This has been a cold April seems to me, altho the reports that I read say it is typical April weather. Maybe it seems cold to me cuz I am so anxious to get out and garden.

Also I have little seedlings (salvia) that I have to hold off planting in the garden til it warms up. Every night I go out and wrap them in row cover. Or cover in plastic to keep them from being sodden by the rain.
ugh.
I am tired of it. I will be so happy to put them in the ground. Well today at least is sunny. The end of the week is sup'd to go up to mid-60's.
Hooray! Hope that is the end of freezing or close-to-freezing temps.

I have become obsessed with watching the weather- forecast, history, etc.
Do you have any weather sites that you like?
I check weather. com, weatherunderground, and accuweather.

ellen

Hi Ellenr and Gardenstateof_mind,

I too am tired of the cold and don't get me started on the wind! I have Weatherbug on my computer desktop, so I check that often.
I don't know if either of you wintersow but I have for the last 4 years. I have not had the success that other ws's have. At present out of 20 jugs I have 1 jug that is full of Foxglove seedlings, I have 1 Gailardia seedling, 2 Hollyhock seedlings and a couple of poppy seedlings (these are the number of seedlings not jugs). I have a few questions for you.

1. Are these numbers normal for this time of year?
2. I have not taken the tops off of the jugs yet, when do I do that?
3. Do you think I should cover these jugs for the next few nights?
4. I have a few perennials and daylillies up that are a few years old, do you think I should cover them or "let the strong survive"?

Anyway, I think if wintersowing does not go that good again this year I will have to go back to buying my plants instead of trying to save money by winter sowing.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!!
Have a great Easter/Passover!

Hi ten steps-
well you know there is a wintersowing forum right? :)
But since you ask here, I'll answer whatever I know - but you'll get more info if you ask at that forum.

1. numbers - maybe it depends on what you sow, possibly other factors too.
I get jealous when I see some WS'ers pics of thickly germinated containers!
Some of my salvia germinated very thickly, otoh, some did not. I have a couple of containers which have only 1 or 2 sprouts of Yvonne's salvia, even tho I sowed them thickly.
2. Yes, if you have sprouts you should take the tops off at least during the day, in the sun. At night, I cover them.
3. As I said, my Salvia [tender annuals] have been outside since Jan, and when the temp goes down to the 30's I cover them with a row cover.
4. I *think* perennials and day lilies are ok outside now, but again it might depend on what they are.

Good luck,
ellen

Thanks ellenr! Yes I do visit the wintersowing forum quite frequently but I wanted to ask someone who lives around the same area as me to see what is happening with them and how they do things. I get jealous when I see someone from zone 7 and south reporting on things or someone in zone 5 with sprouts.
Starting tomorrow I will take the tops off whatever I have sprouting. Thanks for the advice, you don't know how much it's appreciated!

U welcome ten, I see your point.
tonite, I'm putting my containers in a cardboard box and covering with a row cover. It is really going down!

Actually I don't take the tops off all at once. I start by widening the holes, so they gradually get used to more air, and cooler temps, and more sun.

Once the temp reaches 60, I take them completely off.

good luck,

let me know how you do.
Where do you live? I live near New Brunswick, I garden in Piscataway.

ellen

I'm in Middlesex Borough. I think I see my problem from years past. You said that once temps reach 60 you take the tops off. Well if my seeds didn't sprout I would just keep the tops on, in the sun. I fried those little darlings, didn't I? I'm the grim reaper. Well live and learn and hopefully I will have lots of plants now that I'm not going to fry them. I hope this works out this year because I really can't afford to go out and buy plants this year. I'll cover my containers with an old king size quilt for the night and start opening them up little by little this week and see what happens. I'm off this week for spring break so I can baby them. I'm noticing on the weather forcast that probably till Wednesday or Thursday night the temps are going to be in the mid 30's, do I still cover them again or only if it goes below 32?
Thank you for letting me pick your brain...