I did my petunias in the middle of winter. I'm waiting another couple of weeks for other annuals and am setting up my indoor lights this weekend.

~Deb

I am running out of perennials so i was forced to do some marigolds last week. i have done 2 or 3 sowings in some cases of nearly all of my perennials. i figured I had plenty of marigold seed so I could do some of those. I have also done snapdragons, garden balsam, amaranthus, cleome, Some cypress vine, some cuphea, some mina lobata vine, nicotiana sylvestris and some salvia coccinea lady in red. the only think i haven't done yet are the nasturtiums, morning glories, cardinal climber, zinnias, hyacinth bean and scarlet runner bean.

Penny

I did petunias also and I believe a few other annuals but still have lots of annuals to do.I am trying to push the envelope though to see if more annuals will get thru the winter outside.
Penny, I had hyacinth bean reseed last year....I was amazed . I spoke to someone from Cornell Cooperative Extension about it and they felt it might be because the parent was wintersown it was hardier which produced hardier seeds even though it would be considered an annual here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our pond and gardens

For fun, I think I'll "test sow" a few annuals this week just to see if they make it through these few weeks of 9 degree nights. I'm so interested in the petunias (can you tell?). I've had the worse luck getting them started indoors so I'm hoping winter sowing will be the answer.

Looking back at my journal I had some annuals sprouting by 3/8/2004 - I guess this year it will be a bit later since everything is still under a foot of snow. lol.

I did my first sowing of Zinnia's on March 1st. I did my first sowing of Nasturtiums then also and I sowed a vining nasturtium and vining sweet peas yesterday. I did some Calendula, Heliotrope, Portulaca, Freesia and I've done a few sowings of Sweet Peas since mid -February.
My Wsing list is getting so long I'm kinda losing track of what I've done.

Forgive my ingnorance,folks....but are you talking about outside sowing or seed starting indoors? I'm pretty new to this stuff and figured it'd be way too soon to plant outdoors yet....am I mistaken?

no problem, and it doesn't make you ignorant not to know what WS is. This is my first year trying it. It's putting seeds in growing medium in containers outside during the winter. We use milk jugs, cut off milk cartons, etc.... and put holes in the bottom for drainage and holes in the top for air. I put mine in plastic with more air and drainage holes in the plastic. Then, they all start to germinate as the temps get warmer. They are protected from the elements and exposed at the same time. You don't have to worry about seeds damping off. I saw so many successes from other people on this forum, I decided to go for it this year!

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing

kareen
thanks for letting me know about your hyacinth bean seeds. I didn't have any success with mine last year. but this year i am doing them in Miracle Gro which i didn't use last year so many I will have more luck. it is also good to know that Cornell thinks they may have been made hardier by wintersowing...that has to say something for wintersowing right?

since i have just about 10 times more perennials than i will need at this point i guess it is time to move on to the rest of my annuals. winter can't last forever right?

Penny

Hi Ladies;
Last year I WSed Zinnia, marigolds and I pansies. Got great results and collected seeds from them for this year. What I didn't have good success with was Morning Glories. Can't figure out why? Some sprouted and seemed to be doing well but then suddenly died overnight.
Cheri

This morning while it was half way descent outside I did a hanging basket of nasturtiums. If all of them germinate I will be thinning like crazy. I also did some salvia coccinea Dreamsicle, and some Zinnias that I collected last fall at 6 flags. Don't know if those will do anything or not but I figure nothing ventured nothing gained.

Cheri,
I understand that MG don't transplant well. I haven't done mine yet but I will be sowing them in bottomless paper pots and putting the whole thing in the ground if they germinate so as not to disturb the roots.

Penny

Kareen,
When did you WS your hyacinth bean? I have some I've been holding onto to WS this month.

FYI all,
Here's a picture of what I WSed today (a mixture of perennials and annuals):

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