I agree with Ken, in principle. However, the longer the seeds sit out on the ground, the more chance they have of being eaten or washed away or forgotten and mulched over and dug into. I'd try to wait until at least late fall. Though, if you have plenty of seed, planting them now might allow some to germinate immediately and put down enough roots to have a head start next spring. I'm not being very helpful, am I? There's probably no absolutely correct answer. Martha

I do most of mine in late March/early April too, especially if they are new to me or tender annuals. Zinnias go out even later. If you know that some reseed in your gardens or are 'hardy/half-hardy' as Northspruce states, put those out earlier. Such things as Bachelor Buttons can take a mean frost - even an ice storm! A couple of years ago we had an uncovered container of BB sprouts which got hidden under 2 inches of ice pellets and came through. I have large heavy plastic containers which I used to cover things up if there's a mean frost on the way. Sometimes I forget to place it on, and most times things have done fine.

Hi Scarlet: If you go to the mother site, you will see several threads on winter-sowing tomatoes in Zone 5, and see it just can't be done (if you want to have ripe tomatoes during the summer). A friend in the US and I had trials with all sorts of things. My best trial was using an old cooler lined with styrofoam and covered with a glass lid. Germination was not until late April, some early May, some not at all, and then growth was very slow. My first fruit were ripe on August 18, so I did not really have a good harvest from them. So I will continue to do my under the lights thing for tomatoes and peppers. One friend of mine who is a real gardener (runs a nursery) had success by digging a great big whole about 4 feet deep. It was lined with grass clippings for bottom heat and the containers were placed on top of that. He used an old glass window as a covering. But I don't have the time or energy for that. Hi Marric: I do remember sending you the holly hock seeds, but I can't imagine why you don't have green leaves. Do they have rust? This is always a problem here and I treat the plants with a handful of cornmeal around the crowns about twice a year and that works wonderfully.Do you have a pic. so I could see the leaves. I sent you all the seeds I had, but I am growing the ones pictured above which are from seeds from the Experimental Farm here in Ottawa. They are blooming well, but one thing I don't like about HH's is that they bloom from the bottom up, and it's really difficult to get a pic. of the plant in full bloom. (It's kinda silly, but I noticed it since I got my digital camera and started taking pics. I just want everything to be perfect LOL). I sow my petunias in April - sometimes early but this last year about April 20. It took about 10 days for germination. Petunias were one of my first WS trials. I had always collected seed, even before I started sowing from seed, and I had them lying around so I tried them and they succeeded. But this year was the first year I got into them because I saw this field of 'huge' petunias going to seed at Upper Canada Village. It was Labour Day weekend, so I scavenged as many seeds as I could. They were amazing - strong healthy plants and such variety: lilacs, pale pinks, blues, whites, and a veined variety in blue and deep pink. It was so exciting each day to see what would appear. I never thought petunias could be so exciting to grow. I have now saved seeds, and tried to separate them. They will be in my deck pots next year. Northerner.

I maybe be a little early. But I had so much fun with it last year. Please post a message here in this forum. Can you also email me at : purplehorse33@hotmail.com put - 2nd Annual "Letfover Winter Sowing" RR in subject line. Please include the following. Please put about 15 seeds or more per packet. Put your GardenWeb name on the seed packets. Include the name of the plant both common and latin if you know both. Send in a padded envelope. Includes the same amount of postage that you put on the outside envelope for me to send your seeds back. And a return address lable. I will post to this forum when I receive your packets of seeds in the mail. I will take packets until [said] Feb. 1 or let me know what you think is a good time. It's still getting into the 80's here. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me. mkruby7