I've had mixed results with winter sowing and I am particularly interested in how well my tomatoes do. Unfortunately, they are being shaded by snap peas and potatoes. I had thought I would be picking rather short peas before I needed to tie up my tomatoes. I was able to give them some space; but, light is a problem.

Do they all get tubers? I thought they were annuals.

Marg: My garden seems much like yours. I now call myself a 'mature' winter sower since this year I have not been running around trying to get things in. I spent the first two years getting all my perennials in and so the gardens are full of colour, even my petunias and nasturtiums are doing well. Thank you so much for the poppy Angel's Choir. I simply love it and have been enjoying it - it has such a long bloom season. I simply sowed a few seeds in a pot quite late - sometime in May and they surprised me. I have not had much luck with poppies, but I had some volunteers from my opium and peony poppy which were quite beautiful. My veggie garden is suffering though - it has been cold and wet and I don't think I'll have a very good harvest. I have fallen in love with Daturas and sowed quite a few varieties this year, but the slugs got the better of most of them. To my surprise, I had a volunteer in a pot in which I was growing a Canna. The Canna never came up, but this Jimson weed came up and produced a beautiful flower. I grew these one year and never got to see the open flower because they open at dawn. I got this pic. one morning when I was up very early - it's really quite pretty for a weed.

I'm new here and am really interested in trying winter sowing in zone 3a. Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated. I read as much as possible about winter sowing and it seems as though some perennials can be grown. If anyone has had success in zone 3, I'd love to hear from you.

Many thanks!

It would help if you indicate where you live. Canada 3a covers a wide range of sins.

I tried ws this year for the first time and I'll try it a gain next year. I do cheat and use a walk in container (unheated greenhouse). Some don't consider that ws. However, I had normal flats and the greenhouse and it seemed silly not to use it. An advantage I had was a large quantity of water that effectively kept the greenhouse from going below 0C. It did get to 0C on numerous occasions. The closed containers -- milk jugs for purists -- are supposed to offer protection from frost.

My results were mixed. I think this had to do with seed, soil, and when I planted. Stocks, alysum, marigolds and four o'clocks came up early. Tomatoes sown first came up after later sowings and really too late.

Lessons

Don't plant too early -- even if the plant comes up, holding them in the grow cells causes them to be slow when put in the ground.

Plant relatively hardy varieties first -- if it volunteers in your garden, it is hardy.

Plant frost sensitive plants to sprout a little before the last frost.

Unless you are happy losing plants, try to plant them so they can be easily separated. I am going to plant mine all in separate grow cells next year.

It is better to plant more than you think you will need than to wish you had more.

Be patient -- there will be late comers.

You said: Don't plant too early -- even if the plant comes up, holding them in the grow cells causes them to be slow when put in the ground.

The idea is to plant early - in the dead of winter (some people plant at Winter Solstice), so the seeds can have a freezing period if required, or several freeze&thaw cycles to loosen their seed-coats. If the seedlings emerge when nature signals it is the right time, they will take off when you put them in the ground, because they are already acclimatized to that environment. When they are transferred from a 'protected' environment (like a greenhouse) they undergo more stress and will take time to get over it i.e. be slow when you put them in the ground.

You said: Unless you are happy losing plants, try to plant them so they can be easily separated. I am going to plant mine all in separate grow cells next year.

Many seeds are so small you cannot sow them separately i.e. petunias, poppies. Winter sown seedlings are so hardy you can simply pry them apart and either plant them to grow on for a few weeks, or you can do the HOS method which is described in Wintersown.org. That way nothing is lost.

Sheila, there are many people in your zone who Winter Sow. The best things to start with are hardy perennials, which you can grow on over the summer, then plant out in fall for flowering in the summer. There are some annuals which are easily winter sown: Nasturtiums, sweet peas, petunias come to mind. Other more tender annuals like zinnias must be sown in the spring - they just cannot take the winter. You will also have to start tomatoes, peppers, etc. indoors - even here in Zone 5 we need to do that in order to get ripe tomatoes before the snow flies.

Winter Sowing is not just a matter of containers - I use all sorts of things. If you have not done so, please consult Wintersown.org and read Trudi's guidelines for selecting seeds suitable for Winter Sowing. I started Winter Sowing in earnest in 2006 and I have gardens full of plants all wintersown except my bulbs. If you start studying the information in Wintersown.org now, you will be able to get lots of seeds through the garden exchange forum, and you will find it a most rewarding experience. If you wish, I could send you out a 'newbie' pack of seeds to help you on your way. Good Luck!!
Northerner.

Overall I was happy with my winter sowing venture. Most of my first and second plantings went through lots of freeze thaw cycles. I planted as my potting soil thawed, March to May. The water didn't go into the greenhouse until late April, until then the low temperatures in and out of the greenhouse were the same. I tried the water for passive heat so I could move my indoor starts out. Tomatoes, geraniums, and miniature roses don't like minus 10C. They don't like 0C either, but they survived. Perhaps, it wasn't a pure winter sowing experience -- close enough.

The people starting ws at winter solstice live in the southern US. It took a lot of reading ws posts to realize that if I want to be successful in zone 3a, I couldn't do the things that zone 7/8 people were doing. Little things like starting tender annuals later -- I'd already planted them.

Other than that I reported my experiences. Cucumbers, stocks, four o'clocks, and watermelon sprouted readily but couldn't be planted in early May. When planted out they did nothing. the stocks eventually bloomed and the four o'clocks are 6 inches high. The plants I had sharing cells, alysum and marigolds, didn't separate well.

Tomatoes, even though they were late sprouting (I planted the last group in June at the two leaf stage), have fruit set and will provide green (we actually like them), if not red tomatoes.