Winter sowing

I really like to start my flowers and vegetables from seed. It’s always a bit of a miracle to watch a plant emerge almost from nothing to a full size plant. Although I also like to pick and buy a ready to put in the garden plants from the garden center, there is a different kind of satisfaction to watch it grow from the seed. Also, I love the timing of it – you can do it in the winter or early spring, when the pleasure of gardening with mature plants is still distant!

Using the usual seed sowing method I start the seeds inside – at home in March, then in April the seedlings go to the non-heated greenhouse and by mid May, just after the risk of the last frost, the plants are ready to be planted.

But now in January there is an excellent opportunity to do some gardening by sowing seeds using the winter sowing method!

It’s easy and efficient way to have in spring on hand tough plants, that are ready to be transplanted right into their final position in garden.

All you need is hardy plant seeds, translucent plastic bottles/jugs, soil, scissors, tape, name tag and permanent marker.

It’s best to start with cutting some drain holes into the bottom of the bottle. Then you cut the bottle in the middle so that you can open the top, but it still stays in one piece. Aside, you mix the compost/soil with some water (result should be moist but not dripping water when you squeeze it). You put the moist soil in the bottle, add some seeds and push them gently into the soil, so the contact of the seed and soil is good. It is a good idea to put a name tag of the plant inside the bottle now. Finish with closing the bottle and securing the cut with a duck tape. I also write the name of the plant on the bottle from outside – with a number that corresponds with plant on my list – but it’s possible that it disappears until you need it, because of the weather outside. Then you just put it in somewhere outside where the rain and snow can reach into the bottle. (Also, you might prefer place a bit out of sight, since the aesthetic of this method is the only downside of it.) 🙂

Because the seeds are going straight outside into the cold winter even snowy garden, you must choose hardy plants, that can withstand the cold after germination. They will get some protection from the bottle mini greenhouse environment though.

Last year I had best success with echinacea, rudbeckia, verbascum, foxglove, aquilegia, corn, pak-choi and mizuna. I started the seeds on January16th, I put the bottles outside in the snow during freezing temperature (below 0°C). Pak-choi and mizuna were up first on February 18th, followed by corn the next day.

The best thing about this method is that once you put the bottles with the soil and seeds outside, you can almost forget about it till spring. The cap of the bottle needs to be off, so the occasional snow or rainfall can get in and keep the soil slightly moist. Only in dry spell you should moisten it a bit yourself.