I'm on the 5/4 border and I just sowed 5 seeds from 8 different tomato varieties just to see what happens this early. Most of these varieties are Russian with short DTM, and I'm ready for tomatoes. I wondered if being Russian meant they might have a bit better cold tolerance. One of the 8 was also Brandywine. We'll see how they go! AFter they sprout I will protect them if we get a serious nighttime cold snap, though. The one annual I know I WON'T sow early is zinnias. Even if they survive, they won't grow worth a darn until the temps are decent. No sense in trying an early start with those. Still collecting the rest of my veggie seeds, and waiting to sow the rest of my annual seeds, as well as waiting on some annuals I just ordered.

I winter-sowed mine and I can tell you that the only time I've seen self-sown seedlings was in spring...never summer or fall. That tells me that they germinate after a cold period:)

I believe dotcom this was your first post of your WS #s to the Canadian Winter Sow site. Thanks. I hope everyone is seeing great germination results from your sowing endeavours since January. If anyone wants suggestions or assistance because you didn't have results perhaps you'd want to ask questions here. Everyone has their experiences and may help problem solving. I'll keep this tally open for a couple more weeks. In case any Zone 1 to 3 people want to add more containers and for annuals sown outdoors in any Zone. Direct seed sowing is another challenge. I'm starting these today albeit a little late here. As of April 30, the Canadian Winter Sowing Container Count is Zone 1...... 49 Zone 2...... 66 Zone 3......693 Zone 4......311 Zone 5......823 Zone 6......682 Zone 7

The cold rainy springs we get in the NW tend to stall out most early starts anyway until late May, so one may as well do some W/S, and seed heat lovers inside. It's OK to plant out some strawberries and hardy perennials, and direct sow cole crops, radishes, garlic, onions, potatoes, and peas now, up to Zone 8. I seeded out some Radishes a month ago and they are starting to look like they'll be ready within a couple weeks. More seed goes in as I harvest. I neglected W/S this year, so I still want to get lots of things going, next week. I do have some of Martin's Wisc 55 Tomatoes a couple inches high already, and will need to pot them on soon. I've noticed that Marigolds started early in the warm tend to bloom sooner, but my compost tomatoes tend to catch up to anything I start indoors by the end of July anyway, so no big deal. All do better once they are established in the ground - and warm days have begun, so the ground can stay over 50 degrees F. I've begun hardening off Pepper plants that I wintered over indoors...and am eager to get them in the ground soon. Some things you can do in May/early April: turn compost, dig weeds, mow, and _harvest_ all possible Slugs, if your area is prone to them. Last year Slugs ate almost everything that I set out to harden-off. It was devastating - as I was a indoor-seeding demon last year - and gave away a lot of starts before I knew I'd lose so much to hungry Slugs. So it goes.