Hi Susan,

Welcome! Very sorry to hear of your losses... I do have "Love Lies Bleeding" seeds for you. Email your address to me and I will get them in the mail to you next week.
I don't use any tape. I cut an "oven door" on the side of milk/water jugs and it pops back into place. You can face jugs door to door to keep the flaps together if necessary.
Look at some of my photos to see some winter sowing pics. Click on my name and there is a link to the photos.
You are going to love winter sowing!

Shore

Hi Susan,

Welcome! Very sorry to hear of your losses... I do have "Love Lies Bleeding" seeds for you. Email your address to me and I will get them in the mail to you next week.
I don't use any tape. I cut an "oven door" on the side of milk/water jugs and it pops back into place. You can face jugs door to door to keep the flaps together if necessary.
Look at some of my photos to see some winter sowing pics. Click on my name and there is a link to the photos.
You are going to love winter sowing!

Shore

Hi Susan,

Welcome! Very sorry to hear of your losses... I do have "Love Lies Bleeding" seeds for you. Email your address to me and I will get them in the mail to you next week.
I don't use any tape. I cut an "oven door" on the side of milk/water jugs and it pops back into place. You can face jugs door to door to keep the flaps together if necessary.
Look at some of my photos to see some winter sowing pics. Click on my name and there is a link to the photos.
You are going to love winter sowing!

Shore

Hi Susan and welcome, you're sure to get many responses to your post. I'll try to answer question 3 with a link with some plants, there are many others that flower the first year. Good luck on your endeavors, you'll love winter sowing. It has kept many of us sane!

Here is a link that might be useful: First Year Perennials

#1- I've never used masking tape, but from other experience, I wouldn't think the adhesive would hold up in the cold.
#2- Nope- depends on if it is a reseeder or not, and/or how tender the seedling is. There are several recent threads on reseeders; if you do a search, use either the singular or plural form of the word.
#4- Nope, just as long as they are positioned to allow good drainage. I use a ginsu to make small V-shaped chunks out of the bottom edges only, but if you prefer a slice, just make sure they are positioned in strategic 'draining' spots along the bottom of the container.
#5- SOOOO the opposite!!!

...and welcome to the forum!

FYI- on #3: I've had good luck googling the term "first year flowering perennials" and gotten nice lists to choose from.

Not-a-contessa - thanks for the link! I printed out the sheet. very helpful
mmq - thanks for the info. I didn't think masking tape seemed strong enough

I'm going to warn the newbies now, zone envy is a terrible thing come late May and early June.

Some perennials that shouldn't bloom until their second year actually bloom the first year. Wintersowing can trick them into thinking they've already been through one winter, especially if you get a warm spell before a long cold period.

It must be torture...

Just don't be discouraged in the spring when zones 8/7 have blooms and you've still got tiny seedlings. Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

As for your questions, don't use masking tape. Use duct tape. Others use wire, pipe cleaners, and lots of other things to hold their containers closed. Gaps are not a problem.

The term annual refers to any plant that germinates, blooms, sets seed, and dies in one season. Some annuals are very hardy like larkspur and poppies. Others are frost tender. Think about the garden centers. When do they put their annuals out? Petunias, salvias, zinnias, etc all need to wait until the last frost is gone. In some places, even our annuals are perennials. Castor beans can live for years and become tree like where there's no frost. The easiest way to find out if something is frost tender is to google the name. Someone, somewhere will have mentioned it.

You can see that some from my link above that some perennials can be fooled and bloom the first year when they shouldn't. A google search is the best way to find others that bloom their first year.

I use slits in my jugs. I don't mess with drilling. I use a bandsaw.

I think what didn't germinate is a shorter list than what did. If it doesn't grow the first year, try again with new seeds the next. Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate seems to be one that lots of people have trouble with. I think there's someone on their 7th year of trying. We're a determined bunch.

Good luck. Hope you can find your Love Lies Bleeding. I've never grown it. I do know that other amaranthus is frost tender, so don't sow it until a week or so before your last frost date.

Welcome Whiteokian, not sure how much sanity you'll find here but primarily as a lurker I find a lot of comfort here. I'm glad you've found something to help occupy your mind. I do believe for those of us in colder zones about the only gardening that can be tended to once the ground freezes.

Got to agree with Token on the duct tape, masking tape becomes brittle with changing temps, will not be able to be reapplied and may just fall off entirely.

As for holes, what ever you feel safest with, I prefer stabbing with a knife and cutting jugs open with scissors (read as- not the good sewing scissors but the junkie sowing scissors) some people prefer drills quick and noisy and some even melt holes, smelly but some would swear by it. Just a warning, I don't think any method is without risks, there was at least one post on the injuries wintersowers sustained while developing and practicing their methods. Wish I could find the link to share, a lot of comedy/tradgedy and lessons learned in that.

MARY

Welcome to wintersowing.

1. I use duct tape
2. Sow hardy annuals and hardy perennials any time. Tender annuals (like zinnia, marigolds, cosmos) in spring
4. Make drain holes however you prefer, just be sure of plenty of drainage. Don't use screw-on cap on jugs and you don't need any other holes in top.

And token is still a showoff.

Karen

I'm not a showoff. I'm an enabler. :)

1. I used a small piece of duct tape also. Lasts until you take it off.
3. I noticed by comparing progress that the earlier you plant them out the better chance of some of them flowering the first year.
4. Drilling is less chance of losing a digit from jabbing yourself with a knife. haha

Yes Token it is torture! The envy would be ugly if you were not such a nice guy! lol

Welcome to winter sowing, whiteoakian! It will help you through the hard times. I have seeds for maroon love-lies-bleeding (winter sown) if you would like more. I also have a mix with maroon and green tassels (commercial). You mentioned your "new bare yard." I have lots of seeds to share for postage. Email me if interested.

Barbara in Virginia

Last year was my first year wintersowing and for the most part I kept my zone envy under control. People posting about their failures in May prompted a snarkey post. Zone envy crept back with all these posts about solstice sowing.

However, June and July I have 16 hours of sun. :) 7 hours and 46 minutes today if it stops snowing. :( May, June, and July I can work until 10 at night. It doesn't really get dark, we are just south of the midnight twilight zone and the sun rises and sets in the north.

Thank you all for all the support, kind words, offers and info. You are all keeping me sane! I LOVE reading these forums. You're all salt of the earth people. bless all of you.
Susan
Whiteoakian

Hi Whiteoakian - gardening brings me much solace and joy too. A few thoughts on your questions...

1) Mostly I avoid tape. Duct tape is difficult to get off; clear plastic tape works okay when container is bone dry, but is still difficult to remove; masking tape probably wouldn't stay adhered to plastic containers.

2) My best guess is that the only seeds that need to be sowed early, are seeds that require cold stratification (or warm-cold). I can't think of any annuals that require it, so there's no need to sow any earlier than the temps they would normally sprout. Some annuals are very cold hardy, like Poppies and Snapdragons, so you can sow those pretty early

4) I've tried many different ways of making holes - an awl, ice pick, drill, and soldering iron. Haven't really found any easy way yet!

5) I have a Sowing Chart - I keep records on seed germination tests, Winter sowing, & Direct sowing...this year I've already sowed 3 containers (2 trees and 1 shrub) I guess that would be fall sowing.

It is an Excel chart and looks like this. I've made a few edits since this pic. You or anyone else is welcome to a copy of blank chart -

{{gwi:455244}}

Whiteoakian,

Welcome to the WS aka healing through growing.
I'm so sorry for your loses.
You definitely came to the right place. Can't you almost feel the warmth coming through the computer?

:)Laura

Welcome and sorry for your big losses. Wow . . . wintersowing for my 2nd year, however, in socal z9, we have no winter, so I am sowing now as fast as I can. Once the heat hits in June/July, my cool weather annuals fry. I need to have them in the ground no later than feb to get blooms.

Instead of tape, you can also leave a small bit, 1/2 inch or so, uncut. The lid will stay attached until you finish cutting it, but you can tip it back and weight it with a rock so that you can easily sow.

Good luck, though you won't need it. My successes always way outnumber failures, if any. Again, my condolences.

Whiteoakian, I am so sorry for your losses (((hugs))) Welcome to the WS forum...I've been a lurker for a while now, but this will be my 2nd year WS *smile*

As for your questions--

1. I gave up on using any sort of tape to hold my milk jugs/juice bottles shut...I found the tape was impossible to deal with once it got wet *shrug* Instead, I now make small round holes (with a scrapbook punch) where the two halves of the container come together, then I use small pieces of green (gardening) twist-ties (sold in spools) to close it.

2. I'm still trying to figure this our myself...most of my flops from the past WS season were annuals *sigh*

3. I could not believe how quickly malva zebrina expanded and bloomed...also musk mallow and statice did well.

4. The only advantage for me is saving my fingers from my own klutziness :-)

5. I love the layout of Terrene's WS sheet!

In fact, Terrene, could I please have a copy of your blank WS sheet? It looks to be exactly what I've been searching for!

Susan in Kansas

ljpother" the sun rises and sets in the north."
OK that would SOO screw me up lol!!

Irisheyes, no problem at all. Just send me an email thru GW and I'll attach the blank file and send it to you. It is an Excel file and easy to edit for your own preferences.

I am a record-keeper by nature, and especially like doing this with something as enjoyable as winter-sowing. It was interesting to compare the 2009 data to 2008 (first year WSing). Right now 2009's chart is all filled in by pencil, so I need to transfer that to the electronic file.

Talking about zone envy, winter hadn't arrived yet and most posters are planning for spring. Well, Dec 1 temperatures started hitting seasonal norms or lower with light snow. December 4 and 5 the snows came. Six to eight inches on the 4th and another two inches and drifting on the 5th. Today it's -28C (-18F). Our high is expected to be -18C (0F). I know the folks in Minnesota will say so what, but I can start looking forward to spring. In 14 days, the days start getting longer :)