I am ready! I have about 75 milk jugs prepped!

As we speak I am having my roomate drill holes in my containers. My soil is by the door and my seeds are in a pile. I'm stoked!!

OH! We have to wait? Why can't we just do it now?

You could start now I guess, but for the official container count, only those sown after Dec 21 and before May 1 are counted.

Token - is that the sound of you volunteering to be Mr. Container Counter this year? :) :)

Lynda

Actually, I was waiting for seedmama to return. I emailed her a couple weeks ago. She's hoping to be back soon. If she doesn't come back, I guess I could give it a shot, but be warned, I can't count. Anyone in the seed swap should realize that. ;)

Lol token and yup I'm ready. I've got at least forty containers ready to go. I saved a lot of my cups from last year and am putting my soil to good use, I also have two bags unopened for things that need covering or when I run out of prepped containers. I have some big plastic sheets too but I need to put holes in them yet. I think I'll wait till the count starts. We might have a chance against Lynda this year what with all her direct sowing.

Hmmm. Not even close on having that many containers, but Ive got my solstice containers set aside. I only need the soil, lol.

However, I've been getting ready for Winter Sowers and have just completed preparing the contents of 200+ Six Pack SASEs.

Next up is prepping my annual donation to the Washington Gardener Magazine Seed Swap. They've grown in size and are actually splitting the event between two locations to concur simultaneously. WooHoo! 225 sets of heirloom tomatoes, six packs a set. Piece of cake! WGM kindly honored me this year with an article recreating WinterSown's tomato seed saving method.

Sharing is a wonderful thing!

T

I guess I could wait if someone would explain to me what the fuss is all about?

Luckynes - the container count is one of the highlights of winter.

From Dec 21st until the following May 1st, Gardenweb wintersowers go nuts sowing their containers. There's usually an ongoing thread where people report how many containers they've sown that day.

Since you are in zone 6, you really should wait until Dec 21st to sow. Zone 5 has a nasty habit of beating zone 6 each year and us zone 6 folks would really love to have your containers helping us out this year.

Lynda

Here is a link that might be useful: Last year container totals by zone

Zone 7 challenges all other zones and says neener, neener, neener.

Zone 7 might win, if we allow zone Lynda. She whooped us last year.

Lynda,
I just won't count the 4 butterfly bush pop bottles I already planted then. This could be fun.

I have my stuff is all ready in the basement but probably wont start anything until after new years. Still too much up and down in temps for me. Besides getting too old to get excited until spring planting, then don't get in my way. In couple weeks several of the bigger stores here start getting their seeds in and of course me or DW will find something that we just have to try. jim

Zone Lynda is going to try very hard to sow less than 1000 containers this year. Last year's craziness was hopefully a once in a lifetime thing.

I'm not sowing for fun. I'm just trying to get all of the sowing out of the way fast so that I can spend the rest of my years sitting on the porch admiring my posies.

Lynda

Wow, Trudi!

You are the Queen of Winter Sowing! All these years! I have just returned to GW after many operations, the shoulders have been more trouble than the knee replacement, though at the time, I could not imagine anything more painful. I have a lot of old seeds, and some from last year which I never sowed. Is it too late to join this forum? I have saved nursery pots from previous purchases, plus fruit containers, like grapes or blueberries, I saved from the market purchases. They already have drainage, and they close, but they are transparent. Would each of those count as a pot? I hve no idea if all these seeds are viable, but the altrenate would either to throw them away, or donate them, letting people know that these are all not fresh seeds. Whaddya think?

Zone Lyndra: Less than 1,000 containers? How many did you sow last year? 3,000? 3,500? I'll bet you sow more than 1,000 - it's a compulsion. ;-)

I don't have dirt in them yet but I have a collection of prepared jugs in the basement. As the containers were emptied I cut and added holes etc. So, I guess next is the dirt :)

I will definately sow something in a few days....

I got my WS swap pack today. WOW, I have a lot to sow this year!!

I got lots of Ruds too. I am so glad. I wonder what I should sow first?

Karen

I'm not ready. I might skip Solstice this year since I don't plan on sowing very much at all.

Famous last words ....

PV

Hi Evelyn,

Welcome back. I've got a very cranky knee lately so I'm with you on the aches and pains. You're most welcome here! We're just about to roll into season--please join us.

And I'm not a Queen.

Can I be Empress this year? LOL. Sigh

If I get a house early enough in the new year, zone 7 will win. No question.

Nope. I'm nowhere near ready. I have a few jugs that have holes in them, hanging down in the basement, but the majority of them are not cut yet.

I don't usually sow on the solstice because I'm just too busy. I look forward to the solstice - count down to it, actually - and I celebrate it (in my mind, lol - otherwise people would think I'm weird!) but usually don't sow.

I keep saying I will sow *something* on solstice, but never get around to it. Doesn't look like this will be the year, lol.

Haev fun everyone! I'll catch up in late January!
:)
Dee

Just wanted to clarify - I may not be ready to sow, but I am DEFINITELY ready for the solstice, lol! Can't wait to see that sunset get later and later each day!

:)
Dee

How will I know what seeds to sow and when; if the seeds are covered with soil or not? I'm getting more confused not knowing certain specifics like this and losing confidence and if I fail, I have somebody waiting in the wings to say "I told you so!"

pippi: You don't really need any specifics, you can just sow and have fun.

I only follow one rule in my own mind: Wait until close to spring to sow those things that won't tolerate freezing/frost. That's things like zinnias, marigolds, or cosmos. I sow anything else any time in winter, works for me. If you keep that one thing in mind, you'll be fine.

Like Dee, I never start on the solstice. Too busy at my job plus getting ready for Christmas. Our weather tends to often be iffy now anyway. Once January arrives, things are more settled, weather is reliably wintry, life slows down, and I can relax and sow and enjoy it.

Karen

Pippi, so your perennials now. Anything that comes back from the roots year after year. If there are specific plants, just ask. Sow your annuals in early April. It's that easy.

Don't bother covering the seeds. Just press them into the soil in your containers. The freezes and thaws of winter will cause the soil to expand and contract. The seeds will find their place in the soil and germinate when it's time.

Be sure there is condensation in the bottles if the weather is above freezing. If there's ice in the containers, don't worry. That's normal.

I notice you cut all those liter bottle with your band saw and have your soil in them already. Do you put them outside? It looked like the hoop house was full when you showed us a picture of it the other day, or will those just stay in your basement? Since I don't have any potting soil and not that many jugs collected, guess I won't be starting today. We have 7 in. of snow on ground and it's still snowing, so there will be no getting out today. Tom, your explanation made it easier and I wrote that down and also saved it here to refer to. Karen, thanks for your tips.

I asked Santa for potting mix for Christmas. A friend delivered it for me. Santa said it would take up to much space on the sleigh. I'm ready.

{{gwi:343925}}

Pippi, those containers will be placed in the driveway. The photo of the full hoophouse was last March/April. Those were my annuals. They need more protection from late frosts, so I kept most of them in there instead of out in the driveway where all my perennials were. The only things in my basement will be certain tomatoes starting in mid February, brugmansia cuttings that will be killed by freezing temperatures, pineapple sage cuttings, and some recently rooted cuttings of shrubs, etc. I don't sow many indoor seeds. Last year I started Yvonne's salvia inside, but I won't do that again. The wintersown plants did just as well as the indoor seedlings.

Dem...that's a whole lotta black gold right there. Just how good were you this past year?

Wow I didn't know that there was a container contest. Gives me a reason not to restrict myself on how many containers I sow. I am not sure what zone I am because different maps show me in zone 5 and some in zone 6. I will start sowing after the holidays. I am looking forward to sharing this experience with my grandmother. She doesn't think that it will work!!

Heidi

Oh and Dem I know where you live so if I run out of soil I may end up on your doorstep!! :o)

I will wait this year,as the Farmers Almanac,says it will not be a good time to sow,two days later is ok though, so i think i will wait till then.
How many of you actually follow the F.A.?
Just curious,:0)
I think i did about 250,last year,i said i was not going to do as many this year,ya,right,ha ha
Zone Linda is a sowing monster,loking forward to all the excitment again this year,it sure does make the winter fly by eh.
cAROL

Heidi, use the USDA map from 1990. The Arbor Day map is not the official map.

Here's one that uses your zip code. It's based on the USDA map. I'm in 7b. On the arbor day map, they have me in 8a. We do get single digits during the winter, so that's 7b.

Hosta, I brought up the Farmer's Almanac thing too. BUT, and this is my rationalization, the weather isn't right for the seeds to sprout anyway. And usually that forecast is for germination. I think with wintersowing, it's not an issue like it would be if it were already spring. Oh, and 90 days left til spring 2010.

Well I am officially in 5b. Thanks Token for clearing that up!!

Heidi

I found out my zone from the weather network, if I remember correctly. I have to give a warning about using old data from the 1990s', might not be true anymore. Our zone has changed over the years, we were once 5b and now we are 6a.

Nes, the USDA map is old. A new one is supposed to be released soon. Climate change is a big issue. But we all know, plants can't read. So sometimes, it's okay to push the zone a bit. Pineapple sage isn't cold hardy for me, but it is for someone with different soil a bit further north and east of me. So more goes into a plant's hardiness than just the air temperature. Wet, soggy clay will rot plants that should be hardy. Dry sandy soils can push a plant a zone or two further.

I sow 4 containers on winter solstice to be part of the winter solstice celebration. "The Winter Sowing season starts on the Winter Solstice. Winter Sowers can celebrate the day by sowing four sets of seeds. Each seed set will honor Remembrance, Life, Mother Nature and Faith."

Other containers wait until later in January and then on until spring sowing starts.

Haven't decided what to sow yet though will include some clematis seeds that I traded for earlier.

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Solstice Celebration

Pippi: You have lots of questions about how to WS. Read the FAQs on Trudi's site - they will answer many of your questions.

I saved the pages from Trudi's site on my computer so I could re-read them. I printed some of the pages too.

Winter Solstice is on Dec 21 - it's the shortest day of the year. After Solstice, the days will begin to get longer. You don't need to start on Dec 21 unless you are ready and want to. Lots of people are very busy right before Christmas, so they wait until things settle down after the holidays.

You can do this slowly - you don't need to do everything at one time. Just put your toe in the water, see what it's like.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersowing FAQs

Dempa, you must have been very, very good, lol!

I think you have a lot of jealous fellow gardeners!

:)
Dee

Token, my suspicions are confirmed, I'm not z6, I'm z5b. Thanks for the link to the new zone map.

Mary

Okay, I think I finally have solstice sowing figured out.

Remembrance:
Carya illinoiensis (Pecan) - for my brother, who died at the beginning of 2009 - because he was such a nut :)
Lovage - in remembrance of the herb garden I had to leave behind when I moved - these are seeds from that garden

Life:
An unknown tall field thistle in bloom in Alabama when I first got here - what a butterfly magnet! I would stand in front of them for several minutes just gawking at the butterflies - as soon as they went to seed, I was there collecting. I do not know the variety of this thistle, but I'm praying it's not as invasive as Canadian thistle, aka creeping thistle.

Mother Nature:
Halesia carolina (Carolina Silverbell)
Magnolia tripelata
Craetegus laevigata (English Hawthorn)

Faith:
Sesbania punicea (Scarlet Wisteria) - only one zone difference, so maybe if I find the right microclimate?

Happy solstice, everyone!

9 bags, dem pa?
That's a lot of soil!
How many containers are you planning to sow this winter?

I have only 2 1/2 bags in the basement. And I am NOT going to get any more. :-D
I might start to sow Prairie Smoke next weekend. Will see.
Most of my containers are still in the garage.

I also have 2 bags in the attic, but that's for my Dahlia tubers that I plan to pot in March.

This will be my first year to winter sow. My bottles are ready except for the drainage holes in the bottom. My dirt and seed are ready also. I'm only doing 32 bottles since it's my first time.
jim_6b

I'm not really ready, yet. This will be my first attempt, so I'm gathering information. Already have some containers put aside. I recently received seeds from WS. I still have to check my soil stash and fill the containers.

Looks like I might NOT be able to sow anything on Solstice, but I'll eventually get the hang of this hobby.

not a contessa, be sure and look at the close up on the map for your area and compare colors with the chat. When I selected my zip it says I was z 5B, I thought that had to be wrong. I have always considered my area 6b, well when I looked at where on the state I lived, and compared colors...sure enough it says z6b.
Tammy

"...I have only 2 1/2 bags in the basement. And I am NOT going to get any more. :-D..."

heh, heh, heh...

:)
Dee

Well I'm not nearly as prepped as some of you :-)
I'm a "fly by the seat of my pants" kinda gal, the jugs ARE all cleaned though! Some are in the on the garage floor, some are in trash bags, some in the kitchen, well you get the idea! I do have two bags of mix and a list of what needs to be sown first(I love making lists!) And my paint pen(prob'ly should get another)
Gotta have a paint pen!! The first year I did this, I used a sharpie and had so many "mystery jugs"!
I'm going to try to get all the trees and bushes done first.
-B