A picture is worth a million words.
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You can sow them as thickly as you want, but rest assured they do sprout like weeds.

Karen

AGREED!
Right ON!
A PERFECT EXAMPLE!!
REARING TO GO!

The advice I have been given by a master plantsman is to sow as though you were peppering an egg, whether sowing in pots outdoors or in.

That's not to say I realibly follow that advice, and I do find myself thinning even winter sown pots sometimes. I use scissors and don't try to tug out individual seedlings.

How many jugs depends on the year...beds are pretty crowded now, and summer was so busy I don't think I really evaluated what could go, be improved, replaced :(

GREAT ANALOGY,
SORRY MEANT TO GET BACK FASTER BUT PROBLEM WITH PAGE RELOADING OR SOMEHTING

Micki, yes the first year you will anxiously be watching and wondering if your containers will sprout! Rest assured, they will. :) I usually sow about 100 containers or a little more.

The first year, you tend to sow a little heavy. You will probably end up with more seedlings than you know what to do with. It's hard to do at first, but I sometimes ruthlessly thin and toss seedlings there are so many.

Foxglove is easy to sow too thickly, except for the fancy expensive pelletized seed I bought from Swallowtail, that is. It never fails to amaze me how such a tiny seed turns into an enormous clump of foliage by fall, and then those gorgeous blooms the next Spring.

I did about 200 containers a year when I was selling the extra plants at my local farmers market and giving a lot away. Up until this year, I also concentrated on lots of different varieties as I worked my way through filling beds.

This year I will stay under 50 containers (not selling anymore) and do multiples of some stuff in order to plants some drifts as I've figured out what will thrive in my shady yard.

I just swear it will be under 50 sontainers this year...I promise....honest injun.

KimKa

The first year I sowed 40 containers, mostly baggies, because I didn't really trust that ws would work. Silly me!

The next few years I sowed hundreds and hundreds of jugs as wanted to get those perennials started since they take 3 years to mature and I had a mostly empty yard. Also, DS was away at college and I was home to garden full time and still had lots of energy.

Last year I sowed just a few hundred. Not much yard left without beds and those are filling quickly with many potted plants from holding beds still waiting for placement.

The first years I sowed thickly resulting in too many plants which I gave away or composted. Now in a jug, for large seed I sow 9 med/large seeds, with good germination that is still more plants than I need for some types of plants but not so many to give away. Even with not so good germination I rarely want more than 3 of a perennial. Small seed is sown lightly for the same reasons. 2L 3-5 med/large seeds or a tiny pinch of small seed.

I keep a list of the seed varieties I'm planning to WS and then estimate the # of containers/jugs of each seed type I think I'll WS. For example, I know after seeing the hummingbird more often this year I want to go heavy on Lobelia cardinalis/cardinal flower. I traded for seed to supplement what I harvested from my WS plants and have enough to WS 6-10 milk jugs. I've still got plenty of room to plant out lots more LC in a few beds so I'll go heavy with those.

Last year I WS ten jugs of blackberry lily so I don't need to do those this year. I'll only do 1-2 jugs of Verbascum/mullein because the ones I WS last year will bloom in 2012.

I've gotten very low germination from columbine the past two WS seasons and will sow those extra heavy this year. Apple & pear germinated 100% as did dogwood. I have more seeds and will WS them this year since I lost two mature dogwood trees to the October snowstorm. I'll WS as many jugs as I have turtlehead seeds. They were a hit with the bumblebees.

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I keep WS until I look at my pot ghetto and decide, "That's enough."

How many jugs to sow? My first few years I would sow until I ran out of seed and/or containers! Usually around 300.

As everyone has said, after a few years you start to run out of room, so you cut back a bit. you also begin to see that you can spring sow and summer sow, so it's harder to keep track of "how many" because as you empty a WS'd container, your filling it up again for spring/summer sowing! What an obession!

So enjoyable hearing from you all. Thank you gardenweed for sharing your pictures of the bumble bee, I love taking close up shots too.
I already have so much in my beds and don't really have much more room left. I definately want to sell some. Do you think they'l be big enough the first year?

TY
Micki