My favorite tool is a bendable straw, that I cut on an angle at the short end, and bend up at the long end. This is my "seed scoop" and prevents me from over sowing.

My other favorite tool is a pair of scissors that my husband got for me from the hardware store. They cut through anything!

And then of course, there's this place! I couldn't do it without my puter and the forum!

Well I'm a newbie but I have over a hundred containers out so far. I am loving my little awl, and my embossing heat gun. I use it to vacuum seal plastic as lids for anything and then poke my vents.

Very cool Nancy Drew! Since I started winter sowing I have always sowed the whole pack of commercial seeds or bazillions of my own (like I can plant all of those!). Just this year I have been trying to hold back on sowing waaaayyyyy too many and saving some for trade. I love your idea, thank you for sharing it.

Floodthelast GO YOU on your hundred plus containers- ya know ya got about 4185 to go, right? Hee Hee, I think my first year I was around 300 or maybe 350 when I stopped sowing. It was absolutely WONDERFUL!!! Dear Husband went looking for an awl for me this morning when I couldn't poke holes in heavy duty coffee containers and I said "wait, Floodthelast uses an awl." It sure works! I would never have thought of a heat gun- that is way cool! It's very good to share our methods, I have tweaked my mode of winter sowing every year as I hear what other people do. Thanks and happy sowing!

My favorite tool is my wood burning pen. Pops right thru the bottom of those jugs. Although it is smelly.

Also like to have beer and music!

My "can't live without tool" is the retractable carpet knife. I like my soldering iron for containers I can't stab holes in. But more than that, I like my Zephyr vent hood for sucking out the fumes when I use it. I also like the candle I light when cutting open milk jugs from the recycling center. It seems to minimize the nasty smell.

Beverage and music sound like something wonderful to add when the tikes are older. Occasionally, when the sun, moon and stars are in alighment I can coordinate school, carpool and naps so I can sow while listening to yet another missed episode of Grey's Anatomy on the computer.

I also use an awl to poke holes in the bottom of containers for drainage. It is my favorite tool. It is very quick. I know I have a soldering iron somewhere and may try it when the weather is warmer and can use it outside.

A box cutter is used to make a hole to start cutting with my favorite new tool, last year, a Black & Decker electric scissors. So easy to cut any plastic. I use it to prep containers and to cut away top half of container when it is time to plant out, unless I plan to keep the container for another year.

For music I turn on a radio to an alternative rock station. Have to sing along, you know?

Aside from the giant tub, Scoop Away buckets for water, and an old thermos cup with a handle to scoop soil, I'd have to say that NONE of this would get done if it weren't for the baseboard heater (electric) that DH installed in my craft room.
Since he bannished me to the other side of the basement where it's colder (where he built me the 14x14 room), I simply wouldn't do it if I had to do it in a cold space.

...forgot to mention that it would be a total mess if I didn't have access to ream-paper boxes, which conveniently hold 6 milk jugs, and which stack OH SO NICELY in the basement so the jugs are kept nice & tidy instead of in a heap.

Ahh.... music! For me it would have to be this one....

Here is a link that might be useful: Pickin' Wildflowers

My smaller wheel barrow which wheels so effortlessly right into my diningroom! LOL Music, Sweet tea, a Sandalwood candle burning and 5-6 hours of uninterrupted quiet before kids get home from school! :)

~Wendy

hmmm...that's quite the visual, sassy.
I'm picturing that scene in Stephen King's "Twilight Zone" where he turned into Grass Man...

A wheelbarrow in the dining room. This will quieten hubs right down when he mentions potting mix in the kitchen! Thanks!

LOL you're quite welcome seedmama! :D May not look pretty but darn if it isn't a handy lil setup in the warmth and comfort of my house! hehe (I do roll it back outside to add more dirt and perlite, etc... I'm not THAT adventurous!)

:) Wendy

Soldering iron, foil tape, duct tape, pen, kitchen scissors, Top Chef on Bravo and a little chay chay.

Discovered my DH's soldering iron works great for poking the drainage holes. So I've claimed that for the season anyways. I always do that part in the garage because of the smell, top of the freezer makes a great work surface for me out there.
Otherwise, I've started covering the dining room table with an old bed sheet, sure makes cleaning up go faster.
Then there's always my journal, garden marker, box cutter, good scissors, recycled mini blinds and pencil.

Thrift store trays, cookie sheets, etc. For next to nothing I can avoid all the "The water's DRIPPING on the counter/floor/etc" comments while I sow away in the kitchen.Handy for carrying them outside to the WSing shelves too.

And those electric sissors. Found they will even cut through Arizona Ice tea clear jugs with a little patience.Zip around a milk jug in a flash.

Nancy

My smaller wheel barrow which wheels so effortlessly right into my diningroom!

Okay, I didn't see that coming, and it really gave me a good laugh. Thank you, I needed it!

I like my eletric knife, it cuts through things rather nicely.
I also have used my wood burning tool to make holes in the jugs and stuff, yes it smells bad but goes quickly too.

:) Fran

I forgot to mention my five gallon bucket. I put a bag of soil in there at a time and use that for sowing. That way I can sit in front of the tv and watch top chef. I usually put some cardboard under it and have a box full of my supplies too.
I love the thought of the wheelbarrow but I think my house is too small and congested to get one in. Maybe my son's wagon would work. Of course then he would be pulling soil all over the house. I'll just use the bucket. Oh and for mom's out there, I do cover my bucket with a big plastic bag over the top when I'm not using it. The bag tucks under the bucket and my toddler can't lift the bucket so it stays safe and covered.

Last year ws my first WS year and I lived in AZ, so I could do it all outside.. I have to admit I cringed at the posts about sowing in the kitchen etc. I admit I really did not understand the whole indoor reasoning, being that it was 50 outside in my yard.

Then I moved to TX this year.... Holy Moly is it cold outside!! needless to say, I was looking back at old posts about how to sow in the kitchen LOL
Payback for all the thoughts I had last year :)

The tricks I learned last year from all the wonderful people on this forum made it all so much easier and fun. I love my saudering iron, learned that it does smell indoors, love the idea of the candle, will have to add that one.
My other favorite tools are my kitty litter buckets. Great for holding soil and tools. Plus they have a lid so kids, cats, and dogs stay out of them no matter where they are.
I did learn this year that kittens are really a pain in the rear when sowing seeds. I had big towels on the floor to catch water and soil but they were intent on sticking little paws in each container I had open and ready for seeds, and thought pulling the towels around was great fun.
Will be interesting to see what seeds landed where when they start showing up!

Thanks for all the helpful advice, especially those of you in the cold areas ;)

My trusty ice pick and duct tape that I use to write the names of what I WS on the containers with a black sharpie. I've never had it fade as others have, and my containers go on my deck which faces south and west.

Alberta

This is the first time using those styro cups... I found that my favorite tool is the little jobby that is for draining cans of veggies or tuna. It tamps down the soil just perfectly and makes soaking the soil much easier. I've always just used my hands and lost lots of potting mix to rinsing my hands every time I did them myself.

As for the party theme in my kitchen, I add a little diet pepsi and a lot of country!

glo