Oh! Is this a group of Winter Sowers Anonymous?? In that case...

Hi, my real name is Nicole and I have been winter sowing since 2001/2002. My addiction is so serious that every year I sow about 300 containers and despite the fact that I always say I will sow less, I always sow more and more. This year I am at about 150 so far and still have March to go which is THE winter sowing month for me.

Although my family has been most tolerant, I can see their eyes rolling when, for example, 1/2 the kitchen table is full of seeds and I cringe at the thought of moving them to make space for a guest who has come to dinner. The pain involved in having to do this is truly incredible.

I live in winters that can go from -25C to +10C in 24 hours. Our starts to summers are cool and foggy since we live close to the Atlantic Ocean, but the nice warmth of summer lasts until the end of October.

That's my story - what's your's??

Hi, my real name is Janina and this is my first ever year of Wintersowing. I live in a single family home in an ordinary neighborhood, with my Mom, sister, brother. My mother has a cockatiel named Felix. I own a Jack Russell Terror -Terrier- named Sammy and a Ball python named Belleza (pronounced, Bell-Zah) I like annuals because I have no patience...

I've sowed a lot of containers but quit counting them because I figured it just didn't matter how many I sowed any more. It's not like I have a goal or limit or something...

My favorite flower is cosmos. My favorite veggie is sugar snap peas. I garden for bees, birds and butterflies.

My winter is fickle. We get little snow. A big snow comes maybe once every 3 winters. Temperatures range from the single digits to 60 degrees. Most of our precipitation comes in the form of rain, sleet, and ice.

Springs are short, wet, windy and generally schizophrenic, with few pleasant days and many cold snaps before leaping feet first into Summer around late May. Spring temps are around 40-80 degrees.

Summers are long, hot, rainless, and humid lasting until September. Temperatures will range from 70 to 100 but generally stay in the 80s.

My favorite season, Fall, is glorious with clear, humidity free days and lots of color. It's prime roadtrip time. Temps stay in the 70s to 80s.

Late Fall is a season in itself because the humidity returns a bit but the sun's intensity wanes. Mid October to Mid November, I plant all my trees then because of the weekly long cool gentle rains that ease back into winter. Temps from 60 to 80, but mostly low seventies.

Hi
My real name is Alberta, LOL, and I've been winter sowing since 2001. Each year I realize I over do it, this year, I really did slow down, as I'm really out of space in my yard, then.....along came Drippy's huge seed exchange and I WS many new varieties that came in the swap. I love trying new things, and today will be hopefully time to start my annuals. I do still do a few things inside under lights, I don't think I'll ever stop doing that, cause I really enjoy it.
Welcome to all the newbies, I'm looking foreward to all their posts about seeing sprouts soon.
Alberta

Hi my name is Angie,ws newbie, and I live in SW PA,we have insane weather changes here. After the cold of the winter we have a nice chilly, rainy, early spring,then late spring the rain slows down and we are on to warmer weather,our summers can also be erratic,some hot days and some mild,we usually dont get the real heat until July/August.Fall is also my favorite time,the color change in the leaves are something I look foward to every year.
Right now,we are all white outside,it is starting to melt,but I am hoping it sticks around a bit longer,in no way am I ready for spring yet!I still have annuals to sow!
I also am growing under lights for the first time this year,so I have lots of new projects that I never had before and I am loving every second of it!:D
I hang around this forum more than any other,I never leave this forum with anything but a smile on my face,if it isnt some funny thing bakemom said,it is the awesome way everyone supports eachother here!I have come to care about all of you,and would like to thank you for really brightening every cloudy day that comes my way!

Nope no need to send the troops in just yet here...lol...although I have gone completely crazy with ws'ing,I dont think I have gone off the deep end YET! :)

Hi, I'm Laura. I live on the east side of Greater Cincinnati. I currently have 103 containers out and I have 10 or 15 more waiting for a little warmer temps. I have mostly full sun conditions.

Cincinnati weather is schizophrenic. Some winters are relatively warm, others are very cold and snowy. This year has been the latter. It starts to warm up in March, although we often get some volitile weather in spring and run the gamut of 2" of ice to 75 degree temps during March and April. By late May and early June we can see temps in the upper 80's. July and August are oppressive with heat and high humidity. September and October are gorgeous months with low humidity and warm sunny days.

Our house came with very little in the way of landscaping so I should have a place for 80% of what I've WS. This Christmas DH gave me a copy of The Essential Garden Design Workbook by Rosemary Alexander. It took me step by step through the entire process of putting together a plan of our property. I'm working now on placing shrubs and trees. Next will come plant placement...my most favorite and least favorite part of gardening! While I love to plan; making choices is hard for me! I want to have a little patch of every plant that appeals to me. And, as my gardening experience grows so does my hunger for new and different plants/varieties.

I love cottage and Mediterranean gardens. Most of the plants I've WS are ones I've never seen in person. I can't wait to see how it goes this year. WS is so great! I've been able to plant out so many things I never thought I'd ever be able to afford from a nursery! I'm hoping to have lots of nepeta, baby blue eyes, cosmos, zinnias, salvia, agastache, echinacea, BES, alyssum, and poppies, poppies and more poppies! The list is as long as my arm. I'll post pics of what works this spring and summer.

I usually spend the first part of every year pining away for warmer weather; dog-earing the pages of every gardening related catalog I get my hands on. But this has been my best winter ever because I was able to do some real gardening! I feel so lucky to have found the wintersowing forum. Everyone is so welcoming and nice. And there's always someone to lend a hand with an odd question. What a great bunch of folks!

I read this forum everyday and scour old posts too for info too. I've seen a lot of posts about how overwhelming it can be once all those containers need to be planted. When I told my mother about it, she volunteered a week's vacation time to help. She's having gardening withdrawl since she moved into a condo. What a trooper! You bet I took her up on that offer!

Hello, my name is Wendy, and I'm a wintersower.
It's a twelve step program.
1. Collect your own seed.
2. Trade your seed with others.
3. Buy seeds that you really really want.
4. Annoy your relatives and friends by asking for their bottles.
5. Prep your bottles.
6. Sow your bottles and put them outside.
7. Keep doing that all winter, and spring.
8. Dance with excitement when you see sprouts.
9. Run around the garden like a madwoman trying to get them all into the ground.

10. Prick out and pot seedlings to give to your grumpy relatives and friends.
11. Realize that "We're going to need a bigger boat!, er...bed!".
12. Sit back in July in wonder at the beauty of your garden, knowing that the madness will all start again in September.

only 58 so far, but I don't really need any more perennials..watch me get going in March.

Hello oldies and newbies! My name is Nancy and I am a second year wintersower. I live on the eastern rural end of Long Island were I am lucky to have lots of garden space but most of it was full BEFORE I discovered WSing so I've had some - um - traffic jams. Took out everyting I really didn't like last fall and added a few MORE beds so I am excited that this spring there will be a decent amount of "free dirt" to except my new babies.

I've got about 125 jugs planted, really thanks to Alberta (above). She had lots of reusable containers she was using for her WSing and didn't need the gallon water jugs she'd saved (lots)so she generously gave them to me. She lives about an hour west. Newbies - try to find a WSer nearby, it's fun and helpful! Alberta is a generous soul.

I started last year at Wendy's "step 3" and didn't realize how passionate I'd be about steps 1 and 2! Collecting and trading now feel a part of WSing for me and it is so enjoyable. Just today I was sowing seed and making a little pile of the packets and realizing that they were from all over the country. Things I'd never heard of, things I've always wanted to try. I advise newbies to plant at least a few things that put out abundant seed so that you will have trading material!

We've had a cold and gray winter here. Not a lot of snow (I'd love more)and I am feeling REALLY ready for spring to come!This forum sure does help keep my sanity. I love the comraderie, the humor, the kindness everyone shows to one another. I hope to sow about another 150 containers in the next few weeks and then more again when it's time for zinnias, dahlias, etc. I will continue my daily checks on the forum for support. Hey someone put up a big green flag when it feels like the "right time" to sow those tender annuals, OK? (smile)

Nancy

Hi everyone!

My name is Rhonda and I am a first time wintersower. My son and I started on Dec 22 and we now have 226 containers sown (mostly gallon milk jugs). Mostly perennials but some herbs, shrubs and trees. I will start my annuals as soon as it warms up a bit.

I live in Iowa (the easternmost part of the state), and our climate is pretty fickle. We have had tons of snow this year, but it hasn't really been extremely cold like it was in previous years. The summers don't really get too hot, and if they do it is usually for a short time.

My backyard is part to mostly shady and my front yard has both shade and full sun. I plan on putting in new beds in the front so I can grow plants that require full sun.

Wintersowing has really made the winter seem much shorter, as I have had something to look forward to on those cold days. I can't wait to see my first sprout! My biggest fear right now is that I have planted way too many containers and they are all going to sprout at the same time! I might need serious help come spring to get all the babies in the ground. Good thing I have 4 kids! LOL

Rhonda

Hi, I'm Phyllis - PV to most - and I don't belong to the "Mile High CLub", not even close! But a girl can dream, can't she?

PV

PV, As for as I'm concerned, you are one of the founders of the Mile High Club here!! To garden as much as you do on that balcony is truly amazing.

Yep, definitely a Mile Higher!!

I will have more than 100 by the time I'm done, because I haven't even properly started on my annuals. I've done more than 100 for each of the last four years, and it's a great way to pass the winter here in Minnesota. Somehow, the cold doesn't seem to last as long...

Conditions here are z5 if you believe the new maps, and since I've lived here, we usually have one or two nights each winter where it drops down to -20F. We've had problems with snowcover, which can be a highly determining fator in whether your plants survive the cold nights and the dessicating winds in January and early February.This year, snow cover has been consistent since December, although we haven't had too much, so the gardens should be happy this spring.

Springs here are nonexistent for all intents and purposes. The snow disappears somewhere between March 20 and April 3, and by the end of April, we'll have had at least one day in the 80's (or even 90+ a few years ago). Our springs are warm and sunny, though and our crabapples and lilacs and magnolias bloom earlier here than many other places I've lived in the Great Lakes. May is gorgeous but also tornado and storm season, so we have to keep an eye on the weather report.

We'll have about 6 weeks of weather where we have hot, humid conditions with occasional breaks from July 1- Aug 10 or thereabouts. We often get a first significant frost by Sept 15, but we're just as likely to be able to make it until late October without a hard frost. Now that i have some of the right things in my gardens, I can reliably have flowers from April Fool's Day until Thanksgiving.

I am not there yet, but very close, in the 90s...planning to do some serious WSing tomorrow, so I should be pushing well over the 100 mark tomorrow. I don't expect to do any more than 150 containers (much smaller that the first two years of 300+ and 400+), but I'm sure there are newbies and people who moved to new locations that will be true "mile-highers" this year. :-)
Of course, if I score some really great seed snatch or seed trade or seed sale, that could change EVERYTHING! :-)

Linda

Hi, I'm drippy. I forget how long I've been wintersowing - not as long as Alberta, but I'm within a year or two - I think this is my 5th or 6th year. This is a really frustrating year for me - I have 283 containers sown so far, and will maybe get another 100 or so done, and that's it. I'm used to doing around 1000, but a planned interstate move in the middle of the summer is bollixing up my annual Madwoman Plantout Race -

Sheesh, the things I do for love - DH better appreciate my giving up a whole season for this!

My second year wintersowing here. It worked so well last year that I just can't stop. I'd have to say that it put me a good five years up on perennials - no way could I afford to put in that many otherwise. And there they are! WOO HOO!

This year I'm concentrating on annuals. I don't have a lot of room left!

Our weather...well, it gets hot. And it can do it any time. We were almost 80 today. I've seen over 100 in May. Then again...it can be cold. Well...it seems changing weather is pretty universal. We just all have to roll with it.

hee!

*embarrassed standing up in front of the room, some things never change*

180 containers here. however, probably 20-30 are sown with misc rose-hip seeds and I dunno how many of them will grow or be something I actually want. Anybody ever get a decent plant from Hybrid tea roses? If they dont grow, Im out nothing but a water bottle, eh?

Anyway, its the second year in the house. The previous owners werent gardeners, they were sports people, so the backyard soil was in bad shape last year. It will be better this year. Im naming one of my beds "Wrigley Field" cuz it will have to "wait till next year".

I am sorry but I dont have a problem...I see some seeds, I buy them...no problem...I trade my seeds, no problem...I go out with the family, and cant pass a store I know has new seeds, and have to beg them to go, no problem...I come on GW five or six times a day cause I am afriad I am missing something...no problem.....I sat on the computer a whole night ordering flower catalogs to get the best deals, no problem....I run out to see if there is anything in the mail box daily ( sometimes even on a day there isnt mail)...no problem...I pass a plant that has seed, and I have to put a few in my pocket...no problem...

I dont know what all the hoopla is about...I dont have a problem....LMAO

My name is Gail, & I've been wintersowing since 01/02. We moved from a townhouse with a postage stamp yard to a 37 acre hobby farm. The part fenced around the house (from the pasture) is about 4 acres. I started trading the fall before we moved, and moved here with 300 packets of seeds. Not all of them survived due to newbie neglect :). At any rate, I'm still trading, expanding or adding beds (as well as renovating the house). This year, not counting veggies, I have 185 different flower/shrub seeds. Some of them with enough for 10 containers, some only enough for 1, so I'd say, I will definitely be up around 500 - 700 containers. (So what am I thinking then, still haunting the seed exchange sites!)

Hi! My name is Joann and this is my 4th year winter sowing. I garden for butterflies and hummingbirds and I just love being able to do gardening in the winter. I taught my garden club how to winter sow and this year I helped teach the 5th graders in my school how to do it. I also enjoy participating in the seed round robins. Winter Sowing is the greatest!
Joann

Hello, Deborah here. I said I was going to do 30 or so this year. I got a late start & started last weekend. Already 10 jugs. My packets are organized and I have 98 more seed packets to sow. I have another 200 that I've decided to hold off on until next year. I think anyways....

DH thinks I'm just doing Coleus and Petunias this year. Oh he's in for a big surprise.

YES !!! Now I can tell DH that I've joined the mile high club. ;)

Exactly 100 containers from this WS N00b! Yeh, I that hooked I may do a few more when I get the containers.

kim, zone 4b - middle of NY

This is my fifth year wintersowing. I started the first year with about 30 containers. Each year the number of containers has increased, especially after I started trading seeds here. Last year I had over 500 containers but am planning to do less this year. I passed 100 containers yesterday and am just getting started, expect to have 300 containers done by the first week of April. Then I'm off for a week's vacation and expecting some sprouts when I get back. I am cutting back this year as need to spend some time making new beds. Will likely do some summer and fall sowing also.

Bobbie

This is my 2nd year WSing in TN. WSing is what helped remove the depression of moving from sunny FL to cold winters and dreary days. I had a large butterfly garden in FL and am working on a butterfly and hummingbird garden here. I'm also trying vege gardening for the second year. Still learning all the time.

The weather changes daily it seems. They do have a saying around here...something about hanging around long enough and it will change. Yesterday we were in the low 70's with suns today rain, chilly 50's.

I've sown almost 200 and am just beginning my annuals and tomatos and other veges. I did ws some veges in ignorance in Dec & Jan but they seem to be doing well so far. A few like broccoli and peas are ready to plant out. One of the peas are actually growing out of the top hole in the 2 liter soda bottle.

I was blessed to be able to teach several homeschooling families how to winter sow and am hoping to do a little plant swap with each other.
I homeschool my two teenagers and they think I'm a little nuts, but hubby like the results he is seeing in the yard. He even brought home a large stack of plastic cake tops to put my jugs in during the spring to help with watering.

:-) Pam

Hi,My name is Annette.I live in north Ga.in the Blue Ridge mtns.I moved here 9 years ago from the big city of Atlanta.This is my 3rd year to ws.I have over 400 containers so far and plan on doing about 200 more.Our weather here has become increasingly warmer the last several years.We have usually 1 snow fall a year.It is in the 60s now,already seeing blooms here.I have alot of green sprouts but will not begin planting out until last frost date in April.I bought this house 4 yrs ago.I have a 2 story cape cod with 2 acres-my dream home for retirement.I may stay here and may move to a smaller home in a few years.I find myself wishing for more cold weather because I found the seed swap forum and joined in all the big ones.Now,I still have alot of perennials to sow and it is getting warmer.I also come here to this forum daily to see who has sowed what.lol.I love the friendliness of this forum.Between this one and the cottage garden forum and wsing,I stay pretty busy all winter.
moonphase

Am up to 316 containers now, will end up over 400 for sure....maybe 500? !! Still have tons of seed to sow, and I'm still trading !! (such foolishness)

Last year I did about 140 or so, but had lots of issues with drying out, ending up with 30-40 things that made it through the summer. So I'm obviously overcompensating this year. If these all sprout well, I may be gorilla gardening all over town.

I've got 48 things sprouting already and it's only mid-march. Looking forward to lots of these beautiful weed-choking soldiers.

--Tina

Hello all,

This is my very first year wsing. I, just tonight, completed my 101st container!! My husband thinks that I have gone crazy! He keeps on complaining about our new "garbage yard". (Thankfully we put up a privacy fence last summer!)
spartangardener has basically gone over our conditions here in MN.
Let's just say it is still cold and we are getting 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow.
I have not started on my annuals or veggies yet. I think with this weather I will wait for at least another week.

-Caarin

I'm in central ohio and this is my 3rd year wintersowing. I've been addicted from the start. so far this year I'm at just under 300 containers and will prob go over 400 once I finish veggies and annuals. I'm hoping I don't run out of containers, but it's looking like I might.

Barbi

Haven't sown 100 yet, but closing in fast. I can't drink the water and milk and soda fast enough!

Actually, last night, I poured me a nice cup of soda and just happened to finish the rest of the bottle. I washed out the bottle and sowed up some seeds quickly. I had that container outside way before I was even halfway done my drink!

Did 21 containers last night and am up to 63 for the season. (I still need to update my count on in the W/S count thread by Ron. That will give me something to do tonight, before I WS some more!)

Hi, my name is Mary (name changed to protect the innocent- bwahahahah), and I'm a WS addict.
My addiction spills over into everything, and consumes my very being December through April & beyond.

My yard "in season" is a sea of plastic milk jugs, a curiosity factor for many a visitor. My girl-scout cookie gal even commented that she "missed" them this year and wondered what was up (I started late since 98% of my stuff is annuals this year).

During the growing season, my yard becomes a graveyard of milk jugs- half empty, some completely empty and blowing around the garden spaces. Some land inconspicuously in other people's yards where they may go un-noticed until I sneak over to reclaim my escapees when no one is looking, lest I be found out.

My addiction has caused my family to hide their heads in shame when their friends come over, as they have to 'explain' why the yard is full of "recycled containers."

My DH kicked me out because of my addiction, not wanting to be seen near the atrocities. I now am relegated to a 14 x 14 space in the unheated side of the basement where I feed my addiction in seclusion.

My son shuns me, seeking shelter in other places in the house, and refusing to comment on the subject if his friends inquire.

I have to get my supplies in secret, making pacts with neighbors & other family members to take their cast-offs for the next round, which could come at any time.

I can't control it. Even after vowing to not do as many, I find that I have to do more and more. Must "Adopt-a-Spot" so I can do more. Must "help out the MIL and friends" and do more. MORE MORE MORE!!! What I subtracted in doing perennials early, I more than doubled on the other end in annuals.

I have more seeds than a person could need in 10 years, and yet I find myself visiting certain websites to add to my collection.

Crisis comes when I have more plants than I know what to do with. Certainly can't "thin" them...that would be MURDER! Too many plants? Pshaw! That's what a roto-tiller is for! Grass? Over-rated! Must make room! MORE MORE MORE!!!

Here's where I got kicked out to (new room as of Jan!) =:D

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