It's true a lot of people sow tender items a bit later. It's also true that seeds won't germinate until the climate conditions are right. Your worst case scenario is that if some of your tender stuff sprouts during an early warm spell, you will have to cart the containers to some place warmer to wait out the cold snap.

I find both peace of mind and education from looking at Tom Clothier's germination database. The entry below for tomatoes tells me, generally, that tomatoes will sprout in 7 to 14 days at a temperature of 73 degrees. Therefore, I wouldn't sow them until just before I anticipated having that kind of weather. Lycopersicon esculentum , tomato , L. lycopersicum ,Type= an , , sow @ 73ºF , 7-14d

I keep in mind the database is geared for greenhouse professionals who are trying to mimic Mother Nature, but it still gives me a roadmap to go by. For perennials that require cold stratification, I look to see if there are going to be enough cold days left in the season to meet germination requirements.

Maybe this will help you, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tom Clothier's germination database

Well I am in NJ too and anytime after 2/8 seems good to me for winter sowing. Suggest when they come up give them some protection on nights at 32 or below. I just move mine to a unheated garage/hay trailer. Then back out to the outside world.

Ok, thanks. I think I saw one 'trying' just now... might be a gob of something in the soil too... urgh, this is so nerve wracking for a first timer!

Well, just after I WS's last week, we had torrential rains, then a few days of clear, then that horrible storm this past weekend... so, in an effort to keep them from getting washed away, I ended up getting two little cheapy plastic green houses... I have the flats stacked in there, zip closed in the evenings, but open all day.

Was that a bad choice? I don't have an unheated area to move them in freezing/bad weather (no garage, etc).

seedmama, thanks, I'd happened across that site last year, I think someone here posted it for me... but the lack of ease of finding the common names kept me from really going through it... thank you for the quick id.

I could go back to my packs and see the germination suggestions, I guess I just didn't know if WS'ing negated the common 'rules'.

speaking of which, ok, now I thought that the point of WS'ing was to allow all seeds a stratifcation session, including warmer/tender plants like toms & peppers... if I sowed my toms when the weather was optimal, wouldn't that just be sowing instead of WS'ing?

just trying to get my head around this... this is only the second year I've ever gardened anything.. I am a rank rank rank beginner.

Buck1173,
"sowing vs. winter sowing" I'd could really step in my own business if I tried to provide an all-knowing exlanation. Here's the bottom line: By using jugs and planting mix and setting the jugs out early you are providing the "Ready, Set". When the climate conditions are right, Mother Nature provides the "Go". Don't let the germination database distract you from how really SIMPLE winter sowing is.

If you plant the seeds, they will sprout. :)

My Mother winter sowed one thing. Tomatoes, seeds she saved every year from her best tomato plants. Sun dried them and saved until late fall early winter. She had an old wash tub filled with sand, garden soil and A little manure from the old pile by the barn, all mixed together. This old tub was leande up against an old oak tree on the north west side of the house where it didn't get much direct sunlight
This she would work up and scatter couple hundred seeds and cover them with more sand and forget them. This was in the hills of north west arkansas which I think is still zone 5. Anyhow come spring they would come up and if it was going to be really cold they might get a couple of burlap bags tossed ovwer them, however mostly they survived on their own, And she always had plants for ourselves and to give away also.This was my first experience with winter sowing and I didn't even realize it until I seen This web site. This was over 60 + years ago and this was the way most people did those kind of things.
Just reminising over days gone by.
So no I don't think you messed up. Mothernature seeds in fall and plants come up in spring and frost doesnt really bother them if done natures way. and as some one said you can always cover them up and it doesn't take anything really heavy. jim

'I ended up getting two little cheapy plastic green houses... I have the flats stacked in there, zip closed in the evenings, but open all day
'

Think that may cause you a problem. It gets too hot inside the green houses.
ML

really?!? thank you so much for the warning!!! I really got them just to protect the flats from the horrendous rains we had, as I have no garage or shed or safe retreat (tried a tarp too, but it was really almost a hurricane here)... but I have them zipped up at night,... oh gosh, I'm messing up everyway possible!!!

so, being that the maters haven't sprouted yet (though 50% of everything else is...) I'll leave them out 24/7, then when they do sprout (touch wood) I'll put them in only in freezing overnight conditions, in lieu of a shed/garage?

oh my, I'm so nervous!!! thanks for any advice...