Congratulations on your sprouts altho technically they weren't wintersown since they're in a raised bed as opposed to containers. I'm sure others will post with plenty of suggestions but for now, they should be fine unless the raised bed is in full sun. If it is, they could fry under the visqueen (which I assume is clear plastic) when the sun is on them. Can you pull the plastic off during the day and re-cover them at end of day?

As for transplanting them, they should have their first or second set of "true" leaves before being moved to another bed or a container. The first leaves you see are cotyledon leaves; the next leaves are the first "true" leaves and will resemble the adult plant's leaf form.

This is a lupine sprout. The leaves at the base of the stem are cotyledon leaves and the sprout is just sending out its second "true" leaf.
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Good luck with all your sprouts!

Got to disagree a bit - you did wintersow, just in a VERY big container.

With temps going into the 20's, you should just leave the sprouts alone for now. Don't remove the plastic; you could punch some more holes in it if daytime temps and full sun are worrying; you could probably mist the plastic and let the water seep through the holes to add some moisture to the bed.

Four inches above the soil may seem like a lot right now, but as those seedlings grow, that space will disappear in no time. Is there some way that you can raise the height of the visqueen, should it be needed? Did you label the areas where you planted the various seeds, so you know what's what?

Once they get their second or third set of true leaves, you could hunk them out and put them where you want them, or even into separate containers to allow some more growth.

As long as you are careful of heat and water, you and your seedlings should be just fine.

Next year, try separate containers - even if you stick them into your raised bed.

Congrats on your sprouts!

PV

Thanks for the suggestions.

The bed is in full sun, as I intend it to be a vegetable garden this summer.

I put the empty seed packets in ziploc and placed them under the visqueen so I'll know what I have. I can tent up the visqueen if I need to.

The idea of uncovering them in the heat of the day and covering them back up at night sounds like a good one.

Last week it approached 70. Next week it will dip down in the 20's. What do wintersowers do to avoid frying or freezing their seedlings? Do you just move the containers around? What temperatures will kill the seedlings? Most of the seed packets that I've seen say to start the seeds outdoors when there is no danger of frost. That isn't for 5 or 6 weeks here.

I use milk jugs. They stay closed until there are lots of sprouts.
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After germination I open them and leave them that way unless we get a frost, in which case I flip the lid closed again.
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Karen

According to posts on this forum:

Q: What do wintersowers do to avoid frying or freezing their seedlings?

A: To avoid frying, add more ventilation holes to covers + open containers during the heat of the day to allow hot air to escape. Close containers at end of day to protect seedlings from nighttime cold.

Q: Do you just move the containers around?

A: My containers are in mostly shade and stay where they are until time to plant out or pot up. I haven't lost a seedling or sprout to temperature/weather extremes.

Q: What temperatures will kill the seedlings?

A: Seeds normally sprout when the soil moisture, temperature and amount of daylight trigger their genetic code that the time is right. Once they sprout, most are tough enough to survive temperature extremes inside their containers. I haven't lost a sprout to freezing temperatures so far, including tomato sprouts, when temps dipped as low as 21 at night.

Most of the seed packets that I've seen say to start the seeds outdoors when there is no danger of frost.

Seeds can't read. As a result, with winter sowing, we mostly ignore what the seed packet instructions say because they're not written with winter sowing in mind.

How nifty that you used your raised bed as a big container! Double duty for that bed. :)

Most of my containers are on the back (East) side of the house, so they only get morning sun. This prevents overheating for those. Other containers are along the south side of the house - those are the tender heat lovers (tomatoes, basil, annuals). Those are sown later, and are set right up against the foundation, so it doesn't frost there. I don't bother covering them and they can get as warm as they like, as I won't plant those out until a threat of frost is past.

Once your weather warms up, I like the idea of removing your cover during the day, and covering back up at night IF it's going to frost. Even the most tender plants will be okay at night if it doesn't frost - I would cover if they predict the 30s, just to be safe.

PS Us gardeners "murder" little seedlings all the time, LOL. Once you get large established gardens, you can have so much reseeding that goes on, that you HAVE to weed some of them out.

From what I understand you are wintersowing if you are sowing seeds while it's still winter! ;)

Your set up sounds a lot like the concept behind a cold frame. You can wintersow with cold frames too, as a matter of fact on Trudi's website she talks about how she planted an entire kiddie pool - that's basically the same concept of a cold frame or raised bed, she just used a pool instead of what we'd normally think of for those functions. The only major difference is with a traditional cold frame you are shooting for a few weeks before your regular planting out/sowing date, while with wintersowing the concept is being able to put your seeds out in the earliest days of winter. I think the containers are more of a convenience, they are easy to move around and control the conditions inside. But I'm sure you will be able to make your raised bed work. This year will just be a learning experience for what you like and what you don't, what works for you and what doesn't.

Once I have sprouts I don't really worry about them much more than I did before I had sprouts. Just keep them moist as you did with the seeds. As the weather warms up consistently I increase air circulation by either opening vent holes or if we get one of those very warm odd days where it's 65 one day and then 40 the next I might even open the lids for that day so they don't overcook (remembering it's warmer in your little conatiners than it is outside). Other than that I don't really mess with them. If you've sown reseeders or perennials your sprouts should be able to tolerate cold dips in temperature. We are just mimicking what mother nature does naturally...reseeders and perennials would drop to the ground and experience all the fluxuations of winter, only to sprout and grow in the spring. We just speed it up a little by putting them in containers to create slightly warmer conditions to get them to sprout earlier.

I wait until Feb/March for Hardy annuals and won't start my tenders until mid April...once those sprout I will blanket them if it goes below 35, but those day are far fewer that late in the spring in my area, so I only anticipate doing that a small handful of times.

My fears have been allayed. Thank you all.