You can mix in some annuals the first year such as zinnias and marigolds (the seeds can just be sown into the spaces between the perinnials the first year) to give color and pollinator food while the perinnials are getting established. After punching a hole in the milk jug you can then insert a pair of sissors and cut the jug instead of the scary box cutter. After the plants start reaching the top and the weather is getting warmer, you can open the clam shell and then cut the top off until you transplant. Be sure to watch the water as the plants grow, they will need more. You made a great video which I shared with my online gardening group... these are not critisisms, just suggestions.
Those are great suggestions! I definitely agree that scissors would be a smarter choice, one slip with the box cutter and you've got a problem. Thanks for sharing the video :)
I did this for the first time this year. Not only were flowers and cooler weather plants successfully sown. I also had success with both peppers and tomatoes. Zone 8b. Pacific Northwest.
Very important for WS in areas that have an extended freeze! Do not sow until you can put them out into weather where they will freeze solid and are likely to stay that way. If they germinate at all and produce greenery, then freeze, they die and do not regenerate! In my area the safe time to put them out is early February. We often have a 7-10 day thaw in late January and anything that germinates will be killed in a subsequent frost.
Thank you RichM for your excellent advice! So many of us live in areas that get extremely cold /snowy/freezing weather. I am a fairly new gardener and discovered this phenomenal garden technique (winter sowing) this week. Most of the RUclips gardening content creators are telling viewers to start doing this in January. But from my understanding about my location (New York ) and zone 7B I planned to start winter sowing in February due to our unpredictable winter weather. It was warm two weeks ago, now it’s snowing and freezing this week. Even our last frost date changes every year, so I know if I sowed indoors I can’t start hardening my fragile plants outside in April. We had frost and snow a few times during that month. So a rule of thumb is to starting direct sowing or hardening plants after Mother’s Day. The content creators need to let new gardeners know that it’s not in stone to start in January winter sowing depending on where they live. Most of these RUclipsrs live in the South or Southwest. 🙄
East side of the foundation of your house is perfect. Morning sun, afternoon shade. They will warm up in the mornings and thaw and then freeze at night. Stratification success.
Recommend switching to scissors to cut the milk jug after making the initial cut with a box knife. Also instead of a drill, could use a large nail with a hammer to make the drainage holes.
Had some success with this last year. It was my first year and made some mistakes and also an animal knocked over some of my containers that I didn’t secure enough. I am back at it this year after some lessons leaned. I counted 81 milk jugs and nine 10 x 20 trays worth of seeds. I buried them a little in our raised beds so they don’t get knocked over. Hopefully I will have at least 1,000 plants to plant or give away in a couple of months.
That's fantastic - it's a nice little winter project and allows the seeds to wake up naturally - all of the plants shown in this video are now thriving every summer!
Great video. Really great to see more native plants being planted. I highly recommend goldenrod (showy goldenrod is a well-behaved garden plant) and pearly everlasting. They're both pollinator powerhouses in our yard. By the way, the reason that partridge pea bloomed the first year is because it only lives for one year ;) It's an annual, but it self-seeds easily.
Thank you for this great video, and thank you for the showy goldenrod plug. I'm trying both winter sowing and native gardening for the first time this year and picked showy goldenrod after my research, still not certain about agressiveness. So, I'm glad I picked the right goldenrod.
Ah, that nice winter beard! 👍Haha when you came "running" with the wheelbarrow it looked like the ending of a Benny Hill episode 😄It looks awesome already, and it must be great for the peppers and tomatoes etc you are grown with the addition of more pollinators! Hope there'll be a follow up next year so we can "witness the growingpower of this fully flowering and operational meadow!" 🤓
You are Z6a I’m in 5a and last year it was too warm and raining in January and even warmer this year minus a subzero week. My concern is many failed last year and believe they sprouted too soon in artificial environment and we then turned cold longer than the jug cold protect. I’m thinking we will need to wait closer to do a ‘spring sowing’ as we normally should be in 20s and through the middle of February we will still be 40s-50s. Cold weather plants can be quite resilient if they have a good rooting like poppies in fall. Edit: 😂😂I commented too soon. You said what I was thinking! Place them in a shady area!! I did have them in full sun last year! Still concerned though as it is Way warmer than last year. I will give it a go! Thank you!!
@@geekygreenhouse that’s just it and this weather is just too warm and I know it will turn cold again. This isn’t normal WI weather. Temps heated up since Halloween, cooled a bit in January with one subzero week and about face again to so warm that some nights didn’t get down to freezing. After rain this Thursday we will cool down starting Saturday forward and hope it behaves. Really want WS to work for many reasons, but don’t want to waste seeds. One Huge reason is fungus gnats in potting soil and nothing gets rid of them. I need to sterilize the soil for indoor plantings-never use to have to do that. I have searched to try to confirm my suspicions of what went wrong last year and you are the only one that has confirmed it-Thank You!
One of the main failures of winter sowing is to leave all the plants to open them up at the same time. You would never do this with seedlings in propegators - each plant and variety grows at a different rate. So many sown plants are left in too long and get really stressed or even start to die off. Close monitoring once germinated is necessary regardless of all the RUclipsrs suggesting it’s sow and forget for months on end.
We had a deep-rooted grass (zoysia), so we had to remove the top layer to get the roots out. Shallow rooted grasses are easier, your method should work.
I planted my seeds in jugs now almost 2 weeks ago and I noticed now for the last few days that lots of mine are molding........what can I do to save the seeds........usually the ground inside molds and usually there are 4 kinds of seeds in each jug.......and only 1-2 varieties have sprouted and around the base of those seedlings is a little white cloud of mold............what should I do........help please ???
I buy large quantities of cayenne powder and spread it around my veggies and Hastas. They do not like it. I used it in bird seed too. It doesn’t hurt the birds but will make the squirrels uncomfortable and sneeze!
You can mix in some annuals the first year such as zinnias and marigolds (the seeds can just be sown into the spaces between the perinnials the first year) to give color and pollinator food while the perinnials are getting established. After punching a hole in the milk jug you can then insert a pair of sissors and cut the jug instead of the scary box cutter. After the plants start reaching the top and the weather is getting warmer, you can open the clam shell and then cut the top off until you transplant. Be sure to watch the water as the plants grow, they will need more. You made a great video which I shared with my online gardening group... these are not critisisms, just suggestions.
Those are great suggestions! I definitely agree that scissors would be a smarter choice, one slip with the box cutter and you've got a problem. Thanks for sharing the video :)
My favourite sowing method in Toronto Canada. Saves me so much money on seedlings. French marigolds work really well with this for me.
I did this for the first time this year. Not only were flowers and cooler weather plants successfully sown. I also had success with both peppers and tomatoes. Zone 8b. Pacific Northwest.
Very important for WS in areas that have an extended freeze! Do not sow until you can put them out into weather where they will freeze solid and are likely to stay that way. If they germinate at all and produce greenery, then freeze, they die and do not regenerate! In my area the safe time to put them out is early February. We often have a 7-10 day thaw in late January and anything that germinates will be killed in a subsequent frost.
Thank you RichM for your excellent advice! So many of us live in areas that get extremely cold /snowy/freezing weather. I am a fairly new gardener and discovered this phenomenal garden technique (winter sowing) this week. Most of the RUclips gardening content creators are telling viewers to start doing this in January. But from my understanding about my location (New York ) and zone 7B I planned to start winter sowing in February due to our unpredictable winter weather. It was warm two weeks ago, now it’s snowing and freezing this week. Even our last frost date changes every year, so I know if I sowed indoors I can’t start hardening my fragile plants outside in April. We had frost and snow a few times during that month. So a rule of thumb is to starting direct sowing or hardening plants after Mother’s Day. The content creators need to let new gardeners know that it’s not in stone to start in January winter sowing depending on where they live. Most of these RUclipsrs live in the South or Southwest. 🙄
@@vetgirl71so true. They still need careful observation.
East side of the foundation of your house is perfect. Morning sun, afternoon shade. They will warm up in the mornings and thaw and then freeze at night. Stratification success.
Recommend switching to scissors to cut the milk jug after making the initial cut with a box knife. Also instead of a drill, could use a large nail with a hammer to make the drainage holes.
Or heat the nail and melt the plastic 😁
Had some success with this last year. It was my first year and made some mistakes and also an animal knocked over some of my containers that I didn’t secure enough.
I am back at it this year after some lessons leaned. I counted 81 milk jugs and nine 10 x 20 trays worth of seeds. I buried them a little in our raised beds so they don’t get knocked over.
Hopefully I will have at least 1,000 plants to plant or give away in a couple of months.
That's fantastic - it's a nice little winter project and allows the seeds to wake up naturally - all of the plants shown in this video are now thriving every summer!
This is one of the best winter sowing process videos. Thanks and happy gardening!🎉
So nice of you, thanks! Happy gardening
Excellent. More detail than any other I've seen. Thanks
Great thorough video! Love that you have footage from throughout the seasons so that we can see the progress of the plants!!
Thank you so much! This is so useful! I hate my sterile lawn right now and am excited to plant natives and transform!
Awesome! Share a video!!
This video is absolutely awesome! Thank you so very much😊
I did my first batch of purple coneflower over winter! Looks amazing
👀👀 greetings from zone 5 (Toronto) Great video with straight to the point clear step by step direction ! I'm saving this for my future reference
Great tip laying pot on its side to lay roots in!
Great video. Really great to see more native plants being planted. I highly recommend goldenrod (showy goldenrod is a well-behaved garden plant) and pearly everlasting. They're both pollinator powerhouses in our yard. By the way, the reason that partridge pea bloomed the first year is because it only lives for one year ;) It's an annual, but it self-seeds easily.
Thank you for this great video, and thank you for the showy goldenrod plug. I'm trying both winter sowing and native gardening for the first time this year and picked showy goldenrod after my research, still not certain about agressiveness. So, I'm glad I picked the right goldenrod.
Very helpful video! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Ah, that nice winter beard! 👍Haha when you came "running" with the wheelbarrow it looked like the ending of a Benny Hill episode 😄It looks awesome already, and it must be great for the peppers and tomatoes etc you are grown with the addition of more pollinators! Hope there'll be a follow up next year so we can "witness the growingpower of this fully flowering and operational meadow!" 🤓
Gave this a go today 😁 thanks for the tip 🌺🌼🌱🤗
You are Z6a I’m in 5a and last year it was too warm and raining in January and even warmer this year minus a subzero week.
My concern is many failed last year and believe they sprouted too soon in artificial environment and we then turned cold longer than the jug cold protect. I’m thinking we will need to wait closer to do a ‘spring sowing’ as we normally should be in 20s and through the middle of February we will still be 40s-50s.
Cold weather plants can be quite resilient if they have a good rooting like poppies in fall.
Edit:
😂😂I commented too soon. You said what I was thinking!
Place them in a shady area!! I did have them in full sun last year! Still concerned though as it is Way warmer than last year. I will give it a go! Thank you!!
Yup, I waited a while into January before planting in 2023. It's all about that overnight temperature! Ideal to plant during the coldest point
@@geekygreenhouse that’s just it and this weather is just too warm and I know it will turn cold again. This isn’t normal WI weather. Temps heated up since Halloween, cooled a bit in January with one subzero week and about face again to so warm that some nights didn’t get down to freezing. After rain this Thursday we will cool down starting Saturday forward and hope it behaves.
Really want WS to work for many reasons, but don’t want to waste seeds.
One Huge reason is fungus gnats in potting soil and nothing gets rid of them. I need to sterilize the soil for indoor plantings-never use to have to do that.
I have searched to try to confirm my suspicions of what went wrong last year and you are the only one that has confirmed it-Thank You!
One of the main failures of winter sowing is to leave all the plants to open them up at the same time. You would never do this with seedlings in propegators - each plant and variety grows at a different rate. So many sown plants are left in too long and get really stressed or even start to die off. Close monitoring once germinated is necessary regardless of all the RUclipsrs suggesting it’s sow and forget for months on end.
Great comment!
Will that liquid fence deter ground hogs? Man those things don't quit
When can you transplant to pots?
I would wait til second leaves have sprouted.
So do I do this when the package says sow in late fall? Such as self heal seeds
Yes, if it says to plant in fall then it's a good candidate for winter sowing
@@geekygreenhouse I guess I am just getting confused between the words fall and winter.2 different seasons
What did you do to prepare the area? I’m thinking cut the grass very low & then putting tarp for a month.
We had a deep-rooted grass (zoysia), so we had to remove the top layer to get the roots out. Shallow rooted grasses are easier, your method should work.
I planted my seeds in jugs now almost 2 weeks ago and I noticed now for the last few days that lots of mine are molding........what can I do to save the seeds........usually the ground inside molds and usually there are 4 kinds of seeds in each jug.......and only 1-2 varieties have sprouted and around the base of those seedlings is a little white cloud of mold............what should I do........help please ???
Is it warm there? Open your jugs if they’re getting too warm, move to shaded area. I would start transplanting to small pots if I were you.
I need squirrel repellant. :(
in my experience, the surest way to squirrel proof is creating a chicken wire cage.
I buy large quantities of cayenne powder and spread it around my veggies and Hastas. They do not like it. I used it in bird seed too. It doesn’t hurt the birds but will make the squirrels uncomfortable and sneeze!
Also, cats and rat traps work great 🤷♀️
Excellent as always