2. mini blinds and #2 pencil. If you have yogurt cups, you can cut them into strips too. Almost any white plastic container can be stripped.

4. I uncovered all my jugs that had sprouts in early March. I used a sheet of 6mil builder's plastic with slits cut in it to recover them all whenever the night temperatures would fall into the 30s. During the day, I just pulled the sheet of plastic aside. Works well when you have a lot of containers.

7. Planting out early is something I did. I had the most success with hardy perennials. I only planted out frost tender plants once the chance of frost was gone. I lost more than a few seedlings to the torrential rains we got too.

9. Drainage holes depends on the soil you use too. If you're not getting enough drainage, or the holes are clogging, toss some bark mulch into the bottom before you add your soil. It'll keep the holes open. I had this problem with cheap top soil purchased from Lowe's. I'm using 1/4" hardware cloth as a screen, sifting out the large chunks. They'll go into the bottom of my cheap soil containers. Add perlite to cheap soil too. It helps with drainage.

10. We call it Plunk N Run. :) You can move perennials later if they get too big. Annuals, you're really just sort of stuck with them for the year as many tend to resent being transplanted or cut back.

I had decent luck with value seeds. About the same as Thompson & Morgan, which is their parent company. Park seeds germinated well, but the seed count in the packs was usually lower than advertised. In one pack, there was supposed to be 50 echinacea seeds. I had 12. I was very disappointed in that.

Sunny,

Alot of what you wrote sounds very familiar. This is my second year to ws also, and I now have a long list of what I'm NOT going to do based on my first year's experience. You mentioned moisture control soil- unfortunately I have been unable to find prepared soil that isn't moisture control or fertilized, so this year I'm making my own mix. We'll see how that turns out.

As far as the "disorganized" garden goes, it was the same for me too. I had to get things planted out and went by sun and soil requirements- no time to worry about color or height. So some planning and organizing will be part of my "winter homework".

I have several gallon milk jugs to use, but I'm really leaning toward sowing in smaller containers like 2L bottles and half gallon jugs. I will put fewer seeds in each and sow more than one container of each variety.

I have a dedicated space for my tomato plants, but I want to stick a few veg plants here and there in the flower beds...onions, a pepper plant or two...you get the idea.

Happy sowing!

Most of those things sound familiar to me also. Look at all of the valuable lessons you learned in just 1 year of gardening. And you are more likely to remember them because you were not pleased with those things. This season you will be an expert!

Read through any of the "mistakes I'm not going to repeat" threads and there is one that shows up lots and lots: LABEL, LABEL, LABEL. Then put a second label in for insurance.

Label mistakes I and lots of other people have made:

As you said, writing that fades or washes off

Putting the label on the cover half (which is real fun after you take the first 5 or 6 tops off on the first warm day and realize you don't know which bottom they go to.

Splitting a container with between 2 or 3 types of seeds and then forgetting which one was put on which side when you remember to put the labels in.

Just plain leaving the label markers on the work (read dining room) table and seeing them right after you put the containers outside.

Labeling with a code that made so much sense when you put the labels in and the containers out and now you can't find the "key" you wrote on the back of the grocery store receipt.

Frankly just not being able to read my handwriting on the label even it doesn't fade or smear
..and other intelligent moves that I swear I won't do again.

But then we wouldn't get all those fun, "Can anyone ID these seedlings" posts.

This is how I labeled my jugs:

With pencil write the seed name on a tiny piece scrap of paper & fold in half (name should be inside the fold). Tape the folded paper to the hinge part of the milk jug while taping the jug up. The tape should completely cover the paper. I used colored memo paper which is heavier weight than regular paper - do not know if this makes a difference or not.

All milk jugs come with a date stamp on them: I used this as a sort of numbering system while sowing seeds. Example: in milk jug dated "NOV 20" I planted "columbine" on "12/21/2008". As long as I had my list in hand I could peek into my jugs to see what germinated without needed to untape anything. The stamp does fade but they were still legible in spring. Not sure if this method would work on jugs that have already been exposed to sunlight for a WS season.

-StLGirl

I label with paint pens on both the bottom and top half of the jug. It has never faded
{{gwi:367222}}

When you let a husband help, this results. He planted these in my garden in 2007, they have yet to fade.
{{gwi:455104}}

Karen

My first several jugs I made the mistake of watering from overhead after planting the seeds. I'm pretty sure I ended up with more than a couple washouts.
After reading more posts I began water the potting mix first then planting the seeds. Not always religious about the bottom watering but I've found my dish tub to be invaluable, it can hold/water four jugs at a time (I also use it to prep soil, like adding vermiculite or extra sand when needed, and to carry around my tools and amendments while planting out.

MARY

Karen, what is a paint pen and where could I get one? Love the labels your hubbie made. I got a good chuckle out of that.

Token, are you trying to say that a pencil is not going to fade out? That would be great. Obviously, I have a ton of pencils but never would have to use them. I will try that but would also like a back up.

elee, I have used the miracle grow regular soil and that worked fine but it was like $6 a bag. There is the MG that's called mostiure control. That just didn't do it. The Sta-green was $7 a bag but four times bigger. The only bad part is I can't get it until late Feb.

Kimika, I feel you on the "key". I had one last year and my problem was every time I would go see what was what I would have to bring it with me outside. Where then it would end up covered in dirt or wet so all the writing smeared. I had a list of over 130 plants that just got ruined.Thank goodness I copied everything on to and excel spreadsheet. Wish they made water proof paper.

sunny: Paint pens can be bought at craft stores like Michaels or in craft departments of places like Walmart. Mine are Deco brand. They only cost about $3 or $4. The "extra fine" tip is easiest to write on small labels.

It's paint. Once dry it won't smear or fade.

Karen

Karen, love your husbands sense of humor. I picture someone bending down to get real close and squinting to make it out, only to read "if you can read this..." What "plant" were they marking?

Sunny, I have miniblind markers from 2008 that are still visible. Pencil won't fade and they're cheap.

It reminds me of NASA's efforts to create a pen that could write in space. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Russians used a pencil.

It reminds me of NASA's efforts to create a pen that could write in space. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Russians used a pencil.

LMAO!!! Thanks for that Token.

I used the mini blinds ans pencils.I have lots of labels I saved and can reuse cause, they are still good.
Pattie

sunny631, I also use a key as I reuse my jugs. They are all numbered (with a mini-blind tag marked with paint pen with the variety of seed inside). I use pencil or waterproof ink pen in my notebook so when it gets wet the writing doesn't smear. I've used the same notebook for four years. There are a couple of dirt smears but otherwise it is still easy to read.

I use a grease pen on mini blinds. I found the grease pens in the scrapbooking section at most craft stores.

Paula

Hi everyone, I want to try the winter sowing. I liked reading this one. Will keep me from making the same mistakes. anyway hopefully, trial and error right? So I can use any kind of container? what sort of seeds? how do I take care of them, where do I set the containers. As you can see I am a newbie to this. And is it too late for winter sowing. And Sonny I do know about VA Beach and rain, Lived in Norfolk for about 12 years.I just want to get started but need to know steps in doing this. I presume in the spring these are transplanted in the yard? silly question there.
Thanks for responses and help. Mary

Mary and other newbies: Be sure to read the FAQs at the top of the WSing forum. It will explain things well. Then come back and ask questions and we will try to clarify what you don't understand. I'll give you a link.

Welcome.

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQs

Mary,
we haven't even begun. No, you're not too late. Check out the FAQ and don't be shy about your questions. Believe me, if you think you need an answer so do another dozen lurkers too shy too ask.

To quite to long,
MARY

I meant too quiet too long, serves me right for trying to communicate with the outside world. Back to my books and internet searches. Just kidding, these people will steer you right.

mary_grether ... email me if you would like seeds for postage

Barbara in Virginia

Try a Krylon Paint Pen. They cost about $5 and work great. I bought mine at Ace Hardware. No fading at all. I'm using mine for the 2nd year running.

Here is a link that might be useful: Krylon Paint Pen

Ollierose..what color of Krylon paint pen did you chose? Somehow I just imagine black would show up better or red.

Thanks for posting this information for us Newbies..by posting a pic of that paint pen, lets me know what to look for. There's a Michael's 1 mile from me..guess where I'll be going to buy mine. It's 15 miles to nearest Walmart where they'll probably be cheaper but take in consideration the cost of gas to go to Walmart..unless I'm going for something else. Some person over at Dave's Garden website posted about their experiences their first year and I found it useful information and printed it off.

Thank you all for posting these valuable tips for Newbies like myself. It will help us to avoid some pitfalls(hopefully)but I'm sure everybody's experience will be different, but it's nice to see these tips posted.

I second pippi21 in thanking all those who added their bloopers that will help newcomers avoid making the same mistakes. I'm mixing my own blend of soil since I got into the game late & couldn't get my hands on anything other than the Miracle Gro Moisture control potting mix. I'm going with 2 parts of it to start mixed with 1 part seed starter, 1 part Perlite, 1 part regular potting mix & fingers crossed. Paint pen labels and a BIG reminder to put them inside the containers before I seal them. Mostly half-gallon milk jugs, about a dozen clear 2-liter seltzer bottles (soldering iron made nice round holes in the bottoms), and about 15 1-gallon milk jugs. Sowing mostly perennial flowers this first time WSing.