Newbie confused on which veggies can be WS.

15 years ago

The bible (wintersown.org) says these can be WS:

Allium family (onions, shallots, garlic, chives)

Artichokes (zone seven and warmer)

Beans

Beets

Brassica family (cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards, etc)

Carrots

Celery

Celeriac

Chards

Corn (select an "early" type as it can germinate at lower temps)

Curcubit family (cukes, squash, pumpkins, melons, gourds)

Herbs (edible and ornamental)

Leafy Greens

Lettuces

Nightshade family (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes - from real seeds....not "seed potatoes" ;-)

Oriental veggies (any)

Parsnip

Peas

Radishes

Spinach

But lots of people here have said to direct sow root veggies? And what about lettuces? I'm confused! TIA.

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Comments (5)

ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
15 years ago
Lettuce for sure can be ws'n.
My lettuce is already coming up. [see now I'm an expert. lol]

As for the rest, I'll let more veteran vegie WS'ers chime in.
booberry85
15 years ago
I had great luck with brassicas and lettuce last year. I winter sowed oregano, parsley and marjoram too. They did well too.

As well as the above, this year I'm going to try spinach & Swiss chard. I'm getting to a late start this year.
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Since I am trying to decide which vegetables I am going to winter sow, I read over this thread. I have had some experience with winter sown, indoor grown and store bought tomatoes. I have a small garden of raised beds, due to a lot of shade from neighboring trees, so I can only grow a few tomato plants. I did try them winter sown and they did great. Germinated, and were hardier and healthier, stockier. However, they did develop fruit later than I'd ever had them. So I switched back to store bought tomato plants. Which seems to work out better for me for just a few plants. I have done indoor grown tomato seedlings and those did the best for me, because I could put out really large size tomato plants and had earlier and therefore bigger yields for my tomatoes. The only trouble with that is that it was a LOT of work. [g] So I'm not going back to doing that. I've decided this year, I'm going to try winter sowing tomatoes again. However, I plan on using season extenders to try to help them out. I may even experiment with a store bought organic tomato plant from my favorite nursery and use season extending for that too and compare. I have used Wall of Waters in the past and it really made a difference in speeding up growth. I may think of trying something more than that if I have the time, like a small poly tunnel or some such. I would really like to increase my tomato yields. As for other veggies to winter sow, I think I am going to spring sow pepper plants, cukes, zucchini, basil and beans and winter sow onions and the brassica family, dill and parsley. Peas tend to rot if you leave them wet too long, so I'm going to direct sow those in early March. Would love to hear anyone else's strategies with growing veggies and herbs.
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highalttransplant
15 years ago
Editornj, you can WS root veggies, but many of us just choose not to. For me, since carrots DS so well, I can skip the transplanting step which saves me time and energy. It's just a personal choice.

If you do WS root veggies, just transplant them early, so they won't grow crooked.

The only thing on your list that I don't WS are the peppers, and that is because in my zone 5, they wouldn't have time to bear fruit before the first frost. Wait, I take that back, I usually direct sow the cucubit family too, just because they germinate so quickly, but I won't do that until late April or early May. I've already sown my lettuces, spinach, and quite a few herbs. I still need to sow some cauliflower and broccoli, and maybe some Swiss chard, and then it's on to the tomatoes.

I hope I haven't confused you more, LOL!

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lblack61
15 years ago
Here's my two cents:
Allium family (onions, shallots, garlic, chives)
Onions and Chives have WSed well for me. Haven't sown the others before.

Beans-- I have WSed them, but kinda debate which is easier for me, to direct sow or WS. But they WS great.

Beets -- Definitely.

Brassica family -Spinach, Kale, Collards WS like crazy for me. Broccoli worked for me last year (but I lack the knowledge of how to grow it. Didn't get a decent enough head on it, perhaps due to very wet summer.

Carrots--I will probably always WS these. It's easier for me to separate the seedlings and plunk them in at a particular distance from each other than it is for me to seed and then thin out. They WS great for me and I can pull up carrots even in the dead of winter. I am a BIG FAN of WSing root veggies

Celery- haven't yet, but am doing this year

Corn- I only did an ornamental type, which did WS well.

Curcubit family-I have WSed them, but I personally prefer sowing indoors or direct sowing. Only because I have a hard time putting a small container of seed outdoors and having it survive.

Herbs-- this is probably your most variable category. It depends on the herb as to how it will WS for you. For me, it's down to timing (whether I put the seeds out in winter or in spring).

Leafy Greens-excellent. Lettuces,Spinach, Chard, Bok Choy...they do fantastic and are often the first things to sprout for me.

Nightshade family (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes - from real seeds....not "seed potatoes" ;-) No experience with potatoes, but eggplant and peppers I sow indoors because our season isn't long enough here. My tomatoes, however are outside right now. They WS great.

Parsnip- as a root veggie it probably would do well.

Rutabegas are in that family and they did very well for me last year.

Peas- These I direct sow...it's easier for me.

Radishes- They WS very well

Spinach- Most definintely WS's well.

Linda
pulldownclaw
15 years ago
I'm a little confused too, but thanks for clearing it up a little Linda. I always heard that root crops didn't transplant well, but maybe that only pertains to them being started indoors, not WS. I am still building some raised beds for my carrots and beets, so maybe I'll try WS some of those. My real quandry is about tomatoes and peppers. It seems that I've read that if you WS them they are a lot smaller than store bought when you transplant, but they quickly catch up? Or is it best to try to start some indoors and get them a little bigger with more of a head start? I'm in zone 7 if it helps.

Newbie confused on which veggies can be WS.

Comments (5)

ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a

booberry85

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