YES! For years I stayed away from doing seeds (perennial at least) because I would end up killing them indoors. Last year I discovered the wonders of winter sowing and am hooked! It is soooo easy. Like that commercial for the rotisserie, "Set it and FORGET it!". Though in this case it is sow it and forget it, lol! ;-)

I know what you mean about finding the space. But this year I am determined to get rid of those plants that don't do anything, so maybe I will have room after that.
Last year I did about fifty containers. This year it will probably be 40 containers, but could get up to fifty again if I can't restrain myself!

Also going to try spring sowing a few of my veggies and annuals. It was a bit of a nightmare last year doing them all indoors, hardening them off, re-potting them because a late frost delayed planting them out. Even doing a few of those things with the ws method would be great and save me a lot of work.
CMK

You bet! I am wintersowing a few containers at a time until it becomes spring sowing. Most of my wintersowing seeds are cottage type flowers, too.. Columbine, coral bells, delphinium, coneflower, foxglove, maltese cross, painted daisy, sweetpeas, penstemon, poppies, primrose.

I will be spring sowing strawberries, snap peas, lettuce, and of course, tomatoes.

I am also wondering if some of those profusion zinnias would look good growing in pots.

Placed one seed order couple days ago and getting ready to do another this weekend. I'll be starting my tomatoes and peppers indoors first of February along with perennials like echinacea and rudbeckia then move them to the cold frame. Will direct sow the cosmos and zinnias in mid March.

Lois, I grew the Profusion zinnias in a large pot for a couple summers. They did great!

OK, where do y'all order your seeds from?
I purchase veggie seed generally from different vendors than my flower seeds.
Flowers came from Swallowtail Gardens, Gardens North (as well as shrubs) and I am hoping that Select Seeds and Summerhill will have more things I would like. Perhaps I may order more from Everwyld, and I also traded some things (but mostly veggies this year).

I order veggies from Amishland, Baker Creek, Southern Exposure and Fedco. Sometimes Cherry Gal or a few other places like Victory Seed.

The most fun way to get seeds is to trade for them... I also get a lot of seeds from hardyplants.com, and a few types from Swallowtale, Sampleseeds, and Parks.

Yep, and I can't wait! I am thinking of doing snow in summer as a ground cover in between stepping stones and I really plan on doing foxglove and hollyhock. Last year I ws sooo much I had too much to plant. This year I swear I'll keep it simple! I had to start hiding jugs from my dh because I drove him nuts last year with the jugs. But itts sooo fun and totally works!

OK, where do y'all order your seeds from?

Tomato Growers Supply for tomatoes and peppers.

This year I ordered flower seeds from Park.

Last year I got my cosmos and zinnias from Johnny's and Wildseed Farms.

I also buy seeds locally at my favorite nursery/hardware store.

I order from Park, Stokes, Ferry-Morse, Burpee, Totally tomatos. They are all reliable, plus the Stokes seed catalog gives detailed instructions on starting seeds either in greenhouse or outside.

Starting seeds? Oh yeah. Here's one shelf's worth.

It will be March before I can get any going. That's always an exciting time for me, knowing that winter is really getting near the end.

I buy a lot of flower seeds and the best prices are at GeoSeed. Their catalog has no pictures, though, but the shipping is free if your order is over $100. Below that, there is a flat $4.00 handling fee.

I also really like Johnny's Selected Seeds. They have great cultural information in their catalog.

ThinMan

The picture is from last year.

TM

lilyfinch, driving your spouse crazy with wintersowing is part of the fun. :o)

Thinman, I'd given up on starting seeds indoors but I think I may end up trying it again and getting a light set up. I also am working towards a greenhouse and I have almost all of the glass now, given to me for it.
Thinman have you tried Hazzard's seeds? I have not purchased from Geoseed, and was thinking about it but Hazzard has more I want. This year I also realized that Swallowtail seeds has TONS of great bulk seed like Geoseed and Hazzards, and some things they don't have (or differently sized packs).

Very nice for folks who need to be seeding out cutting gardens or fields!

I haven't heard of Hazzard. I'll give them a looksee. It's too late for this year, but there are other years.

TM

Hazzard's is awesome! I placed my second order with them yesterday to take advantage of their year-end FREE shipping. Bought flower seeds but also an heirloom Romaine lettuce Cos Rouge de Hiver which I'm sharing with friends (seeds). They have thousands of seed types. Whaddya think of the California poppies I ordered:

Eschscholzia Thai Silk Appleblossom Bush
{{gwi:457361}}

Great info about Hazzards, what a selection, thanks!

I have some red maple and roses I'll wintersow, in jugs just like I'm supposed to. :)

-love that California poppy gardenweed! Need to go check out Hazzards now, lol!
CMK

Tomorrow is the day, starting some croatian lettuce and ???, have to look in my seed stash :).

Annette

I checked out Hazzard's too, and they do have a great selection. FYI, though, their prices are not the best. I looked only at flowers, and compared Hazzard's prices with what I paid at GeoSeed for six different varieties. Hazzard's prices ranged about 50% higher than GeoSeed for five of the varieties and almost three times higher for one.

If you are buying just a few packets, you probably won't care much one way or the other, but I spent a few hundred bucks on seeds this year and 50% of that amounts to real money, at least to me. I can easily live with a plain catalog and not being able to place an order online.

On the other hand, if you ever buy Benary's zinnia seeds, you can get the un-coated version at a really nice price from Hazzard's. See the link below for a better discussion of this, if you're interested.

TM

Here is a link that might be useful: Benary's Zinnias at Low Prices

Never heard of Hazzard's or Geoseeds..where are they located?
Love those flowers..gardenweed..like california poppies or carnations?

I am wintersowing for my sister's flower beds and islands. She is in Atlanta. I am wintersowing white gayfeather, excelsior hybrid foxgloves, exhibition shasta daisies and perennial foxglove. I am also spring sowing state fair zinnias, peppermint stick zinnias, butterfly milkweed (from seeds collected from her plants I started from seed last year), cosmos and Mexican sunflower. I started the black hollyhocks from seed last year, which should bloom this year.

You can see the hollyhocks here, at the foot of the arbor.

And of course, the moonflower vines on the arbor will be direct sowed again this year.

Gosh, I've never seen a moonflower plant that large and full. How many seeds did you plant on each side of the arbor for it to be that full? Do moonflowers kind of become invasive like morning glories? I have some fresh seeds and was planning on planting them in a large container and let it climb up a wrought iron/metal obesisk or something like that. What happens when the moonflower runs out of anything to climb on, does it start filling in the same area? I live in a gated, Sr. Citizens community and have to be very careful of what I plant and where. Is it like ivy..that becomes very invasive and attaches itself to anything that is in its way, like siding and bricks,etc? It would be heavenly to smell it as I go out my front door or somewhere in the breezeway, sitting in the evenings with the neighbor ladies/widows.

The milk cartons are prepped and on the porch waiting for me...two boxes of seeds and misc supplies in DH's office. Hopefully tomorrow I can start to plant...probably about 130 containers. I didn't purchase any seeds because I did several trades. Next year I will be more selective, so I may have to order, but right now I am just trying out different plants and trying to fill the gardens. My DH is so patient. I know he doesn't like my porch and office decorations (LOL), but he doesn't say anything. He knows how much I enjoy WSing and gardening in general...and he likes a happy wife. Smart man!

Gardenweed...I want to visit your garden some day! Your pictures are always so lovely. What kind of soil do you have that everything grows so well?

I just ordered my first order of seeds from Swallowtail tonight based on the recommendations here. I can hardly wait for them to get here, winter sowing takes the edge off crazy spring fever.
I am still looking for Dicentra-Bleeding Heart.

bev2009 - thanks & glad you enjoy the pictures. My parents practiced organic gardening here all their lives. Dad had a vegetable garden as well as all types of fruit. Mom planted trees & shrubs. Last year I bought a slab of granite for a bench. When my son & neighbor dug down to set in the uprights, we could see nothing but black dirt a couple of feet down as far as they dug the shovels. I've been laying down mulch over cardboard since I moved in and getting rid of as much lawn as possible. I noticed whenever, wherever I dig there are big, fat worms so I know the soil is healthy. Every time I plant something I add water to the planting hole and toss in a handful of desiccated leaves (of which there's an infinite supply) which seems to give the new transplants a good, healthy start. I use no chemical pesticides or fertilizers; good old vinegar does a fine job killing weeds and I mix my own seaweed extract & worm p**p tea to fertilize those things that are heavy feeders.