IMO egg cartons are too small and too shallow. I prefer gallon milk jugs over anything else. I always shoot for at least 3" of potting mix. Anything small and shallow will dry out too fast.

If you haven't found them yet be sure to see the FAQs and Trudi's site, wintersown.org.

Welcome aboard! Also, consider saving seeds from your own plants and any others that you might have "access" to ;-)

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ's

Last year was my first year WSing, and I spent many pleasurable hours in the fall researching plants, making lists of what I wanted to grow, and thinking about where to put plants and gardens. I would look through plant databases and google images to see what the plants looked like. Then I perused seed sites and put together seed orders. I was also collecting containers regularly and washing them out through Nov-December. Placed the first seed orders before Christmas (so they could be Xmas presents to myself!). This year I'm going to buy some extra potting soil in the fall and store it in the basement, because sometimes it's hard to find in the middle of the winter.

There's tons you can do to get ready for winter sowing. It was fun! I started the actual sowing during the first week of January.

As for the egg carton, I wouldn't use them because they are too shallow, but maybe for tiny seedlings you plan to plant out very early? Parsley is a biennial and occasionally mine come back the next year and go to flower, but most of the time even mature parsley clumps die over the winter here. But I'm in a much colder zone.

WElcome! You might want to go to the exchange forums and look for SASE headings. That's a real cheap way to get a good start.

this is my first year too. i have bought seeds, did decent research on plants, also bought compost/soil mix, started collecting and cleaning containers. still no patience, then i sowed sweet peas and snapdragon. atleast something to see everyday as how is it going :)

Welcome! Get some sort of database going to organize your seeds. You will have so many your head will spin. Most of all have fun. I was amazed this spring when all the sprouts popped up. It was so much fun....All my neighbors and friends thought no way will it work. Now they are saving containers! You will think you have plenty of containers and than come febuary you will run out... Save save save. Barb

Oh almost forgot - I also browsed through the FAQ and back pages of the winter-sowing forum and read lots of different threads. There is lots of info and some great pics - although this will probably make you even more anxious to get going! :)

Read, read, read, and read some more. Then shoot me an email for a newbie seek pack.

What to do while waiting:
1. Buy your soiless mix. You can make you own, or buy miracle-gro, promix, etc. But, as mentioned above, you may not be able to find it in February!

2. Start prepping your containers: put in the drainage holes (nice big ones), throw away the screw cap, cut off part of drink containers to be the lid, etc. Research all the different ways we do them--there's more than 1 way to prep a mik jug!

3. Make your labels. Pencil or _paint pen_ on old cut-up window blinds. Other methods do have failures. (Black sharpie usually lasts, but not for some folks). My first year wintersowing, I put off planting a LOT of stuff because I needed to go look up more info about color, height, bloom time, water needs, annual/perennial, etc.. Now I put all that on the window-blind label. That takes time, although it's really useful come spring. So, start that now!

I like looking plants up in Plantfiles, because it has all that info on one spot, plus people's personal experiences. I google with the plant name, plus the word "zone" or "plantfiles."

In summary, the advice above is great: Research, prepare potting mix, prepare containers, prepare labels, prepare your planting out plan. You should also prepare your beds, or like many of the rest of us, you'll be complaining there just isn't enough space or time to plant out all the seedlings you're going to get with WS. Well, that will probably happen anyway, but get a head start anyway!

And sign up for the catalog at tmseeds.com . Print copies are due out soon. If you wait until spring, you may have to do all your looking online. Thompson & Morgan is the "parent" company that gets rid of some of its old/overstock/whatever seeds at valueseeds.com

like many of the rest of us, you'll be complaining there just isn't enough space or time to plant out all the seedlings you're going to get with WS

Ain't that the truth! I still have about 50 WS perennial seedlings in small pots - waiting to be planted out. That's down from 75 in the past couple weeks. ;) The results of my WSing were much bigger than my garden beds, and I am constantly digging new beds and using lasagne or sheet composting!

Can you believe I already have a seed list for 2009 that fills one whole notebook page? Watch out Editor, you don't know what you're getting into!! Hehe

Oh the obsession is building in me, and it's scary! :) Thanks for all the responses. Happy sowing!