Thank you Veggieluv, we luv you too! Yes, the 'Winter Sowing Method' is not winter sowing a field in October with a green manure to turn under in April, or a winter rye, etc, to be cut for crop or fodder the next Spring. When you google Winter Sowing, the first hundred hits are dominated by the method, the ancient agricultural practice is going further and further behind the main pages. A few years back I went down to Beltsville seeking guidance and they very kindly and patiently gave it to me, as well taught me how to manage and grow my website. And it is that scholarly guidance which is why the method dominates over the ancient farming practice when you search the internet for 'Winter Sowing'. If you recheck the FAQs you'll see that the first one there is "How to Winter Sow", I think that is what you are referring to as what you want to read again. The FAQs were needed because there was a LOT of explaining because as you say, it is counter-intuitve, and it is also counter-cultural; many people believe that you need those heat mats and light set-ups to begin any sort of seed, and among the more experienced there were arguements that Deno's set of numbers had to be followed exactly. So, God bless Beltsville as they were the first authority who didn't start their convo with "No. You're crazy." I did good, so did they. We have a work-in-progress Database, there are veggies and herbs listed. I repeat it is a work in progress and it was created by the forum, my hands were not involved in its creation, but do to the need to house it in a reliable url, it is now at WinterSown.Org. Last week I finished the "cleaning and dusting", reframed it into a nicer grid, and uploaded the DB. The DB is in plain-text, you don't need Excel or Word or any database reading program, you can just click on the links and there it is. Keep in mind that not seeing a plant there doesn't mean that it can't be WS, and seeing a "NO" there also doesn't mean that it can't be WS--this is because there hasn't yet been enough years of entry to reliably prove and disprove particular plants. The DB is a suggestion and guide, but it is not the know-all, end-all, do-all, be-all for what seeds you can sow with the method. I am very glad that VeggieLuv mentioned tomatoes and peppers, initially most people think that you can't WS them. Consider the plants that reseed in your garden--we've all heard the legendary tales about toms germinating in cracks in sidewalks and growing to be the healthiest plants anyone has ever seen. Toms do reseed in a temperate climate because they're from a temperate climate, peppers and eggplants and all solanums can reseed. It does make sense that it you live in zone five or colder, that you choose a short season tom and not a 110 dtm type because you may be bringing in green fruits to ripen on the counter. Short season gardens need short season varieties. Give it a try, if you're unsure of the method then hold back some seeds to sow by whatever means you want, then at the end of the season compare the vigor, health, flowers or crops of what you sow. Your eyes are your teachers. Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing Database

I sowed 12 containers, but the ones I sowed with significance were: Faith - Callicarpa americana - I've had a hard time germinating this Remembrance - 20 Sunflower "Elf" seeds, for the lost children in the Newtown, CT massacre Mother Nature - Cornus stolonifera, for the crone in winter Life - Monarda, Panorama Red, for the bees, and maybe hummingbirds? Hope you all had a wonderful day - in addition to solstice sowing, mine included candles, spiritual readings, Trans Siberian orchestra, dance, and the first stitches on an embroidered tablecloth for my daughter. Oh, and a posy of rosemary, sage, and holly for my hair. It doesn't get any better than that.

I hadn't intended to actually sow on the solstice, but now that I've read this thread, I will definitely sow 4 containers. The solstice has always been celebrated in my culture, though I admit I have not been the best at carrying out those traditions since I became a mother. Life - Canterbury Bells - In the town I grew up in, the local church always rang the church bells when a wedding happened or when a baby was born in town. Bells symbolize the beginning of life to me. Mother Nature - Siberian Iris - I threw all my Siberian Iris and Blue Flag seed pods in one bag all mixed together. This will be the opportunity to see what survives! Remembrance - Moonbeam Coreopsis - This original plant came from my grandmothers house. She has since died and the house has been sold - so saving seed has been the only way I can get more of my grandmothers gardens. Faith - Luminaria - aka Money Plant. Though my family has not suffered through this multi-year recession, it has taught us that money is not as important to survival as once thought. You need to have faith in your own abilities. By growing luminaria, we will always have plenty of money!

Betty, I've had good luck wintersowing lavender seeds into a container on the sunporch (actually, back when it was only a screened-in porch and stayed colder). I surfaced sowed them into a good soil-less growing medium in early winter, misted them, and then covered the clay pot they were in with Saran Wrap until they germinated. They germinated erratically but a lot of them did germinate. They are teeny-tiny when they germinate and it takes them a while to grow to a decent size. Trees4ok, Winter sowing is a simple method of sowing seeds in covered containers (often milk jugs are modified and used) outdoors in the winter time. It provides a way of sowing seeds that is simple, relatively trouble-free (I sometimes have trouble with wild varmints getting into my containers in winter...apparently thinking there might be something there to eat...but I am in a very rural area with lots of wildlife) and doesn't take up space indoors. The seeds will sprout when the conditions are right for them. Although you can use winter sowing with almost any seed in most climates, you have to be careful about the timing of your plantings in a climate like ours where the weather swings erratically from pretty cold to pretty hot in the winter (with hot being relative). You don't want for seeds of annuals to sprout too early and later freeze in a bitter cold spell. Winter sowing is particularly helpful with any varieties of biennial, perennial, vine, shrub, tree, etc. that has very exacting cold stratification needs. Instead of sowing seed into a seedling flat that then has to go into a refrigerator for several weeks to meet a variety's need for moist, cold stratification to induce germination, you just winter-sow it outdoors, and when the specific variety's stratification needs have been met, the seeds will sprout. Because they've been raised out in the actual temperatures, the young seedlings are very cold-hardy,although even wintersown seedlings may freeze in bitterly-cold weather. (Sometimes they don't freeze, sometimes they do.) You can learn in great detail about wintersowing at wintersown.org or at the Winter Sowing forum here at GW, which I've linked below. I generally only use it for seeds of perennial vines, perennials, biennials, shrubs or trees, and occasionally for herbs. I generally sow vegetable seeds inside on a heated light shelf in a spare room so I can have them at the age and size I want by transplanting time. The way I handle annual flower seeds varies. Sometimes I just direct sow them in the ground in fall, winter or spring, and sometimes I start them inside in flats. My zone 7b location stays warm enough in winter that I can broadcast sow seeds of cool-season annuals like poppies and larkspur in January on bare soil and they'll sprout and be in bloom by March or April at the latest. I even sow some wildflower seeds on bare ground in November and they germinate in winter or spring as appropriate for them, so I don't bother wintersowing them in containers either. There's no reason for me to go to the trouble of winter-sowing those and transplanting them into the ground later in a normal winter. In an extra-wet winter, it can pay to wintersow them if the clay soil stays incredibly wet which could cause the seeds or very young seedlings to rot. I rarely wintersow annuals, but that's just because I have other ways to sow them in containers.....on the sunporch, in the greenhouse, etc. For people who have been frustrated by how hard it can be to get some biennial and perennial seeds to sprout indoors under lights, wintersowing is the obvious answer. Often, these types of seeds don't germinate well indoors because they need alternating warm/cold conditions and sometimes alternating light/dark conditions to induce germination. Wintersow seeds outdoors get the varying daylenth, periods of dark and light, and periods of alternating warmth and cold that those types of seeds need. So, why winter sow them in containers instead of indirectly into the ground? Because you can maintain control. Once seeds are in the ground, rain can wash them away, wind can blow them away if they are the type that need to be sown on the soil surface, uncovered, because they need light to germinate, insects and birds can eat the seeds, etc. If they are seeds that have a long stratification period, often they fail to germinate before they're eaten or otherwise carried off. When you have them in containers, they are "safe" from harm. There are a few things I'd never, ever winter-sow, including tomatoes and peppers in our climate. While folks in some climates with a milder summer can do it, you may find that they germinate too late here if wintersown, and then are too small to make good growth and set fruit well before the heat arrives. With peppers, it is even more complicated because they do not tolerate being cold (but above freezing) as well as tomato plants do. Often if pepper plants have prolonged exposure to low-but-above-freezing temperatures, they'll survive and you won't see any outward signs of damage, but they'll be very slow to make good growth, to flower and to set fruit. Hope this explanation helps. I'll come back in a couple of days and post a list of what I've winter-sown. Until I drag out the seed box and containers, I'm never 100% positive what I am going to winter sow. I've linked the FAQ page from the winter sowing forum for you. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ Page From Winter Sowing Forum