You're welcome, zahzeen. Another thing to consider is how to keep that volume of soil from becoming saturated while the seedling grows. I always plant ws seedlings right into their final pots and it's a real pain trying to keep the sprout moist without saturating the soil. I have the most problems with pepper seedlings. They just do not like wet, not even moist, soil. They like barely damp soil until they have some real size to them. It's a bit of extra work, but I prefer it to potting up all the time.

Hello, 'LivelyDirt' glad you stopped by. The bottles in the snow belong to the original poster. Maybe she will stop by and let us know what she has planted. :-) below is a link that will let you know what we are all about. We use containers as mini greenhouses and put our seeds out in the middle of winter (depending on what seeds they are)--perennials, trees etc. go out early--usually in December, then perennials, and hardy annuals. When the weather starts to change in the spring, like now, the tender annuals go out. If you go and take a look at the winterswon.org. site, it explains far better than I can. :-) I truly love this method! :-) it does the job for me. I would love a greenhouse but funds and space have prevented that from happening. I hope you enjoy your tour of the site and join in! Here is a link that might be useful: wintersowing info

Sorry...I've been MIA and just got back here and saw the postings. The point of the cover with wintersowing is to kind of create a "greenhouse" where the temps will be warmer and if you use a top (vs. milk jugs), you need holes to let a little snow/rain in, but not TOO many. Drainage holes in the bottom of the container (and/or if you use peat pots, as mentioned, and put them in another container to hold them, that needs drainage holes as well.) You would want something to hold your peat pots anyway (and not be out in the elements without cover so your peat pots dont fall part in the snow/spring rains, no? Putting the smaller containers in another larger container keeps them from getting knocked over, animals getting into them and more. As Dee mentioned, I saw that some people direct sow in their larger planters/pots and one woman put ping pong balls on the top of wooden sticks about 12" high or chopsticks to hold the plastic sheeting (I got some at Home depot, a paint tarp clear sheeting) so you can wintersow right in the container that it will grow in. I bought some styrafoam balls to put on the top of my wood sticks..have not set this up yet, but plan to use this for some herbs/annuals in Mar/April. I thought that was a great idea. I lost a couple nice ceramic pots when I didnt take them in in the winter. My fault! Lily, I would love to hear how your method works out for you. This is my first year WSing also, and I am using a variety of containers. I also had some plastic shoe boxes I didnt need any more, so put drainage holes in them and covered them with plastic sheeting held with elastics. Hope this year is a bumper crop year for everyone wintersowing! :)

I like to flip those over and use the top as the floor and the clear box part as the roof. I poke holes in the 'roof' and the 'floor' and then use it to hold smaller containers, such as margerine tubs, yogurt containers, etc.