I usual direct sow radishes since they come up so fast. Never tried carrots, but I wonder if moving the root would make for some funny looking carrots. I've had great success with green beans, butternut squash, pumpkins, and cantalope. I've ws'd broccoli and cauliflower, but never got the timing right for much of a crop - I think I get them in the ground too late. I've never done onions, spinach or lima beans. I think direct sowing beans is as successful as winter sowing them, but the pumpkins and cantalope are definitely helped by the head start. I still do tomatoes and peppers inside, other people have success with winter sowing them, but I haven't. Good luck with your garden.

Haven't tried everything on you list but most should do fine. Carrots don't typically transplant well and beans normally are direct sown, but you won't know if you don't try. For peppers I've not had any good luck with bells, most others ws fine. You don't say why your not doing lettuce but they are one of the easiest of both veggies and flowers to winter sow.
Doing any herbs?

Good luck

hello
I have not WS vegies before, but we always have some tomatoes that fall and rot and some plants come up from them. but the volentier plants produce fruit almost a month later than the plants I start inside. I just don't like to wait that long for fresh juisy tomatoes, (sigh) I miss them sooo much.
we have also had gourds and pumpkins come up by them selfs so I know they can take the cold and sprout when they are ready.

sorry I don't know about the rest
let us know what happens
michelle

Rich,

I am doing lettuces but I'm going to direct sow it in the raised bed. :)
Not sure yet about herbs.
I forgot to put brussel sprouts on the list too.

I like to winter sow lettuce because it sprouts so early.

I took the day off today and am winter sowing two different kinds of parsley.

bakemom you took the day off and winter sowed 2 things, you animal you. Hopefully there were many containers of each :)

Yeah, really bakemom - ONLY two? With a whole day off? LOL!

Hengal, I've done onions, spinach, tomatoes and peppers from your list. They've all done very well. I have tried green beans several times, but no luck. So I sow green beans in late May now, using the containers, etc. I don't like to direct sow. I must have complete control! Only kidding... kind of, lol! I do direct sow later plantings of beans.

I am going to try WSing radishes and carrots this year though, so we'll see how that goes.

When do you direct sow your lettuce? I always WS mine and love how early it sprouts.

:)
Dee

I've had a lot of success winter sowing veggies. Tomatoes, peppers, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce all have done very well for me. Things like pumpkins, melons, and squash I plant much later since they come up so quickly once temps get a bit warm outdoors. Also, if they are planted now, there tend to be a lot of rotten seeds. Corn winter sows well also, but it is a pain to transplant, and I had a lot of broken stalks last year so I'll just direct sow or use undividual cell packs rather than a 2 liter or gallon jug.

Newbie here. Uhm . . . isn't it too early to start veggies for zone 6? Thought I read we should wait until late Feb or March.

This is my first year wintersowing. Call me a chicken but I'm waiting until March 1 to sow my veggies. :) I only have peppers and several kinds of tomatoes.

Nanmol,

Everybody does it a little different, but many folks DO wait until March, or even April, for things like peppers, tomatoes, canteloupe, beans, and pumpkins. Those are warm season veggies, and are not frost tolerant. There are many cool season veggies that are safe to WS now though - spinach, chard, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, and cabbage.

As a matter of fact, I just sowed three kinds of lettuce today!

Happy sowing,
Bonnie

nanmol, I just took a quick look at my records from last year, and I sowed all my lettuces, spinach, onions, and the majority of my herbs in February. Beets, cukes, eggplants, peas, peppers and tomatoes were done in March.

I don't follow a fast and hard schedule. I pretty much open my seed box each day and think, "What do I feel like sowing today?". However, I do usually wait until March to sow most of my veggies.

:)
Dee

Of what you've posted I've WSed:
radishes
carrots
tomatoes
spinach

I did all of these last year, toms and spinach I've WSed for the past three years.
--Carrots performed like gangbusters, even though I didn't transplant them properly (I HOS them, had tons of seedlings, so my carrots were formed every kind of way...but they are as sweet as anything. Still pulling them out the ground as needed to use).

--Radishes do great, I just had to get them in the ground sooner, as they are cool weather plants. Would have helped if I'd sown another batch in the shade in the spring or summer too, in order to have some later in the season.

-- Eggplant and peppers I did indoors. I was nervous about all the talk about Eggplant needing a longer season.

--Any kind of green leafy veggie (Mustard, Collard, Kale, Lettuces, Radicchio) seem to LOVE WSing! They are usually the first thing to sprout. I harvested Lettuce as early as the last week of May one year (but it was an exceptionally warm spring then, too). And I was told, once you start harvesting lettuce, it's time to sow more. So I usually direct sow the next batch.

I'm expanding my list of root veggies this year, since the carrots and radishes did so well. Salsify, Rutabega, and Beets.
Also, I'm probably going to WS Acorn Squash and that other one that's big and beige. It'll be my first time doing them.

String beans, I direct sowed, because they were an afterthought, but I'll probably WS them this year.
Peas, I also direct sow, for no reason other than I'm more comfortable with it (gives me an excuse to dig in the dirt early).

Linda

Stupid question on onions: I read somewhere that it takes a couple YEARS to get onions? Is that right? I'm specifically interested in a sweet onion or a vidalia. Thanks!

Never used the ws process for growing onions but I know (not from experience) that you can sow them indoors early for the same season. As for this year if ya just want to grow some get onion sets or plants and put them in early April.

Haven't heard of the 2-3 year wait period though.

Mmqchdygg, last year was my first time to try onions from seed. I managed to kill off my WS sprouts, and ended up direct sowing in May. These were 'Sweet Spanish Yellow Utah Jumbo'. The packet said 130 DTM, but when I dug them up in September the bulbs were very small, not much bigger than scallions. I've been trying to decide if I should try to WS them again, or maybe direct sow in early April. Maybe I need to try an onion with a shorter DTM, but technically from May to Sept. would have been 130 days, so I'm not sure why they didn't form a decent bulb.

I guess I'm just as confused as you are about onions.

Bonnie

I have Ws'd broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce and spinach, pumpkin, squash, gourd seed long before this forum even started, works great.
Carrots, radishes, beans, peas, onion seed and beets I direct sow.
Maters, eggplants and peppers are sown inside here for my short growing season.

Hi rich & Bonnie- Thanks for your responses. I think what I was reading was that there WAS that huge DTM, which (for my zone) may have made it useless for me to do from seed, and then- I dunno, maybe I'm just confused- but it seemed like it would be one season to get something even smallish that could be planted to MAKE the bigger ones...like the first season you'd get something the size of a ping-pong ball, and the next season you'd plant THAT and get regular-sized onions from it.
BUT...that having been said, maybe (for my zone), they need to be started indoors to get the full "temperature" thing going on earlier than we'd get with WSing here.
I dunno...?????????????

Most onion varieties begin to form a bulb, when the temperature and hours of daylight reach certain levels.

Long daylight onions (summer onions) begin to form a bulb, when there is 14-16 hours of daylight. So unless you are at the Equator, it's hard to grow large bulbs from seed. They include Sweet Spanish Onions and Walla Walla onions.

Short day onions (winter onions) will begin to bulb when there is 12 - 14 hours of daylight hours. Short day bulbs include Yellow Granex, Texas Grano and Red Burgundy.

The main reason onions don't produce large bulbs is because they don't get enough daylight hours for long enough a time. they are biennials so you can wait for a second go round of the planet if you want. I don't have that kind of patience. I buy my bulbs as sets. That way they get enough light to produce big bulbs.

Another reason why onions may not bulb is because they don't get enough bulb food, but most of you guys are experienced gardeners and your gardens are fertile. I doubt that would be a problem.

Hope that helps!

Yes, thank you! So what I did wrong was plant the wrong kind of seed for my zone. I will look for a short day variety this time. I'm not ready to give up trying to grow them from seed yet though.

Bonnie

Same here. Guess I'll have to resort to store-bought for the sweeties. Thanks so much for that!

Mary NO NO NO not store bought, you can get sweet sets (onion bulbs) and or plants from any veggie catalog that can be direct sown in the ground in your zone in just a few weeks. Mine aren't quite as big as the store bought but the better taste makes up for the size. Give it a try.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now THAT is what I need! I gotta get dirt after work tonight, so I'll check out their onion offerings, too. Thanks, and oopsie on misunderstanding that part!

When planting from sets, make sure the larger sets are planted for scallions. Larger bulbs will likely flower the year you plant them because they were kept for a longer season. Any bulb that's large enough to cover a dime is too big to be grown full size.

Small bulbs can be grown full size. A reputable company will have small bulbs in the majority. :)

In my gardening routine, the first warm day of winter, I put my sets in the ground. This year, that day was some time in February. It's not too late now though. I'll get a picture of my onion plot and post it.

{{gwi:344919}}

I bought onion sets to set out this year too, but the garden is still so sopping wet - more rain today, that I'm afraid they'll drown right now. As soon as its dry enough I want to get my ws greens in the ground too. Thanks for everyone's help!

Okay, so today I was at Wal-mart, and the only onion seeds they had were the same long-day ones I got last year, but they did have bags of onion sets for $1.54. Since I can't order onion seeds online for that price (once you pay shipping), I broke down and bought a bag.

So why do I feel like I'm cheating?

Bonnie

Hey, Y'all
I have successfully WS the following:
Beets
Broccoli
Chard
Peppers, Bell
Peppers, Chile
Tomatoes

Also have direct sown in Winter:
Beets
Carrots
Lettuces, many varieties
Mesclun mix
Peas, Shelling
Peas, Sugar Snap
Radishes

Best Wishes for a good harvest!

"So why do I feel like I'm cheating?"

I don't know Bonnie. Are there rules?

I guess not, Clumsy. It's just that since I discovered WSing, I feel like I have to grow everything from seed. When I give in to a 6 pack of lovely, blooming annuals this summer, I will feel guilty about that too, but I'm sure it will happen at least once : )

Bonnie

"Long daylight onions (summer onions) begin to form a bulb, when there is 14-16 hours of daylight. So unless you are at the Equator, it's hard to grow large bulbs from seed."

Clumsy, I agree with most of your onion post, however, I am not sure regarding the point that I copied above. I am a definite newby when it comes to onions, but I believe that the Northern latitudes should use "Long-Day" onions because the daylight hours are much longer in the North during the summer. Walla walla, I believe, is a Washington State product which would qualify as a Northern latitude. I could be wrong, and if I am, please let me know. I have a link that tells the daylight hours by latitude for each month of the year. Pretty cool to look at even if you have no interest in onions.

Thanks,

Lyle

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunlight hours by latitude

Walla Walla is definitely a Washington State product, specifically from Walla Walla, Washington, hehe. But that's Eastern Washington that has more extreme seasons than Western Washington.

I've just got to say that I love this thread. I am exited to try WSing next year since my first year trying to start seeds indoors was a flop and I'm too cheap and space limited to grow under lights. Since I only grow fruits and veggies, it's good to know I can WS most of what I plant! Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

Woo hoo, another first time veggie wintersower...me too! I've had flower beds for several years, am new to wintersowing this season, and am really looking forwards to seeing all of my babies come up. So far of my wintersown plants I only have lettuce coming up here in PA.

I have some of the same kinds of seeds as you...radishes, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, and peppers. I'm not wintersowing my carrots because it says on the packet of seeds, "Do not transplant, as crooked roots may result." I got my radish seeds in a trade so don't know what the packet of them would say if I'd have a packet. Ha. I'm kind of guessing that maybe they'd advise against transplanting any root crop like those two, red beets, and such, but that's just a guess.

I've wintersown some tomatoes and peppers and have also started some inside. I didn't want to take the chance of not having any to plant come May and wasn't ready to take the plunge until I see that mine will come up outside in the containers. The ones I have inside are just starting to get their first regular set of leaves. If my wintersown plants also come up, I might just have enough to give the whole neighborhood! lol

I love lima beans and also wanted to plant them but darn they hurt my fingers to pod them. They are one of my favorite veggies though. I actually don't know if I'll have any room left anyway after I get everything planted that I plan on planting in my new garden. I can't extend it any further because I already have it so that the mower will barely be to get through. :-O

Walla Walla Washington... *headsmack*

Well, that's a no-brainer, why didn't I think of that?

I mostly sow vegies

Lettuce
Peppers
Tomatoes most of my winter sowing jugs
Egg plant

Direct sow
Onions
Cucumbers
Radishes
Beans
Peas
Spinash
Swiss Chard
Turnips
Beets
Squash , and have winter sowed these too

Still winter sowing my tomato seeds here. Still ordering seed varieties and they get top priority for my milk jugs.
Trying to grow about 100 plants for a friend too. This will be a interesting tomato season here.

ML