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Newbie's Sprout Report

16 years ago

I've become a convert, and thanks to all of you, a more sane wannabe gardener during the winter months. Here is my report so far:

Cleome planted 2/10 sprouted 3/27 (two sprouts only so far)

Evening Primrose 2/3 - 29/3

Nicotiana 2/11 - 3/22

Anise Hyssop 2/20 - 3/12

Salvia, unknown 2/17 - 3/9

Sweet Pea 2/6 - 3/9

Crego Aster 2/23 - 3/12

Saponaria 1/3 - 2/28

Pinks 2/10 - 2/27

Pansy 2/9 - 3/9

Verbena Bonaeriensis 2/20 - 3/16

Cannes Larkspur 3/2 - 3/26

Sweet William 12/21 - 2/9

Bachelor Buttons 1/13 - 2/13

Poppy, Mixed 1/13 - 2/13

Honesty Plant 2/8 - 3/10

Lupin Tutti Frutti 2/18 - 2/29

Zinnia Peter Pan Mix 3/2 - 3/18

Cosmos, Unknown 3/2 - 3/15

Stock 3/8 - 3/18

Canterbury Bells 3/10 - 4/1

Tickseed 12/21 - 3/13

Zinnia, Lilliput 3/20 - 4/2

African Daisy 3/23 - 4/2

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Comments (7)

vera_eastern_wa
16 years ago
Holy guacamole!! Your's doing very well I'd say LOL!

What have your temps been like over there? We had such a below average March and finally warming up today forward. I normally get a large % of germination in March. HA! Not this year!

Vera
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shemeows
Original Author
16 years ago
I'm pleased as all get out :) As a newbie, I had serious doubts, but I can say with confidence that if I can do it, anyone can do it!

Cold and very rainy March, but so far this week, days have been cold-ish but so very sunny, it's finally feeling like spring. I'm Watching KREM weather report now and it seems like the clouds and colder air are moving back in our area.
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Most of the seedlings found homes since I basically gave them away to anyone who drove up and agreed to adopt them. meadows - no photos of planting days because my hands were busy getting the sprouts out of the jugs and either planting them or potting them up to give away/grow on. I tried hard not to panic but with close to 500 milk jugs that looked like the ones above, it was not easy to stay calm. gardenunusual - I just copied the sprout chart from wintersown.org and saved it on my laptop, then tweaked it to add germination rates + first bloom dates. It's specific to the seeds I sowed and doesn't include a broader number of seed types as a result since I deleted the rows describing seed types I wasn't growing. Check out the one on wintersown.org and if you still want to have a look-see at mine, let me know. mechele211 - I know a great many butterfly bush seedlings were potted up and given away. Others were planted here and there. I'm guessing I'll be in for a few surprises this year when they start coming up in places I forgot I planted them!!! Same with foxgloves--who knew such tiny seeds would germinate at like 150% and grow nice healthy plants? One of them even bloomed first year from seed! If you winter sow your seeds and follow the instructions and guidelines provided by so many who've had success before you, there should be lots of green sprouts in many thousands of containers all around the country this year.
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No, this year I sowed straight into 1 gallon drinking water jugs. I did something a little untraditional with my jugs with the tomatoes tho. Normally the cap is tossed out, but I took the cap and made a cross cut into it. I pushed my finger thru to widen it up some and then punched in 2 smaller holes near the top of the jug on each side with a large screw. The rest is the same....the window as you see in the pic below and the ziplock over top. I guess it just makes me feel better cause I doubt it really matters LOL!! Either way if they sprout early again their coming in on those below 30 nights! Last year I sowed into 4 celled pony packs that were inserted into gal. size zip-lock freezer bags. I used a hole punch to add vents and drainage holes :D A pic from last year....one of the Tom's is in this tray Oh yes! I forgot about the ones I had in this little homemade contraption LOL! Vera
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Yep, I'm still climbing the curve and likely will be for a long time, judging by your comment. I'm actually a much better photographer ( amateur ) than what the photos I posted allude to. There's only one good photo I ever posted to this GW Site. The most of them are just 'pictures' to convey visual support for my verbage. This dang digital camera is nice, but ... really has some serious limitations when it comes to getting artistic. I have a Minolta XE-7 SLR that I use when I want to do some art. And additionally, I use Photoshop 7.0 to manipulate what I 'scan' in from negatives. The digital camera allows me to skip the negative development, but there is very little control over exposure, depth of field and no interchangable lenses. The digital only give one the ability to get instant photos, kinda like the polaroids did back in their hey day. The best one can do is frame the shot and hope the internal electronics handles the light well enough to get a decent pic. I seriously need to get something better like an EOS. But thanks for you comments. Good News! I just affirmed germination and sprouting of an Anthurium Crenatum ... something new has started to grow!
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Transplanting?? Bah humbug... I'm trying not to be too much of a whiner but just let me say that 'life' is interfering with gardening in a big way around here lately. Also, I have the next 2 days off with big plans to get my winter sown treasures into their new homes. As luck would have it - it is raining tonight and rain is in the forecast from now through the weekend. Here's a couple of pics that show how my planting out is going... :( (and that's only part of it...) Susan (feeling like a gardening scrooge)
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kqcrna
16 years ago
Congratulations!

Our weather has been cold, wet, and gray. I'm starting to forget what sunshine is. Except for very few, I haven't even sown tender things yet. Even if the temps get to the 50s but it's cloudy and breezy, not much warmth is generated in those jugs without sun.

Finally our forecast includes some warm days and nights and actual sun, less rain. I'm thinking of starting some zinnias, cosmos, etc, this weekend.

Karen
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stage_rat
16 years ago
That's quite a list of sprouts! I never thought that Idaho would have zone 6, being continental, North, and partially mountainous. That's neat. Where in Idaho do you live? (you don't have to be really specific if you dont' want to!) I need to go check some zone maps!
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agirlsgirl
16 years ago
Wow! Congrats! :D
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norabelle
16 years ago
Hi there,

I, too, am a newbie and convert to winter sowing. We have had snow, snow, and more snow this year, but not as much as the southern and far northern parts of the state. Near the western shores of Lake Winnebago, I couldn't believe it when I went out last week and found:

Delphinium sown 2/29 sprout 3/28
Mexican Red Hat sown 3/5 sprout 3/28
Purple Prairie Clover sown 3/5 sprout 3/28

As of today, 4/4, I found:

Columbine, Achillea, Mystic Merlin Mallow all sown 3/20
Autumn Beauty Sunflowers sown 3/14
Balloon Flower and mixed Oriental poppies sown 3/5
Yellow Prairie Cone Flower, Thick-Spiked Gayfeather, Peaches n' Dreams Holly Hocks, and Lupine sown 2/29
Red Yarrow sown 2/25
More Mexican Red Hats and Purple Prairie clover sown 2/10

Now comes the next phase for me, which is knowing when it's time to go topless. I was prepared to start poking and making more holes, but from the other posts, I like the idea of just whipping the tops off and letting them all hang out. :)

Good to hear from other newbies and experienced winter sowers alike. This is such an amazing and fun way to add to our love of gardening. There is nothing like playing in the dirt!

cheers,
Nora Belle
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shemeows
Original Author
16 years ago
I'm in Lewiston, a stone's throw from the WA eastern border. Luckily, it's in a valley, so we don't get nearly as cold as say, towns 30 miles away up in the high prairie.

The gloomy weather is back today. I knew three days of sunshine in a row were just not going to last.
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