I think last year someone started our own thread over there - Hunnerbun, maybe? Or Shauna? We had our own count going, the Far Northerners. I'll have to go over and check it out, though we'll lag behind for awhile. Just watch, Cindy - Sharon will pull ahead and outdistance us all! LOL

Sharon will pull ahead and outdistance us all!
LOL, you never know, Susan is just as crazy!

Marcia, I was reading over at the WS forum that you said "When Sharon gets here, she'll pull us up in the count!"

Look up, way up, where it says my name and my zone....hmmm, remember I'm a zone 2b, not 3. LOL, Sorry, can't help you there!

I'm going to keep track of my WS'ing here at the FN forum - WS thread that you started Cindy and when I hear from Ron that there is only a few more days to post total containers is when I'll post my count then ;)

Ok, who wants to bet who will see their first sprouts? ;)

Sharon

It will be you Albertans for sure, Sharon - the sprouts, that is. Do you have records for your first sprouts last year? Mine were April 8th and 9th. I'm sure there were people with sprouts way ahead of me. I don't remember if we had anyone reporting from Thunder Bay last year, but Cindy might get earlier sprouts, being in the city.

LOL Sharon - 2b, 3, what's the difference?! I'm supposed to be 2b as well i think, according to the latest map, but i refused to go below 3. I mean, how could i have gone from 3b to 2b? Where's global warming when you need it? (Right here, actually - January 3rd and it's -2°C!)

LOL...you guys are too funny. It has been unseasonably warm here too, but I am resisting the urge to WS anything. I know that I might wake up some morning having gone from a balmy -8C to -40C overnight. I'll just wait until March like I did last year..... and spend the rest of the time snowmobiling!

Sharon you said:
LOL, you never know, Susan is just as crazy!
Hey... I'm not the one whose name includes 'Crazy' :) However, my husband did use that exact word yesterday while he was watching me sort through the stash of seeds I have accumlated.

I would consider myself over zealous. When I get a new idea in my head like my first winter sowing last year, I jump in with both feet and charge ahead. Right now I suspect I might not be quite as profilic in my sowing this year (yah right...). It was so successful that I feel like I spent my summer digging planting holes and didn't get to as many other projects as I wanted.

Marcia - I will be there to assist with the zone 3 count! I plan to post my list of sowings here so that we can all share what we are doing. I will also add my numbers to Ron's count over at the WS forum as I go - it is fun to see those numbers climb.

I checked on my first sprout date from last year - it was poppies on March 29th.

Hope to get sowing today...

Susan

Is winter-sowing the same as starting seeds indoors?

ok, I read the wintersowing forum's FAQ, and now understand what wintersowing is... I think I will stick with growing bulbs indoors in the winter :)

You wouldn't winter sow bulbs anyway, mcav0y - seeds! Do you start any indoors, as a rule? Ten to one, some of them can be winter sowed!

So, Susan, did you get started today?

I guess that you could say that I "fall-sowed" my spring bulbs before the snow! I have a few forgotten crocuses growing in a shallow bowl on my kitchen table right now. It's great to have some green around right now.
I do start indoors, but my garden tends to be bright annuals in containers (petunias, lobelia, impatiens, alyssum, etc). I am starting a small veggie garden this summer.
Any winter-sowing potentials with these?

Kim

I've winter sowed alyssum - mixed results, though others have had good luck with it. I've also winter sowed things like broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts, etc. These do okay as well.

Perennials work the best for winter sowing, and hardy annuals are a close second. :)

Great success with annual Alyssums, however the flea beetle loves them more than I do ;)

I prefer starting petunias, lobelia, impatiens indoors, I just find they are so probable to an early or late frost.
Even if they do germinate and survive a frost, they won't flower early enough in our short season as it is.

I do thou WS Impatiens glandulifera and I. balfouri.

Sharon

Marcia - I didn't dive in completely today. Just put my toe in the water and sowed 9 containers. I listed them with everyone else's in the WS in the Far North thread. I'm off to add to Ron's count.

Susan