of perceived fails. Oh well, it was my first time. My milk weed was growing, but must have died because I marked it as sprouted but now there is nothing in there. Not sure if others suffered the same fate. Definitely will try it again because for perennials which seem to work really well. Of course the few things I have planted out, the rabbits have found delectable......I now am covering them with chicken wire cones I have made until things get a little more established. THank you for your videos and thank you for sharing.
Last year I planted in 3 milk jugs all the old tomato seeds in my seed box. Planted them heavily. EVERY seed germinated! I begged my friends to take plants. Gave everyone working at the church tomato plants. Finally, I took a flat to Good Samaritan and they set them,out for free. So many people stopped while looking around the store to tell me thank you. This year I had no success. Had to buy all my tomato plants. Hard to be a “farmer” in Montana-cold spring.
Bells of Ireland was a fail for me. I also tried your method with the paper towel on the heat mat after a couple of weeks of refrigeration, and that worked like a charm!
I had success with hollyhocks and larkspur, and almost failure with just one echinacea sprouting. I kept it small and did 8 jugs this year, and I did have to supplement water half a dozen times to one or two containers. Some didn't need any water at all. I love winter sowing. It entertains the gardener in the dead of winter, and with luck she is blessed in the spring. 💚
I had success with almost everything I winter sowed except 2 varieties of peppers I got from a random seed company and a couple of flowers. I was shocked! This was my first time. I’m in CHI and successfully winter sowed lavender, lettuces and greens, tons of tomatoes, eggplants, peppers from well know seed companies, kohlrabi, tatsoi, nasturtium, sunflowers, marigolds, asters, snapdragons, celosia, dill, parsley, basil, and more!! My hardest lesson learned, though, is to not put them in direct sunlight right away after you open them. My kohlrabi and tatsoi couldn’t handle it and shriveled up and died. 😔
Received my David Austin rose and put in the ground yesterday! I adore lupine leaves almost as much as the flower. It looks like they diamonds sitting on the leaves after every rain.😍
I’m in zone 5ish Europe with last frost by the end of May. My Jan-Feb winter sowings started to sprout mid Apr with an absolute champs being snapdragons, larkspur, Maltese cross and Patagonian verbena. Also two healthy looking Caucasian scabiosas out of 12 and four sad leeks out of 30. Zero pansy, rose campion, orlaya. It is so exciting to watch other people’s ws result reveals! Will try sweetpea and rudbeckia next time.
My Batchelor buttons did really well..statice, snapdragons and calendula did pretty good too. The lavender did not getminate. Will try again this next winter along with bluebonnets!
I had nothing but fails with winter sowing. But my indoor was so well I don't have room for everything, so my daughter gets a bunch of freebies. Love seeing how well it worked for others tho. Just a note about a marker, I seen a tip about using an oil paint pen. It's the best, I used it on a shirt, it's been washer several times and the paint is still there, much cheaper than a designated garden marker.
I’m in zone 7A. I had the most success with foxgloves, lupine, bachelors button and poppies. I failed at delphiniums, and echinacea. Thanks for showing us what worked for you! Love your channel, you always make me smile. 😀
This was my first year of winter sowing too. It’s good you opened yours up in the shade. I opened mine in the sun, thinking that they were fully hardened off and they all scorched and wilted. They recovered, but it seemed to me that they still need an adjustment period from the protection of the container to full exposure to the elements. One day in the shade seemed to make all the difference with the second batch I opened. Good work!
Thanks for doing this video. I had been wanting to ask you how yours did. I sowed mine after you did and didn't have much hope for success but when I opened mine 3 or so weeks ago I was very pleasantly surprised! I have onions, kale, brocolli, red cabbage, pansies, snapdragons, cauliflower, celery, pinks and sweet william. The only thing that didn't do great was the pansies because I only got 5 seedlings but pretty sure it was old seed. Very pleased with my results. It's a great hands off way to start seedlings. I hope to start earlier next winter and plant more. I had read somewhere that lettuce needs heat to germinate so I didn't do lettuce. Yours did great so I'll try that, too. My climate is very similar to yours...4b, long cold winters and lots of snow. It's surprising to me how well winter sowing works.
It's my first year winter sowing! My calendula did amazing!!! It's already transplanted out in the garden and doing awesome! Aster, baby's breath, sweet rocket, perfume stock, dara, nicotiana, larkspur, blue flax, and gold dust asslym also did great!!! For some reason my cosmos were all duds :( I'm going to try rudbeckia next year!
Zone 6. I had great success with my kale, strawflowers and calendula. My marigolds didn’t germinate. The seeds were old. I love winter sowing. It’s just fun!
I had great success with 4 kinds of broccoli, matador spinach, dill, penstemon and larkspur :^) Started them April 4th when we were still having extreme cold and snowy conditions (Ice didn't go out this year until May 8th! and its usually out April 21st) and just up potted them last week. None of mine are as gonzo as your big guys but they are started and hardened off. Yay.
@8:08 my lettuces were my biggest winter sowing successes. The jury is still out on my peppers. I love this channel and I am a new subscriber so I will need to binge-watch to catch up on your vids. Thanks for sharing.
Confession: I just opened up my winter sowing jugs yesterday. It was 96° in New Hampshire yesterday and I felt bad for them. Considering I totally neglected them, I only lost a few jugs to neglect. Otherwise they all sprouted quite well. Except my jade beans....total duds. Now I need to actually get them OUT of the jugs and into the ground. I've been a bad plant mom.
Zone 4B - huge winter sowing success with cabbage and huckleberries and fails with delphinium and sweet peas. But it was the first time I tried winter sowing and I am sold on doing more for next year!
1st time trying the winter sowing method and I also had good luck with the Rudbeckia and Yarrow. I had 1 lonely Bells of Ireland germinate and a few Nigella. My duds were Sea Holly, Calendula and Star Flower.
Winter sowing successes: lupine, bells of Ireland, carnation, ammi, chamomile, mums, baby’s breath, straw flowers, Canterbury bells. Failures were milkweed, gomphrena, salvia, thunbergia. I’m giving them more time as we’ve barely past our last frost date. Most were started in January/February
I did just Lupines (4) and they all grew fantastic! I’m excited to try again this winter! This was my first try and it was so exciting. The little things.
I know one thing I am planting this winter and it's Buttercrunch Lettuce! You sold me on that. Did winter sowing for the first time this past winter and planted 3 Poppies and 3 Coneflowers. All came up. Poppies did the best and are ready to go in ground. Coneflowers much smaller and only 1 or 2 in each jug. So slower going on those but they all came up so I'm happy!
I opened mine this week as well, my successes vs failures are pretty much the same as yours (though I only did about half as much). Always a great way to save space in the grow room!
Denver, Co. Z 5b Started in Feb.- Delphinium, Viola, Yellow Columbine did great. March- Double Click Cosmos, African Daisy, Allysum and a few singles. April- Broadcast Trays inside of an under bed type clear container of Snap Dragons, Coleus, Moss Rock Roses (2 kinds) 100's of each! I'm pretty darn happy with that. I learned a lot. I'll do things differently next time.
@@reginakenger5737 I'm going to get more Large Clear Storage Containers. No holes. Water them myself. And plant in Dollar Store 8 x 10 Aluminum Trays with holes in the bottom. with wet potting soil (Ace) topped with wet seed starting mix.Plant a lot more seeds.Feb. March and April. Moisture is just too inconsistent here.
Zone 6a Michigan. 60 jugs and only 5 did nothing. Disappointed that I still had no luck with Bells Of Ireland (second year of trying/new seeds). But overflowing jugs of larkspur, verbascum, violas, pansies, yarrow, poppies, snapdragons and the list goes on. I love this method of growing. It always seems like nothing is happening, then BOOM. Oh and tried our grow along baby’s breath and rudbeckia! Success!
After last year's winter sowing, being so, so, I had much better results this year. My successes are: Alissum, Batchelor's Button, Larkspur, Snapdragons, Baby's Breath, Rudbeckia, Verbena Bonariensis & Scabiosa. Had minimal germination with Strawflower, only one Foxglove and Millennium Allium. And zero Hollyhocks & Cleomes. I'm pretty happy with this year's winter sowing bottles overall. 🙂
After my third year winter sowing, I'd say the method works better for perennials than annuals in general because it can take annuals so long to germinate. I've had success with rudbeckia, lupine, bachelor's buttons, hollyhock, cosmos, alyssum, petunias, jupiter's beard, rose campion, jacob's ladder. Fails that I recall were nasturtium, and hmm I can't recall the rest. The thing is, you'll end up with more germination of you can wait longer but the annuals end up being so late that I'm not willing to wait that long. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I’m in zone 8A. I had good germination with Pimento Peppers, Honeycomb Tomatoes, Yarro, Zinnias, Asters, Forget Me Nots and Tasmanian Eucalyptus. Bummers were Snapdragons, Peas and Pinto Beans.
i'm in 7bNC and had insane success with bachelor buttons, yarrow, penstemon, coleus (rainbow mix), blue fescue, snap dragons, cosmos, cornflower, maiden pink, sweet alyssum, california poppy, dahlias, hollyhocks, pot marigolds (calendula), marigolds, carnation, salvia, coneflowers, cinnamon basil, g. basil, money plant, rose moss, zinnia, baby's breath, fox glove, bells of ireland, lemon balm, and rudbeckia. i had some fails too, but forget the names since the sharpie wore off. i'm looking forward to doing this again next year, but not as many. i do love the poppies! they glow in an amazing shade of gold. 🌞 this was my first time growing seeds in this capacity and method - it will now be my "go to" method. i don't want to invest in the tools required to grow indoors. plus, i don't have the space.
This was my second year winter sowing. I had successes both years were onions, lettuces, and kale. Best success with foxglove and poppies, and delphiniums. Did get a few lupine as well. Over all lower success than last year but I was happy with what did germinate.
Horrible luck inside and out with Bells. 😩 Even using your method. Had success with several things: kale, yarrow, borage, larkspur, Asparagus, babies breath etc. Definitely a fun process to watch.
I have poppies never managed previous times. The rest were a flop no germination. I will try again with bigger containers next time. So pleased with the poppies.
Lol I was struggling today to open my jugs too. Had to go get a knife too. Lettuces were the most successful, followed by spinach, calendula, aster, bachelor button and beets. First time for me.
I have great success winter sowing with English Lavender, snapdragon, china aster, rudbeckia. Bachelor's button, calendula, delphinium, love-in-a-mist, larkspur, fever few. Duds on munstead lavender, Zinnia Queen Red Lime, ageratum, cosmos, english daisy.
First I have to tell you I got a bud on one of the peonies that I won from you! So excited! I love winter sowing. I did 55 jugs and 5 of them did not good. One or 2 fell over. Pinpinella rose did nothing so did my Cherokee sunset only 2. New seed too! 2 of them did good but then frosted. But overall it was great. I had feverfew, sweet peas, Larkspurs, batchelor buttons, etc. All the cool flowers and perennials. ?I even cover them after they sprout sometimes. if frost. And some I start later in winter like hollyhocks. hey were great started in April 1st. So don't give up. Enjoy your videos a lot!Glad you have help now. you're like Cant eat the grass. They work so hard as well. Im older now so Ive slowed down some!!
Nice looking seedlings!!! I had great success w all brassicas, chard, collards, lettuce, cilantro & spinach. Also bachelor buttons, sunflowers, larkspur, yarrow, snap dragons, pansies (although tiny). Left several jugs to stew some more and now also have little fox gloves, hollyhocks, columbine, and bee balm, and several others - I think I'll let them grow on a little more. Now where to plant?? 😁
I didn't do as much winter sowing this year....completely forgot to save the milk jugs. Whoops! I'm most excited that I have several lavender growing. I needed them to continue a little hedge. Biggest fail was delphinium. I can't tell if there was one sad little seedling that just didn't make it or if there never was any sign of life. Oh well...will try again next year.
Great success with Allysum, Dusty Miller, Denver Daisy Rudbeckia, Marshmallow Yarrow, Strawflower, Static, Poppy- California Sunset Mix, some year old seeds of Appleblossom Snapdragon my not so good ones were my other Rudbeckia, Orlaya and some year old tall Snapdragon however I have at least a couple in each jug so no complete fails. I think the key for me is putting a lot of potting soil in the jugs and don’t use seed starting soil mix since it doesn’t hold the moisture as well. I’m really happy with my results this year. 😊
I had success with: shasta daisy, echinacea, feverfew, bachelor buttons, sweet william, and poppies. My dud was bells only one germinated. I used clear plastic lettuce containers no need for tape. Canadian zone 8b Vancouver Island.
My winter sowing jugs were used as brassica frost protectors this year, but I still have them and will try next year. It is so good to learn from your attempts, Nicole; and from all the comments. Your dreams can become my dreams. ☁️ 🌤
I’m in zone 4 in the fingerlakes and winter sowed all of my cool season veggies. I was happy with the germination but I found that the seedlings seemed spindly and weak, possibly from being overcrowded in my jugs. They were hit or miss once I transplanted them out. I lost probably a third to half of them after transplanting. Now that I have lights I’ll most likely sow indoors next year.
All of my poppies were a success and have really taken off since transplanting into the garden. I had success with mustard lavender, strawberries, marshmallow, and bells of Ireland! Enjoy! I had a few failures but still did better than I have the past few years of trying. Upstate NY zone 5b and I put them out in January this year.
My successes with winter sowing were corncockle, honeywort, strawflowers, dill, Chinese forgot ne nots, lemon mint bee balm, belpulerum, and spotted be balm!
I had a wonderful broccoli and lettuce harvest this year. I think I might have started my runner beans too early and they did not flourish. I have since planted a second crop of beans and they are doing better. We don't get real cold here so brassicas and lettuce were a huge win for me. My tomatoes are gargantuan and will produce in abundance this year for sure! Thanks for showing your wins and losses. It inspires me when I get a dud too.
Thanks for sharing your results. Good success in southern middle Tennessee with most. 25 milk jugs, sown in early February with 22 positive results. Best results with snapdragons and explosion grass. Only true dud was horehound. Second year it has been a dud.
Here in the UK I had huge success with poppies, snapdragons, asters and scabious, a few foxgloves and rudbeckia. Lobelia have finally come. No allysum whatsoever or ageratum.... Hey ho. Will definitely be doing it next year.... So so easy xx
Love this method been doing it few years now.lupins are a winner so was nigella amaranthus celosi snap dragons rubekia delphiniums. Fail but not a fail 1 in 3 sweet peas jugs germinated peachy aster fail. Sweet william success. So many starts dont know where to put them🙈 what a dilemma
Milkweed is the host plant for Monarch butterflies. I have had mixed results with germination but got about 20 to start my butterfly garden. Also got 3 of the soulmate butterfly milkweed. They look really cool. See what you started? LOL
In Kansas zone 6b, natural milkweed is developing to bloom now! My son has deemed me the milkweed mom because I have endeavored to save it from the mowers. I have not had good success in transplanting it. I hoped to create a sanctuary! 🦋 🌻
I'm in zone 7b and opened mine in April. I had good luck with ground cherries, snapdragons, dill, lovage, broccoli, spinach, butterfly weed, and love in a mist. Unfortunately the late freeze damaged most of the broccoli. I will definitely be doing it again next year.
Lupine was a huge success for me as well as snapdragons. Only had a couple Heliotrope this year for some reason. Madame butterfly snapdragon did not germinate. I only had a couple larkspur at the side of the container as well.
I had success with Brussel sprouts, common milkweed, pansies, hollyhock,. Duds were violas( looked like they fried with the heat we had so they may have survived better if it was cooler). Also no germination on my poppies. I also tried the plastic bag method. It wasn't as successful as the plastic jug. Only had hollyhock survive in the bags.
I did winter sowing this year, my first time. I am getting germination in a few containers but we are still a month away from last frost date. I had them in full sun but I thought they got too hot, so I moved them to half shade. Where should I keep them? I planted various lavender, coneflower, grasses, delphinium, cranesbill, astilbe, love in the mist flower and a Robinson daisy type flower.
My delphinium seeds rotted which bummed me out! I had 2 hollyhock out of 10 which I’m okay with. My penstemon, lupine, butterfly weed, bachelor buttons, and foxglove (took longer to germinate) did the best. Aaaand an unknown seedling is doing GREAT 😂 Of course the marker somehow came off that one and not any of my many duds 🙄
I had one cornflower, but it was a very dry and warm winter as the drought continues to eat its way east. If I do it this coming winter, I'll put them on the east or northside instead of the southside. Zone 5b.
My pincushions did great and the Asian lilies were a bomb. I’m going to try lettuces and kale. Maybe some other veggies. I wish I could have had a bite of your lettuce!
I read in the winter sowing FB groups that milkweed takes a while to germinate, sometimes into June so you may want to wait until then to see if more will sprout. Your lupines look great!
I’m dying over you shoving your face in the lettuce and taking a bite. And then . . . “Oops, my new microphone.” Thanks for the laugh out loud situation.
yarrow, delphinium, coneflower, Rebecka, daisy, butterfly weed, lupine, verbascum, hyssop, oriental poppy all did great. I had two older seed packs of blue poppy and sea holly that didn't do anything (figured on that). Started columbine in February and they said it needs 3 months of cold which it did not get, so nothing there,
Zone 5 Montana 5th year winter sowing. This was not a very good year. Many jugs never sprouted. Last year I had so many tomatoes; gave dozens away. Not one tomato this year. Am still hoping. Planted about 5 jugs of sweet peas and planted them close; very sporadic germination. It was so windy I watered my jugs several times. Every year is a game of chance.
Forget me not, delphinium, larkspur, agrostema, bees friend, Batchelor button, foxglove, salvias, lupine, snapdragons, buplerum, feverfew, rudbeckia, Dianthus, craspedia, sweet Anne, statice, scabiosa, orlaya, all the Daucus colors, ammi, pretty much anything that is a perennial or cool season flower I will grow them this way. Frees up room indoors and they always out perform the ones I try to start indoors.
Winter sowing is like opening up gifts on Christmas, so exciting to see what you got!
I tried a different approach this year for winter sowing. I used dirt filled solo cups in clear totes with holes in tops and bottoms. I did have to water them, but I had almost 100% germination for all of my cool flowers! No more milk jugs from now on for me.
OooOOooo, sounds interesting. I will do this next year! Thanks for a different approach🌱
Thanks for sharing! That sounds like it would be much easier than washing and cutting the milk jugs, and it sounds like you could grow more varieties in a smaller space that way.
Did you use clear or colored solo cups? Thanks!
Do they have lids? I must have lids or the chickens eat all my seeds. 😆
I have thirty-three 105 quart plastic totes in my driveway, all full of winter sowing plants. I plant almost my entire garden this way. In all those bins, I had no failures this year--but in order to get there I had to give them a lot more attention than a lot of folks recommend. I checked them almost every day for moisture. And after germination, I covered all of them with moving blankets any time the temperatures dropped below freezing. I also took the lids off whenever the weather got into the mid 70s, so they wouldn't get cooked. I feel like you can get decent success by just setting them up and leaving them, but to get a more consistent success they need more time than a lot of people would be able to put in.
Also: I have six varieties of milkweed by the dozens in there, but I left the seeds in the garage all winter before I planted my winter sowing bins in March.
I really leaned hard on winter sowing to bulk up my new pollinator garden this year. I just didn’t have enough room inside to start everything I wanted to grow along with my veggies. My yarrow mix grew like gang busters, I’ve had half of it planted out for a month now but I’m still looking for places to put the other half! My bachelor buttons were pretty intense as well and they are blooming in the garden like crazy now. Lots of other flowers did well; coneflower, calendula, viola, snaps, soapwort, Hollyhock etc but my big fail was the Bells of Ireland. And the milkweed took FOREVER but I eventually got a few small starts. Enjoy your salad 🥗 😄
It was my first time doing winter sowing and I went a little overboard. I had great success with Lupine, Bachelor buttons, Many types of poppies, Strawflower, pansies, Yarrow, Hollyhock, Hyssop, Snap dragons, Onions (by seed), foxglove, carnations, dahlia (by seed) and I just notices my peppers and tomatoes are starting to sprout. I may have thrown a few away as I was getting rid of perceived fails. Oh well, it was my first time. My milk weed was growing, but must have died because I marked it as sprouted but now there is nothing in there. Not sure if others suffered the same fate. Definitely will try it again because for perennials which seem to work really well. Of course the few things I have planted out, the rabbits have found delectable......I now am covering them with chicken wire cones I have made until things get a little more established. THank you for your videos and thank you for sharing.
Last year I planted in 3 milk jugs all the old tomato seeds in my seed box. Planted them heavily. EVERY seed germinated! I begged my friends to take plants. Gave everyone working at the church tomato plants. Finally, I took a flat to Good Samaritan and they set them,out for free. So many people stopped while looking around the store to tell me thank you. This year I had no success. Had to buy all my tomato plants. Hard to be a “farmer” in Montana-cold spring.
Bells of Ireland was a fail for me. I also tried your method with the paper towel on the heat mat after a couple of weeks of refrigeration, and that worked like a charm!
That method worked great but then 7/10 died after planting!
LOVE! I finally got a greenhouse after having 180 ice cream pails on the yard...my husband wasn't a fan, lol.
I had success with hollyhocks and larkspur, and almost failure with just one echinacea sprouting. I kept it small and did 8 jugs this year, and I did have to supplement water half a dozen times to one or two containers. Some didn't need any water at all. I love winter sowing. It entertains the gardener in the dead of winter, and with luck she is blessed in the spring. 💚
I had success with almost everything I winter sowed except 2 varieties of peppers I got from a random seed company and a couple of flowers. I was shocked! This was my first time. I’m in CHI and successfully winter sowed lavender, lettuces and greens, tons of tomatoes, eggplants, peppers from well know seed companies, kohlrabi, tatsoi, nasturtium, sunflowers, marigolds, asters, snapdragons, celosia, dill, parsley, basil, and more!! My hardest lesson learned, though, is to not put them in direct sunlight right away after you open them. My kohlrabi and tatsoi couldn’t handle it and shriveled up and died. 😔
Received my David Austin rose and put in the ground yesterday! I adore lupine leaves almost as much as the flower. It looks like they diamonds sitting on the leaves after every rain.😍
I’m in zone 5ish Europe with last frost by the end of May. My Jan-Feb winter sowings started to sprout mid Apr with an absolute champs being snapdragons, larkspur, Maltese cross and Patagonian verbena. Also two healthy looking Caucasian scabiosas out of 12 and four sad leeks out of 30. Zero pansy, rose campion, orlaya.
It is so exciting to watch other people’s ws result reveals! Will try sweetpea and rudbeckia next time.
My Batchelor buttons did really well..statice, snapdragons and calendula did pretty good too. The lavender did not getminate. Will try again this next winter along with bluebonnets!
I had nothing but fails with winter sowing. But my indoor was so well I don't have room for everything, so my daughter gets a bunch of freebies. Love seeing how well it worked for others tho. Just a note about a marker, I seen a tip about using an oil paint pen. It's the best, I used it on a shirt, it's been washer several times and the paint is still there, much cheaper than a designated garden marker.
I had great luck with sowing hollyhocks in the fall after nicking the seeds. It works like a charm!
I’m in zone 7A. I had the most success with foxgloves, lupine, bachelors button and poppies. I failed at delphiniums, and echinacea. Thanks for showing us what worked for you! Love your channel, you always make me smile. 😀
This was my first year of winter sowing too. It’s good you opened yours up in the shade. I opened mine in the sun, thinking that they were fully hardened off and they all scorched and wilted. They recovered, but it seemed to me that they still need an adjustment period from the protection of the container to full exposure to the elements. One day in the shade seemed to make all the difference with the second batch I opened. Good work!
Thanks for doing this video. I had been wanting to ask you how yours did. I sowed mine after you did and didn't have much hope for success but when I opened mine 3 or so weeks ago I was very pleasantly surprised! I have onions, kale, brocolli, red cabbage, pansies, snapdragons, cauliflower, celery, pinks and sweet william. The only thing that didn't do great was the pansies because I only got 5 seedlings but pretty sure it was old seed. Very pleased with my results. It's a great hands off way to start seedlings. I hope to start earlier next winter and plant more. I had read somewhere that lettuce needs heat to germinate so I didn't do lettuce. Yours did great so I'll try that, too. My climate is very similar to yours...4b, long cold winters and lots of snow. It's surprising to me how well winter sowing works.
It's my first year winter sowing! My calendula did amazing!!! It's already transplanted out in the garden and doing awesome! Aster, baby's breath, sweet rocket, perfume stock, dara, nicotiana, larkspur, blue flax, and gold dust asslym also did great!!! For some reason my cosmos were all duds :( I'm going to try rudbeckia next year!
Zone 6. I had great success with my kale, strawflowers and calendula. My marigolds didn’t germinate. The seeds were old. I love winter sowing. It’s just fun!
I had great success with 4 kinds of broccoli, matador spinach, dill, penstemon and larkspur :^) Started them April 4th when we were still having extreme cold and snowy conditions (Ice didn't go out this year until May 8th! and its usually out April 21st) and just up potted them last week. None of mine are as gonzo as your big guys but they are started and hardened off. Yay.
I've had great success with delphinium. I think I need to do hundreds of those next year for my floral grove.
@8:08 my lettuces were my biggest winter sowing successes. The jury is still out on my peppers. I love this channel and I am a new subscriber so I will need to binge-watch to catch up on your vids. Thanks for sharing.
Confession: I just opened up my winter sowing jugs yesterday. It was 96° in New Hampshire yesterday and I felt bad for them.
Considering I totally neglected them, I only lost a few jugs to neglect. Otherwise they all sprouted quite well. Except my jade beans....total duds.
Now I need to actually get them OUT of the jugs and into the ground.
I've been a bad plant mom.
Same with so many things! My Dalmatian peach and magic F. delphiniums were duds inside and out. Lupines did amazing!
Zone 4B - huge winter sowing success with cabbage and huckleberries and fails with delphinium and sweet peas. But it was the first time I tried winter sowing and I am sold on doing more for next year!
Thank you for sharing this amazing experience, we’re going to start winter in Australia 🇦🇺
I might start with lettuce 🥬
1st time trying the winter sowing method and I also had good luck with the Rudbeckia and Yarrow. I had 1 lonely Bells of Ireland germinate and a few Nigella. My duds were Sea Holly, Calendula and Star Flower.
I love how you smell the opening of the containers!
First year growing yarrow and bachelor buttons. I decided to winter sow both (zone 7b). They both did absolutely amazing! Will definitely do again.
Winter sowing successes: lupine, bells of Ireland, carnation, ammi, chamomile, mums, baby’s breath, straw flowers, Canterbury bells. Failures were milkweed, gomphrena, salvia, thunbergia. I’m giving them more time as we’ve barely past our last frost date. Most were started in January/February
I did just Lupines (4) and they all grew fantastic! I’m excited to try again this winter! This was my first try and it was so exciting. The little things.
I know one thing I am planting this winter and it's Buttercrunch Lettuce! You sold me on that. Did winter sowing for the first time this past winter and planted 3 Poppies and 3 Coneflowers. All came up. Poppies did the best and are ready to go in ground. Coneflowers much smaller and only 1 or 2 in each jug. So slower going on those but they all came up so I'm happy!
I opened mine this week as well, my successes vs failures are pretty much the same as yours (though I only did about half as much). Always a great way to save space in the grow room!
Denver, Co. Z 5b Started in Feb.- Delphinium, Viola, Yellow Columbine did great. March- Double Click Cosmos, African Daisy, Allysum and a few singles. April- Broadcast Trays inside of an under bed type clear container of Snap Dragons, Coleus, Moss Rock Roses (2 kinds) 100's of each! I'm pretty darn happy with that. I learned a lot. I'll do things differently next time.
What are you going to change?
@@reginakenger5737 I'm going to get more Large Clear Storage Containers. No holes. Water them myself. And plant in Dollar Store 8 x 10 Aluminum Trays with holes in the bottom. with wet potting soil (Ace) topped with wet seed starting mix.Plant a lot more seeds.Feb. March and April. Moisture is just too inconsistent here.
Zone 6a Michigan. 60 jugs and only 5 did nothing. Disappointed that I still had no luck with Bells Of Ireland (second year of trying/new seeds). But overflowing jugs of larkspur, verbascum, violas, pansies, yarrow, poppies, snapdragons and the list goes on. I love this method of growing. It always seems like nothing is happening, then BOOM. Oh and tried our grow along baby’s breath and rudbeckia! Success!
After last year's winter sowing, being so, so, I had much better results this year.
My successes are: Alissum, Batchelor's Button, Larkspur, Snapdragons, Baby's Breath, Rudbeckia, Verbena Bonariensis & Scabiosa.
Had minimal germination with Strawflower, only one Foxglove and Millennium Allium. And zero Hollyhocks & Cleomes. I'm pretty happy with this year's winter sowing bottles overall. 🙂
Did you do anything to your lupine seed before putting it into container? Soooo cool!
Nice! I'm finally opening mine up today 🌱💕 probably should've done it a while ago cuz I definitely over sowed! 😅
After my third year winter sowing, I'd say the method works better for perennials than annuals in general because it can take annuals so long to germinate. I've had success with rudbeckia, lupine, bachelor's buttons, hollyhock, cosmos, alyssum, petunias, jupiter's beard, rose campion, jacob's ladder. Fails that I recall were nasturtium, and hmm I can't recall the rest. The thing is, you'll end up with more germination of you can wait longer but the annuals end up being so late that I'm not willing to wait that long. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I’m in zone 8A. I had good germination with Pimento Peppers, Honeycomb Tomatoes, Yarro, Zinnias, Asters, Forget Me Nots and Tasmanian Eucalyptus. Bummers were Snapdragons, Peas and Pinto Beans.
i'm in 7bNC and had insane success with bachelor buttons, yarrow, penstemon, coleus (rainbow mix), blue fescue, snap dragons, cosmos, cornflower, maiden pink, sweet alyssum, california poppy, dahlias, hollyhocks, pot marigolds (calendula), marigolds, carnation, salvia, coneflowers, cinnamon basil, g. basil, money plant, rose moss, zinnia, baby's breath, fox glove, bells of ireland, lemon balm, and rudbeckia. i had some fails too, but forget the names since the sharpie wore off. i'm looking forward to doing this again next year, but not as many. i do love the poppies! they glow in an amazing shade of gold. 🌞 this was my first time growing seeds in this capacity and method - it will now be my "go to" method. i don't want to invest in the tools required to grow indoors. plus, i don't have the space.
This was my second year winter sowing. I had successes both years were onions, lettuces, and kale. Best success with foxglove and poppies, and delphiniums. Did get a few lupine as well. Over all lower success than last year but I was happy with what did germinate.
Interesting to see what grew well for everybody...I've got new ideas for next year!
My most successful were hollyhocks and rhubarb.
Horrible luck inside and out with Bells. 😩 Even using your method. Had success with several things: kale, yarrow, borage, larkspur, Asparagus, babies breath etc. Definitely a fun process to watch.
I have poppies never managed previous times. The rest were a flop no germination. I will try again with bigger containers next time. So pleased with the poppies.
Lol I was struggling today to open my jugs too. Had to go get a knife too. Lettuces were the most successful, followed by spinach, calendula, aster, bachelor button and beets. First time for me.
I have great success winter sowing with English Lavender, snapdragon, china aster, rudbeckia. Bachelor's button, calendula, delphinium, love-in-a-mist, larkspur, fever few.
Duds on munstead lavender, Zinnia Queen Red Lime, ageratum, cosmos, english daisy.
Successes were yarrow and spinach, failures were milkweed and rubeckia. Got a couple of sweet peas.
First I have to tell you I got a bud on one of the peonies that I won from you! So excited! I love winter sowing. I did 55 jugs and 5 of them did not good. One or 2 fell over. Pinpinella rose did nothing so did my Cherokee sunset only 2. New seed too! 2 of them did good but then frosted. But overall it was great. I had feverfew, sweet peas, Larkspurs, batchelor buttons, etc. All the cool flowers and perennials. ?I even cover them after they sprout sometimes. if frost. And some I start later in winter like hollyhocks. hey were great started in April 1st. So don't give up. Enjoy your videos a lot!Glad you have help now. you're like Cant eat the grass. They work so hard as well. Im older now so Ive slowed down some!!
My successes were lupines, echinacea, sage, viola, lavender. My fails were poppies and bells of ireland. 6b
Nice looking seedlings!!! I had great success w all brassicas, chard, collards, lettuce, cilantro & spinach. Also bachelor buttons, sunflowers, larkspur, yarrow, snap dragons, pansies (although tiny). Left several jugs to stew some more and now also have little fox gloves, hollyhocks, columbine, and bee balm, and several others - I think I'll let them grow on a little more. Now where to plant?? 😁
I did pretty good with my lupine in the winter sowing jugs, then I planted them in my mailbox garden about two weeks ago. We’ll see how they do there!
I didn't do as much winter sowing this year....completely forgot to save the milk jugs. Whoops! I'm most excited that I have several lavender growing. I needed them to continue a little hedge. Biggest fail was delphinium. I can't tell if there was one sad little seedling that just didn't make it or if there never was any sign of life. Oh well...will try again next year.
Great success with Allysum, Dusty Miller, Denver Daisy Rudbeckia, Marshmallow Yarrow, Strawflower, Static, Poppy- California Sunset Mix, some year old seeds of Appleblossom Snapdragon my not so good ones were my other Rudbeckia, Orlaya and some year old tall Snapdragon however I have at least a couple in each jug so no complete fails. I think the key for me is putting a lot of potting soil in the jugs and don’t use seed starting soil mix since it doesn’t hold the moisture as well. I’m really happy with my results this year. 😊
I had success with: shasta daisy, echinacea, feverfew, bachelor buttons, sweet william, and poppies. My dud was bells only one germinated. I used clear plastic lettuce containers no need for tape. Canadian zone 8b Vancouver Island.
im gonna try WS for the first time this year, its just fun to watch others show
My winter sowing jugs were used as brassica frost protectors this year, but I still have them and will try next year. It is so good to learn from your attempts, Nicole; and from all the comments. Your dreams can become my dreams. ☁️ 🌤
I’m glad some came up. Lupines rock!
I’m in zone 4 in the fingerlakes and winter sowed all of my cool season veggies. I was happy with the germination but I found that the seedlings seemed spindly and weak, possibly from being overcrowded in my jugs. They were hit or miss once I transplanted them out. I lost probably a third to half of them after transplanting. Now that I have lights I’ll most likely sow indoors next year.
Hi Nicole, my biggest ws success was snapdragons and sweet peas!!😊
All of my poppies were a success and have really taken off since transplanting into the garden. I had success with mustard lavender, strawberries, marshmallow, and bells of Ireland! Enjoy! I had a few failures but still did better than I have the past few years of trying. Upstate NY zone 5b and I put them out in January this year.
My successes with winter sowing were corncockle, honeywort, strawflowers, dill, Chinese forgot ne nots, lemon mint bee balm, belpulerum, and spotted be balm!
I had a wonderful broccoli and lettuce harvest this year. I think I might have started my runner beans too early and they did not flourish. I have since planted a second crop of beans and they are doing better. We don't get real cold here so brassicas and lettuce were a huge win for me. My tomatoes are gargantuan and will produce in abundance this year for sure! Thanks for showing your wins and losses. It inspires me when I get a dud too.
Love this video! New to seed sowing and winter sowing! Love your style 😊
My Lupins did great and so did the lettuce. I had some slugs get into some of mine so will be on the lookout next year.
Thanks for sharing your results. Good success in southern middle Tennessee with most. 25 milk jugs, sown in early February with 22 positive results. Best results with snapdragons and explosion grass. Only true dud was horehound. Second year it has been a dud.
I had amazing success with my winter sowing. Thirty varieties and only bupleurum failed. I think the key is keeping them evenly moist.
I love that you just bit off some lettuce. So funny!
Don't give up on the milkweed, here in NY it can take until June to sprout
Always last ones for me
Here in the UK I had huge success with poppies, snapdragons, asters and scabious, a few foxgloves and rudbeckia. Lobelia have finally come. No allysum whatsoever or ageratum.... Hey ho. Will definitely be doing it next year.... So so easy xx
Walla Walla onions, independence day and San marzano tomatoes all worked great for me.
Love this method been doing it few years now.lupins are a winner so was nigella amaranthus celosi snap dragons rubekia delphiniums. Fail but not a fail 1 in 3 sweet peas jugs germinated peachy aster fail. Sweet william success. So many starts dont know where to put them🙈 what a dilemma
Awesome! I had good results with strawflowers, dill, birdhouse gourds and one surprise because I used a sharpie to label it!!
7b here in central Alabama. Best- snapdragons and foxglove. Worst- milkweed and echinacea.
Great project. Thanks for sharing.
Giant red japanese mustard!! Delicious, spicy and beautiful! Definitely a win win!
Milkweed is the host plant for Monarch butterflies. I have had mixed results with germination but got about 20 to start my butterfly garden. Also got 3 of the soulmate butterfly milkweed. They look really cool. See what you started? LOL
In Kansas zone 6b, natural milkweed is developing to bloom now! My son has deemed me the milkweed mom because I have endeavored to save it from the mowers. I have not had good success in transplanting it. I hoped to create a sanctuary! 🦋 🌻
my tomatoes they all germinate and & i got a couple plants of milkweeds
My winter sowing success was lupine and foxglove from saved seeds, san marzano tomatoes, and columbine. My milkweed was a dud too.
I'm in zone 7b and opened mine in April. I had good luck with ground cherries, snapdragons, dill, lovage, broccoli, spinach, butterfly weed, and love in a mist. Unfortunately the late freeze damaged most of the broccoli. I will definitely be doing it again next year.
Have you narrowed down what seeds are worth keeping and planting in year 2, vs those you choose to purchase fresh for each year?
Zone 6a here. Mine all did well, but interesting that milk jugs didn't do as well as larger containers with individual pots in them.
Lupine was a huge success for me as well as snapdragons.
Only had a couple Heliotrope this year for some reason. Madame butterfly snapdragon did not germinate. I only had a couple larkspur at the side of the container as well.
Nice, Nicole. It’s good to get something for only a little effort.
I had success with Brussel sprouts, common milkweed, pansies, hollyhock,. Duds were violas( looked like they fried with the heat we had so they may have survived better if it was cooler). Also no germination on my poppies. I also tried the plastic bag method. It wasn't as successful as the plastic jug. Only had hollyhock survive in the bags.
Me too about the lettuce always bitter so I gave up on growing it
I did winter sowing this year, my first time. I am getting germination in a few containers but we are still a month away from last frost date. I had them in full sun but I thought they got too hot, so I moved them to half shade. Where should I keep them? I planted various lavender, coneflower, grasses, delphinium, cranesbill, astilbe, love in the mist flower and a Robinson daisy type flower.
My delphinium seeds rotted which bummed me out! I had 2 hollyhock out of 10 which I’m okay with. My penstemon, lupine, butterfly weed, bachelor buttons, and foxglove (took longer to germinate) did the best. Aaaand an unknown seedling is doing GREAT 😂 Of course the marker somehow came off that one and not any of my many duds 🙄
I had one cornflower, but it was a very dry and warm winter as the drought continues to eat its way east. If I do it this coming winter, I'll put them on the east or northside instead of the southside. Zone 5b.
I had great success with yarrow, lettuces, nigella, larkspur, and Chinese broccoli.
My pincushions did great and the Asian lilies were a bomb. I’m going to try lettuces and kale. Maybe some other veggies. I wish I could have had a bite of your lettuce!
I read in the winter sowing FB groups that milkweed takes a while to germinate, sometimes into June so you may want to wait until then to see if more will sprout.
Your lupines look great!
love you so much, thanks for sharing!!
I’m dying over you shoving your face in the lettuce and taking a bite. And then . . . “Oops, my new microphone.” Thanks for the laugh out loud situation.
Im gonna try lupine again this year.
yarrow, delphinium, coneflower, Rebecka, daisy, butterfly weed, lupine, verbascum, hyssop, oriental poppy all did great. I had two older seed packs of blue poppy and sea holly that didn't do anything (figured on that). Started columbine in February and they said it needs 3 months of cold which it did not get, so nothing there,
I had great success with Clary sage, larkspur, sea holly, calendula, mizuna, and parsley.
Zone 5 Montana 5th year winter sowing. This was not a very good year. Many jugs never sprouted. Last year I had so many tomatoes; gave dozens away. Not one tomato this year. Am still hoping. Planted about 5 jugs of sweet peas and planted them close; very sporadic germination. It was so windy I watered my jugs several times. Every year is a game of chance.
Forget me not, delphinium, larkspur, agrostema, bees friend, Batchelor button, foxglove, salvias, lupine, snapdragons, buplerum, feverfew, rudbeckia, Dianthus, craspedia, sweet Anne, statice, scabiosa, orlaya, all the Daucus colors, ammi, pretty much anything that is a perennial or cool season flower I will grow them this way. Frees up room indoors and they always out perform the ones I try to start indoors.