Winter Sowing

I think most people who are interested in gardening realize that starting from seed is generally the most affordable way to go. Even if you go with fancy pants organic heirloom varieties, you’re still going to save a boatload with starting from seed. Sounds simple, right? Get some seeds, plant them in some recycled containers with some soil, and then put them under … whoa. Wait a minute. Put them under what? You can only put so many seedlings on a window sill. So, what do you do? Grow lamps? A green house?

Some may be fortunate enough to live in a warmer climate where they don’t need to extend their growing season in order to get a decent yield. As for the rest of us? Suddenly, starting from seed isn’t so frugal when you’re talking about spending hundreds on grow lamps or a green house. Sure, it pays off in the end. You’ll get years of use out of them. That’s true. It’s a worthy investment. But what if you don’t have the cash now?

Before you know it, you’re buying half-dead hybrid seedlings from a department store, only to have them refuse to grow, never mind produce. All because you just can’t afford the set up required for starting from seed. Not that I know from experience or anything.

My friends, let me welcome you to the world of winter sowing. It’s amazing. It’s freaking amazing. And you can do it on a shoestring budget, even if you live in a cool climate. You can do it for veggies, flowers, and herbs. You need a few things: Plastic containers that are clear. My favorites are milk jugs and clamshell type produce containers. Soil. Water. Mother Nature. That’s it!

I’ll share some links to websites where folks who are way more experienced than I have already explained it in detail. I winter sowed almost everything last year. Anything that needed to be planted before my last frost date got winter sowed with the exception of peppers and tomatoes. I successfully grew onions, kale, mesclun, butter crunch lettuce, cilantro, thyme, marjoram, sage, and broccoli with the winter sowing method. All the rest got direct planted after the last frost date, including squash, zucchini, pumpkins, cukes, beans etc.

I was not able to successfully winter sow tomatoes or peppers, and ended up buying heirloom seedlings from a local nursery. I’m going to try again this year with different varieties. I’ll update!
Here are some links that describe winter sowing in detail. I used these as a guideline last year:
https://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/11/winter-sowing-101-6/
https://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/01/what-to-winter-sow-and-when/
https://www.wintersown.org/
What to Winter Sow and When: https://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/01/what-to-winter-sow-and-when/

So, basically you create little greenhouses out of your recycled containers. You poke or drill drainage holes on the bottom and vent holes on the top, put in 3-4 inches of soil, plant your seeds, water, and then stick them outside. Yes. Stick your tender little baby seeds out in the snow. As the weather freezes, thaws, freezes, thaws, freezes (… you get the idea), it softens the outer shell on your seeds. When they are ready to sprout, they sprout. As the weather starts to warm, you’ll want to watch the soil to make sure it doesn’t dry out, and water accordingly. This creates plants that are hardier, stronger, healthier, and more productive. Last year I winter sowed my mesclun at the end of January, set them outside, and I had baby lettuce sprouts by late February!