I do a combination of garage then kitchen. From the kitchen I walk out the back door to my deck where I keep them. I am hoping Santa brings me a digital camera this year so I can post pictures of my pot ghetto:)

Rhonda

I sow my containers in my gardenhouse - - which has a water spigot right there outside the door. We close the spigot during the freezing temps, but it can be easily opened after 32 degrees. It can be chilly in there but I wait for a sunny day and the gardenhouse is brick so it warms up fast plus there are two windows facing the sun.

I also keep some plants in there to overwinter and cover them lightly with frost blankets if the temps go into the teens overnight - ex. I overwinter my begonias and geraniums - which would die if left in the ground.

I usually keep my containers in the screened in porch and water by hand. I have too many rabbits around my yard to trust the containers outside. This has worked for me for five years...so I guess I won't change. :0)

Carrie

Pippi, yes, the pans came with the lids. And the lids actually fit quite snugly, which is why I liked them. Of course, it's also why they are beat up now, because I tore a few of them opening and closing them for so many years.

I'm racking my brain trying to remember what department they were in. It could very well have been with the paper plates, etc., but it also may have been with kitchenware and baking ware. Sorry! Add to my bad memory the fact that my local Walmart has gone and re-organized the store twice since then, and I can't get a mental image of where in the store I was when I got them!

By the way, they were empty - no lasagna in them, unfortunately, lol. I think they came either three or four to a pack.

They are not deep enough for 4 inches of soil; I'd say about two and a half to three inches maybe. I did not put soil directly in them. I lined up about 20 or so peat pots in them, filled the pots with soil, and sowed my vegetables in them. If you use peat pots you do have to keep an eye on moisture levels. And the lids are nice because they are about two inches higher than the pan, so there's enough headroom for the seedlings.

mmqc and token - nice set-ups! You guys are making me wish I didn't renovate my basement, lol. I'm already grumbling because I no longer have a place to hang my milk jugs (used to keep them hanging from the joists in the basement).

It's fun to see and hear about everyone's process. Thanks guys!

:)
Dee

I'm like so many of you, I sow my jugs in the kitchen. I lay a plastic bag or my "garden towel" on the table to keep the mess down. I use a dishpan (holds 4 jugs perfectly) to hold jugs while I water in sink and carry outside. I used to carry them in a milk crate, but that leaked and got dirt down the sink.
DH does not like that I do all this a kitchen and has threatened to build me a potting shed. Now, I hide my bag of dirt behind the recycling, I don't think he's found it yet, because it's still there. I do all of this between the hours of midnight and 5 in the morning, over and done with before anyone else wakes up.

Worse case scenario, I get caught, DH gets fed up, and I get that potting shed. I know, some punishment (I'm already planning the layout)

MARY

Hey Mary,
Just let him catch you, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,potting shed,here you come.:0)
cAROL

Mary - If you want that potting shed, you may need to be a little more obvious - like putting the bag in plain view and leaving a few containers (filled or unfilled) laying around.

Putting the bag in plain view?!!

Honey, if my DH "threatened" to build me a potting shed because of the mess in the kitchen, I'd dump the entire bag of potting soil in the middle of the kitchen floor! Then I'd stand there all innocent and say "Oops! Honey, I'm so sorry!"....

LOL!
Dee

Ijust re-read this posting,I had to laught out loud Mary,You said,
Hubby has "Threatened" to buld me a potting shead.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,NO.PLEASE DON'T DO THAT.
Open that bag of soil and let her spill.
cAROL

I'm enjoying all these great tips...thanks to everyone who has posted so far :-)

This will be my 2nd year of WS, and I'm definitely looking to "streamline" the planting process, LOL! Methinks the garage will be this season's work spot...my (20 yo) daughter has just moved home from the college dorms, so my "craft room" (where I did my WS last year) is now her bedroom...such is life. I'm just tickled to have her around again!

My containers (approx. 200) are all ready to go, I just have to organize the seeds a bit--full garden beds, here I come!

Susan in Kansas

What used to be the 'laundry folding table' is now potting central. Got smart and brought my big plastic tub'o'dirt in before the weather hit.
All my last years 2 litre bottoms and lids are stored in the crawl space.
I'll start in February, after reviewing all the 'seed porn/ catalogs' that are now arriving.

I must be the only nut. I start out in the Living room prepping and marking the jugs and then filling with soil and sprinkling or whatever the seed type calls for. Then I take the container to the Kitchen sink but only after I have about 9 or 12 jugs ready to go. As I mark the bottom of the jug I am also marking the top half of the jug and putting the info into a spiral notebook for record keeping. Then I take the jugs to the sink and wet them down. I have a spray nozzle on my sink and it is set to about medium strength. And water the jugs down till water comes out of the bottom of the jug. I let these set and drain until I have the next set of 9-12 jugs ready to go. I then attach the to part of the jug and then they go out to the front of the porch till I am ready to take them out back to next to the garage.

I also punch holes in the four corners before filling with soil and I need to start pre cutting some of the wire for the ties after christmas. I don't start my sowing till after the holidays one less thing to worry about. And I prefer using half gallon jugs for most seeds but the zinnias I use the full gallon jugs.

Paula

Well, the initial plan was to do it the garage where I put all my supplies but..... the soil is frozen solid! So I'm hauling the bags into the kitchen to thaw and it will be plan B, the kitchen!

I started out measuring the jugs and cutting them exactly with a knife, and punching holes with a soldering iron. But that smell is awful. Then I got lazy (already), and just jab a knife into the bottom to slice a V cut, then slice quickly around the sides with a sharp knife and its done. Long ways from being perfectly straight, but it works.
Tammy

tammy, I am with you there.
For years, I have been puzzled by WSowers using a soldering iron to make drainage/ventilation holes.
I thought how come they were not worried about toxic fumes from that because I would get a headache just to think about it.
I have been using kitchen shears and an awl for that purpose. It is so easy and there is no fume.
No need to go get a drill & drill bits either. I save those for tough plastic such as large water bottles.
{{gwi:350235}}

Karen, your workspace looks so neat and tidy.....unlike mine. :-D
At least I use a storage container for my soil too:
{{gwi:456498}}

I can't stand being cold, so like to do this inside. I fill a plastic storage container w. soil, add enough water to moisten, cover my dining room table with a natty old plastic tablecloth, and use scoops to fill my containers (plastic milk jugs). After I plant the jug, I add to a long wheeled under the bed plastic sweater box. Once I have enough containers filled, I use this to transport out to the front porch for the winter.

"...For years, I have been puzzled by WSowers using a soldering iron to make drainage/ventilation holes.
I thought how come they were not worried about toxic fumes from that because I would get a headache just to think about it..."

I can't speak for others, but I sit outside on a nice fall day, (or two, or three!) set up a fan next to me, and use my soldering iron to poke holes in all my containers.

Obviously, by fall I don't have nearly enough containers yet, (usually get about 100-130 done) so I do have to supplement them. I either wait for a nice day in winter and use the same set-up outside, or if the weather doesn't cooperate, I brave the elements and just do what I need for that day (4 to 8 containers).

Sometimes in the middle of winter I will just use a knife inside the house and poke holes, but I do have medical issues with my hands and I find that even just using the knife on half a dozen containers is painful. The soldering iron is much stinkier but less painful!

:)
Dee

I see my post to this thread from the other day has gone missing. Anyway, what I wanted to say was...

You all are too funny. I wish getting a new potting shed were just as easy as dumping my dirt on the floor, but that's not how hubby's mind works.
If I begged him to build me my own space he might agree and probably never get around to it. If he did, he'd slap some boards together and hand me the bill for materials.

It is only since "I don't want one" that he is considering it. He must get me and my filthy hobby out of the house. Because "I don't want to be out in a cold dark shed with no space to work", he's tried to convince me that it would be better and he would install lighting, and make me a work bench kinda like the one I saw at The Cottage Nest, and after further protest a space heater.
I'm not about to do something too obvious, I'll just continue to "sneak around" with my winter sowing, leaving occasional bits of potting soil unswept or my seed box lying out. I'll continue to protest, I'm holding out for plumbing.

MARY

I'm another one that does a combo of garage/kitchen. The bags of potting soil are in a big plastic bin in the garage. Once I have enough containers saved up, I'll poke drainage holes in them in the garage with a soldering iron, and label them (if I don't forget, LOL). If DH is home, I fill the containers with soil, and put them in the large utility sink that's in the garage to water them. When he isn't home, I just bring the bag of dirt in the kitchen, and do it at the kitchen sink, mainly because the light is better there, and it's warmer.

Getting the containers out of the house can be messy, if I can't find an available tray of some kind to keep them from dripping everywhere as I carry them to the sliding glass door that leads to the patio. In the spring, I can just go out through the garage, and open the gate to the backyard to put them on the patio. The problem right now is that there is over a foot of snow against the gate, and the latch is frozen solid, so I won't be using that method until the snow melts, which should be in February.

It's true that we all eventually find a method that works for us, but I like hearing how others do it, and maybe learning a new trick or two.

Bonnie

Dining area/kitchen. I cut my jugs with an old carpet knife - heated - over the sink. The bag of potting mix is in the dining area - I fill the containers right over the open bag. Then they go into the kitchen sink in about 2 inches of water, where they can soak up whatever they need. Excess water goes down the drain, and the containers are left in the sink to drain.

Seeds get sown, labels are put on (I use aluminum foil tape) and the containers get carried out to the balcony on an old cookie tray.

Done.

PV

I do mine in our kitchen too. I have a few old cookie tins and as I fill my containers I fill up the trays and then take them out front. I put 'em on the front porch since I'm going in and out that door all the time so I can peak on them...and just when my neighbors begin to think I've lost my mind and am becoming the crazy milk jug lady filling up the yard with trash I move them to the back yard. Lol*

This has been a most educational/entertaining thread. I can't wait to get started this weekend. I have been bugging DH for a few years for a potting shed, I think I might have to take the spilling soil on the kitchen floor route. It just might work this time. I can't wait to come back next week to share my sowing exploits with this group of friendly and informative like-minded gardeners.

Carol

Can hardly get in my breakfast room which has become my potting shed, need to do something about that. It's piled and packed with my garden stuff, but otherwise I'd have to run up and down the basement stairs. It's too cold in the winter down there because the ducts are nearly all shut to conserve energy.

Fill the containers with soil and level it in the breakfast room, then sit at the dining room table in "my spot", sow the seeds, tape and label.

I'd kind of like my breakfast room back because it's a cozy little nook. It's easy to sweep the floor, and I don't really make much of a mess in the dining room; that's where my lights are as well, along 4 windows in space I wasn't using anyway but cramped. My sunroom is full of plants I brought in for the winter.

Most people wouldn't put up with it, I suppose.

re: the soldering iron.

I personally have no issue with the smells but do recall someone saying that they just set up under on the stove top with the range hood turned on.

The fumes would get vented outside.

Just a thought.

I do mine in the kitchen, I can fit 6 two litter pop bottles into a cake pan. After I cut the bottles I put them in the cake pan & I add my dirt, then water, & the extra water drains into the cake pan, then I plant the seeds & put in the labels, & as I tape them closed, I set each one into the sink & the left over water in the cake pan, I pour into a pitcher & use to water the next batch, this keep most of the dirt in the cake pan & the pitcher.") Then I put the 6 done pop bottles back into the cake pan to carry outside.
jan ") happy plantin ya-all

As Dee does I sit outside a day or two here and there during the summer/fall and prep my jugs with a soldering iron. Actually two types of irons - one that I poke holes with and one that has a 2 inch flat side that makes going around the jug a breeze. I start to collect jugs in the spring from neighbors and whomever, I save them in my designated area of garage and when I have 4 dozen or so I prep and then hang in a big clusters from the rafters against the back garage wall. I get some wierd looks when people walk into the garage and see these huge clusters hanging there, but they're up out of the way and by the time I'm ready to ws I have hundreds of jugs waiting to do their job.

Lesson learned from first year of wsing - I keep all soil bags in the basement, not fun waiting for a bag of soil to thaw when you decided to sow some seed.

Sandy

Sandy, I usually hang my milk jugs from the joists in the basement. We are in the middle of a basement renovation on half of it. So I still hang the jugs in the other half, although there aren't as many good spots to hang from there.

Anyway, you should see the looks I've gotten from all the contractors. Especially recently since I've gotten lazy and have just been lining up the jugs in rows on the floor.

I just say "there IS a reason for all these milk cartons" and carry on, lol. There'a also a HUGE bag (about five feet tall, clear plastic) holding an assortment of containers, which I use for demonstration when I do a talk on WSing. That gets a lot of stares from the contractors too!

Re the soldering iron - I find that nothing completely gets rid of the fumes in the house. I have, on occasion, opened a window in mid-winter, stuck a window fan in it facing outward, and have used the soldering iron inches from the fan (freezing the whole time and thinking of my oil bill, although I do turn the heat off when I do this foolish thing.) My kids come in hours later and ask if I had a birthday cake because it smells like someone blew out the candles, lol!

:)
Dee
who spent about 4 or 5 hours chipping away at frozen potting soil the other day....

It's supposed to warm up to 20's, think I'll just dress warm on a sunny day, run a heavy duty cord and sit on the front porch on a pad. How about that? I can't stand the smell, and my stove fan filters but doesn't vent outside. Great idea though.

The hot knife, I use for some stuff, but it's really easier for me to make a slit in my jugs w/exacto knife and cut around it with sharp scissors.

I'm having a hard time now lugging those bags of potting soil, brought one in while I could still get at it, must be wet and heavier, got it as far as the living room. There it sits. It's awful the way I'm getting.

It's not that I haven't tried, packed a bunch of stuff up in those handy storage boxes with lids and indents for gripping. They ship flat and u expand yourself, easy once you get the hang of it. I can stack 3, and they're not too heavy like bigger boxes, bought them from uline. They've got tons of stuff that some of you might find handy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Uline boxes and all sorts of stuff - Mine are brown economy w/lid

Great thread. I use the garage to fill containers from one of those huge bags that came with river rocks in it. I mix the soil with compost and then dip my containers into the bag to fill them. {{gwi:456499}}

I'm lucky to have a double sink in the garage (installed it when we did the kitchen remodel, while DH was on a business trip! He NOW says it was a great idea!) So, I can water in the garage, too.

Then I put four each of the gallon milk jugs, sealed and tagged into a plastic box, which has been slit on the bottom to allow for drainage and tote them outside to the deck. I find that those collapsible laundry hampers are really great for storing milk jugs in the rafters of my potting shed.

{{gwi:456500}}

I use a large paperclip, stuck through a hole near the top of the jug to hold a tag on each container. During the year I save milk jugs and wash and cut them with kitchen scissors each time I get one. I have a pair of Cutco scissors that can be separated into two pieces and I take them apart and poke holes and slits into the milk jugs easily.

Haven't started to WS yet this year. Am almost ready. Have sorted seeds into 'must wintersow' category last night and have 84 varieties! Will be busy.

Thanks, everyone, for all the pix and sharing of your methods. Really helpful to know what everyone does. ((Am not alone in my crazy world.)

Dottie

Dee, it looks like yours are sitting directly on a concrete driveway. Is that right?

Do you open any jugs before they sprout or wait until the first ones show up?

Anybody: - Some look so neat the way they are placed.

Is it ok to put them on the west side of the house, been using the north a ways out on the snow?

Can they be in full sun?

I could line a whole section of sidewalk 2 or 3 wide about where I put the others as I don't use it in the winter.

If I can put them in full sun sooner than I have been, I peg the lids open to the ground so I can use them again and the labels are taped around the handles.

Aliska, yes, they are right on the asphalt driveway, and against the foundation of the house. This is on the southeast side of the house, and it is pretty much in full sun all day in winter. So between the sun, the asphalt, and the foundation, I thought it might be too hot, but then realized I had done it like that for 4 years before really thinking about it, and everything was fine, so I still put the jugs there.

I don't open any jugs before they sprout. (LOL, I feel like Orson Welles (I think it was him) - I will open no jug before it's time.) Well, unless of course it's July and I still haven't gotten any germination, lol. Then I might open the container in a last ditch effort.

:)
Dee

I'm a newbie and this is a fantastic thread. I've been stalling, wondering where (in my tiny little house) I was going to do all this. Now I know. In my kitchen like quite a lot of you guys. Thanks so much for the 'neatness' tips, especially.

I'm thinking of using those under-the-bed storage bins for transporting, too (like lisa neenah). Mine doesn't have wheels, tho, but it was sturdy enough to handle the heavy Xmas dinner I prepared here and had to haul over Mom's. Wish I knew where to get more (cheap) ones??

It also worked great for when I cut down my dead Morning Glory vines and needed somewhere to put it all to keep the seeds all in one place.

bonnie aka brit5467

One big neatness tip that helps me.

I mix my potting mix and water up in a large bucket and make sure it's the texture of quite moist brownie mix, not crumbly.

Then I scoop to my containers using a slotted spoon. That way the container gets filled with super well moistened soil but I don't transfer any extra water. It reminds me of cafeteria ladies plopping a big scoop of cafeteria slop on a plate.

Less unneeded water transfered to the final container keeps things so much neater!

Lynda

I'm still thinking about Mary in her kitchen at 2 am...

That's a real helpful one, Lynda !! TKS !!!

Just wondering....do you wear a hairnet while doing your 'plopping'??? :)

Bonnie aka brit5467

This will be my 6th year and this is the first time I have ever done any wintersowing in the house. Usually we have enough days with temps in the 50's that I do my wintersowing on my deck. Since it has been so cold here, I broke down and sowed 50 containers in the kitchen. It wasn't as messy as I imagined except when one of my dogs chewed the corner off of the bag and soil started leaking out (I had to bring the whole bag in because the soil was frozen).

Ginger

Dee, thank you. That's a help. It's been so cold for days here, I don't know what it like out in the back.

Lynda, that's a good idea. May try that in the interest of less mess.

Just when you think you have all your ducks in a row, there's another good tip.

My Blue Star Columbine seeds came today, think I'll sow them first :-)

"Where do you do your WSing,kitchen,garage?"

Bedroom, just plop down in the middle of the bed and lay everything out around me.

Soil, seeds, jugs, mini blind slats, vibrating gadgets and the 6 cats looking on in wonder.

I haven't seen Mrs. Monte for a few weeks now though.

I wonder if there is a connection?

Kitchen, since it's got the easiest floor to clean up after I'm done making a mess. And, our daughter likes to help me plant, and she's even messier than I am (although she's 7 - that's a good excuse, which I lack, lol). I couldn't winter sow at ALL last year, because we were moving. It sure felt strange to not be saving and preparing jugs, and planting seeds. I really missed winter sowing!

To put holes in the bottom of the milk jugs, I have a very sharp little pair of scissors. Where the jug has those four little bumps, two at each end of the diagonal seam, the plastic is a little thinner, and I just make four snips. For a while I used a mini phillips head screwdriver to poke the holes - that worked okay too.

Our new house has a porch I can line jugs out on on. I just did my first batch of jugs and plunked them out in the snow. Let the fun begin!

Laurel

I do my sowing out in my DH work shop. He sets up a large folding tabe for me. He has a wood heat stove out there so I stay warm. I put my planted milk jugs on my flat bed garden cart and when it's full I open the big sliding door and out I go. My soil was fairly dry and this time I did'nt wet it down. I get lots of rain here, not much snow, so I'm hoping they will get wet down with a few good rains. I use my solder iron out in the shop too. I stored my milk jugs up stairs in the rafters of the shop.While I plant my seeds, my DH works on his cars.

Bonnie, About getting more plastic containers: After Christmas last year I found a lot of underbed storage ones without lids at Walmart. I found a manager and asked if I could have them for half price. Great deal and they even had wheels.

Monte - LOL - I imagine there IS a connection!

I did the first few containers in the kitchen last year, but found I am incapable of doing this without making a mess. Then I tried the garage, and made even a bigger mess - somehow the potting soil got dusted everywhere and the water leaked out of the drainage holes...

So now I prep the jugs in the kitchen where my knives are (I just stick a knife in and twist for drainage holes and cut the top off with the knife, too). But I put soil in and plant and water on the driveway outside the garage. I use one of those trays you get annual cellpacks in to carry the jugs round to the back yard. Being able to work outside is one of the blessings of a mild climate. If I lived farther north, I'd have a huge mess in my garage or basement!

I'm using up an old broken miniblind for labels, and I do those ahead of time inside, too. Then I can stick them in the ground with the HOS when I plant out.

Thanks luckyladyd !!! Darn, I wish I'd checked back on this post before now and seen yours. But I REALLY wish this site had email notifications for WHENEVER you posted something, no matter if you generated the post or not. Other sites I've used do. Then I wouldn't have missed yours. Oh well...

I wonder if Walmart did have them this year like that, if they STILL do? Great idea. I'm just a day late and a dollar short, huh? LOL But I'll check it out. Kmart, too, maybe.

I loved reading all your ways to WS... I should have read those FIRST!

I prepped my jugs while watching TV in the Living room - I used a scissors to jab a starter hole, then cut almost all the way around, leaving a hinge (I snipped about 1" upward on either side of the hinge so that the lid could sit down further on the bottome half) and I jabbed holes for drainage with the scissors too (great for letting out frustrations!).

I did my actual sowing in the kitchen/garage. I filled a kitty litter bucket with potting mix/vermiculite in the garage, brought it into the kitchen and plunked it into a great sized rectangular cardboard box that had room for two milk jugs. I moistened the mix (although in retrospect, maybe I should have made it "plopable" LOL!). I could then easily scoop the mix into my two jugs at a time, keeping the mess inside the cardboard box, then put the filled containers on my counter for seeding.

I closed my containers with a twist-em (is this OK?) and labeled them on the top with a paint pen (why do you also label it on the bottom?). I then carried them out to my deck where I had a wire shelf ready to hold them. I only did 3 dozen containers, so I was able to do most of this in one day.

I am worried that I didn't put enough soil in the containers, though. I only put about 3", this was all the bottom of the milk jug would hold without cutting into the handle. I am hoping that will be enough.

This is my first year and I am looking SO FORWARD to seeing my babies come up!

BettyLu

I also think I am going to have to keep a close watch on the jugs in the two lower shelves since the rain/snow won't get to them as easily as the top shelf - just to be sure they all get adequate moisture.

BettyLu, you should label your containers on the bottom because you take the tops off eventually, and then you either have to re-label or if you forget, then you have a mystery container!

A word of caution, from (regrettably,) personal experience - if by wire shelves you mean something along the lines of those wire bookcase-type storage shelves, or the shelves that come in those small bookcase-type greenhouses (which is what I once used - notice I say "once", lol) - make sure that it is stable and weighted down. The one time I used that type of shelving to hold my containers, it got knocked over in the wind and all my containers went flying, even though the shelves were against the house and had bricks on the bottom shelf. In the end things worked out, as I got germination, but it wasn't fun!

:)
Dee

Bettylu, three inches of soil is just fine, and ditto what diggerdee says about marking the bottom of the jug. My first year I had a handful of jugs that I had no clue what they were since I had taken the tops off and had no clue what they were. It was also my first year gardening so I didn't know what the seedlings looked like. The twist tie is fine too. I prefer duct tape, but a lot of people use them and have no problem. Welcome and good luck!

Thanks for the advice - the wire shelves are from the greenhouse-type system (bought for $3 at a flea market). Since it is on my deck, I think I will tie it to the railing. That should keep the entire structure from blowing away!

All of my milk jugs were only partially cut - so the top is still attached by the little piece not cut. Unless I will need to cut that later (when I plant the seedlings) I shouldn't have too much trouble losing track of what is inside. I do think I am going to put a piece (or more) of mini-blind inside each jug with the name on it too so that I can easily label them when they get planted out in the spring - I read that great idea somewhere on this forum!

Thanks for your input!
BettyLu

On a sunny day I do my Winter sowing in my unheated walk in container...nice to feel the false warmth. ;) Since we are in the single digits I will be making a mess in the kitchen this weekend, I have yet to find a really "neat" way to sow.

I mix up a tall plastic bucket of potting mix in the kitchen--garage is way too cold and the bale of mix was frozen solid by the time the solstice rolled around. I mixed 8 quarts of potting mix with one quart of MG since I bought the MG and had to use it up somehow.
I use a soldering iron to poke holes--using a knife took too long and I wanted plenty of nice big drainage holes. I hate the smell but it does the job.
Like others, I cut around the jug with scissors, leaving an inch or so for the hinge. Fill bottom portion with potting mix and moisten with half an empty sour cream container of water. After the first 25 or so jugs I found that moistened the soil just enough so a little drained out the bottom.
Sow seeds thinly if possible. I know I sowed too many, being a newbie. I covered with just a little more of the dry potting mix for larger seeds. For the really tiny seeds I sprinkled some grit over the top of the mix. Bought the grit at the feed/seed store. A little goes a long way.
I write labels with paint pen before sowing seeds or while the mix is absorbing water. Label goes in the jug on an angle so I can see it inside through the top. Tape the top and bottom together with 6" piece of duct tape opposite the handle. I fold over one corner of the duct tape for easier removal later. I didn't write the names on the bottoms of the jugs and hope I don't regret that later.
Like Dee I work up about 6-8 jugs at a time. Once they're done I set them in aluminum cookie sheets until the sheet is full, then I carry them outside and set them in the container ghetto on my breezeway. The breezeway runs west to east so they're in shade but open to the snow/rain etc.
My original goal was to WS 12 containers. I WSd my 200th container yesterday. Thanks to the nice people on this forum, I ended up with enough seeds to sow a lot more. My neighbor gleefully brings me a truck load of milk jugs from the recycling bin at the dump every week.
The cats don't seem interested in the process and haven't even tried to climb inside the bale of potting mix. I do spill a little on the floor but so far it hasn't been too messy of a project. It's great having something of a gardening nature to do during the cold months.
I use my computer to keep a log of how many jugs per day and what seeds. I also keep a list of the seeds I sowed and how many containers of each.
I like the milk jugs better than the 2 liter bottles because they aren't apt to blow over when the wind howls through the breezeway. A few of the 2 liter bottles got blown over so now I've got them all surrounded with WS milk jugs.
It's gonna be a busy Spring!!

I wintersow in the kitchen, right next to the laudrey room where the potting soil lives.

I do one milk jug at a time, stab 4 holes in the bottom, cut the top half almost off, leave a 'hinge' under the handle.

Then I get a gallon ziplock baggie and fill it a little over half full of potting soil. I add about 3/4 cup water, or enough water to moisen but not flood the potting soil in the baggie.

Then I zip the baggie almost shut, lay it on the floor, and stand on it. This squeezes the water into all parts of the potting soil, creating a moist lump that sticks together pretty well.

I dump the lump into the milk jug and break up the lump into damp potting soil again.

Then I sow the seeds in the resulting damp but not leaking potting soil. There is usually nothing more than a dusting of potting soil on the floor to clean up.

I usually stow the finished milk jug in a discrete corner of the front porch until I have a chance to move it to the back yard. After 24 hours out in the cold, the milk jug has usually frozen solid so I can carry it gaping open by the handle and nothing will spill out.

I usually do 2-4 jugs per evening, a lovely and relaxing way to unwind.

DH doesn't mind the temporary small mess in the kitchen (even though he has recently become Head Cook in the household). He is very supportive of anything that makes me happy. Whenever I want to do something that seems a little unusual to him, he just quotes Proverbs 25:24 and gets out of the way. :o)

Lois in PA

This is a great thread. I just ws for the first time this weekend. We have a sunroom with at wood stove in it and windows all around. I set up a table up against the windows and laid out my seed packs and jugs. I dumped my soil into a storage tub and filled the jugs,carried groups of jugs to the kitchen sink to water, planted the seeds and labeled everything. I loaded them onto one of those plastic toboggan sleds and pulled the finished jugs outside on the sled and lined them up along the fence inside my vegetable garden which gets full sun all day. I did 28 jugs over the weekend and plan to do more toward the end of the month. It was quite the operation. Now all I have to do is clean it all up!
Carol