I did start winter sowing a couple of days ago as we have finally seen our last warm days....winter is truly now here. We've had several good hard frosts and it "feels" like winter, and as I was rarin' to go I did some perennial flats. It was nice to get started again.

I did "A" perennials and posted them over on the GFS forum, I will be doing my winter sowing alphabetically this year, literally going front to back in my seed boxes, and I'll post the update to the list as I go along. Next up is "B" and it's going to be river birch, boltonia, buddleia, and balloon flowers. You may notice I'm consistently inconsistent in that I (myself) have no problem with filing my seeds by botanical or common name, so the list will be made as such also.....anyone can simply use Hortiplex and type in either the common or botanical name and get full info on the plant.

I'm going to put in the winter sowing link, and if anyone has any questions please let me know and I'll do my best to explain something that might not be clear.

For me this is year number three with winter sowing and I am looking forward to it....I need it this year. Really. I found it's a good way to "connect" with mother nature (and/or ourselves) and creating a little bit of life goes a very long way in making big personal inside smiles and right now so many of us truly need that.

Good luck to everyone whose going to give it a try.....it REALLY works!

Trudi

Trudi's method is wonderful. It worked well for me last year. I'll be starting soon, as soon as I get my dirt. I used plastic bakery containers last year, along with pie plates and the aluminum take-out containers, all worked well.

I had success with shasta daisy, purple coneflower, rudbeckia, viola, swan river daisy, nigella, annual phlox, sweet william, jacob's ladder and annual poppies. This year I plant to try more, including delphinium, columbine, heuchera, balloon flower, primrose, nicotiana and maybe some woodland plants.

It seemed to take forever to see sprouts, but as soon as the weather broke and things melted a little bit, there were the "green things". The key is to do exactly as Trudi says, and open the top slits gradually and regularly once you see sprouts.

I had a few flats that did not sprout, but I think the seeds were old, or I started too late. Flats of columbine and lady's mantle that were started late (April I think) showed no signes of life, but I opened them up and stuck them under the steps, and in June there were sprouts. (Then my son drove a toy truck through them..Oh well)

Sorry for the long post, but to sum it up, take the "leap of faith" and try it. It works!

I am harvesting kale and waiting for my purple sprouting broccoli to sprout. I love gardening all year. What a pleasure to not have to dive into the grocery store for fresh greens. Just head out to the garden. Yumm!

Boy oh boy, this feels soooooooooooo good right now!
How does your garden grow?
McPeg

So far I have sown lavender, salvia, coreopsis, dwarf crepe myrtle. We'll see what happens !

Forgive me for not spelling the intials out. I've been posting for a while and I'm quite comfortable navigating around all the forums and I forget what it's like to be a new Garden Web poster exploring all the wonderful forums and just soaking up the knowledge along with the warmth and friendship that can be found here. The GFS Forum is the "Growing from Seed" Forum.

My list, and those of so many other winter sowers, is on a post called "I'm Starting Now". There are a few people who have also posted what they're starting indide, but most of the posts are about what everyone's starting via the method.
It's excellent reading and fabulous gardens are going to come out of those flats.

Good luck with your seeds....you'll really enjoy it. WS makes the winter pass so comfortably for a gardener. Just wait 'til spring. Spring will knock your socks off!

Trudi