Winter Sowing FAQs (Part 1)

I had wanted to make a list of questions and answers based upon the replies to my original post. But the more I tried to word the questions the less I liked the way they read, my own versions were never as good as the originals. And so, with my thanks to the original posters of the questions, I will use their most pertinent questions, and with respect for the privacy of the posters I will leave the questions anonymous. The questions and answers are listed in the chronological order that they were posted.

--Trudi Davidoff

Questions & Answers

Q: I've sown a few things outdoors by sinking big pots into the ground. It worked for a few things but I was disappointed in some. What kind of soil did you use? The real heavy type of potting mix that's about a $1.50 a bag. Or the lighter type that has a lot of peat added to it?

A: I honestly don't know what type of potting soil I got. I bought 20lb bags and they cost $2.99 each. I think they did say on them that the mix was suitable for seed sowing. When I watered my flats the soil absorbed the water almost instantly, so I doubt that there was much peat in them, peat has a tendency to be slow to absorb water when it's dry and I had only to wait for the flats to drain to sow them.

I don't know whether or not a soil mixture with peat or without peat would make a difference in germination, I doubt that it would. I bought soil from a few sources, mostly K-Mart or Walmart, or the supermarket, and the mixes were different from each source. I never saw a difference in germinations, no bag of soil in particular had so greater or lesser effect that a batch of seeds appeared to have been affected.

Q: Since you are in zone 7, I wonder how well this would work in zone 5 since we have winters that can get to -20F. I'd love to try it but hate the thought of losing seeds.

A: I don't think you'd lose any seeds as long as you selected varieties that are compatible with a zone 5 garden. I used to live in the Upper Catskills (zone 5/4b) and we had some gosh awful winters, plus our mountain side property put us into a micro-climate that made us seem like interior Canada, we had months of bone chilling, eye-popping weather. Each year our garden flourished with many new volunteer seedlings, as did the local hills and dales which flourished with their wildflowers.

Q: How did you decide when to sow the seeds?

A: I sowed my big kiddie pool gardens in late November, I wanted to get them sown before they froze up hard. The individual flats I started sowing after the December Holidays were over, it's too busy in December with all the hoopla. I would save a collection of various containers to use and keep them on top of the microwave, when it got too crowded up there I would use all the containers and get a large bunch of flats sown at a time. And then I would save up more containers until they started falling off the microwave again and then sow some more. I guess I was sowing about a dozen flats every couple of weeks. I kept sowing flats right up until the middle of March as we were still getting nightly freezes. I do remember that the very last flats I sowed were various salvias (annuals and perennials), and I was a little concerned about them after reading a post that they were frost sensitive, I thought that it would not work out for them. But they germinated quite fast with good vigor too, and despite getting a few late frosts and a heavy Spring snow the seedlings seemed unaffected. As a matter of fact, the pink Salvia Horminium "Claryssa" was one of the first annuals I had to bloom in my garden. It's a pretty plant with odd pink bracts with some green veining in them. It looks great with silene armeria and queen anne's lace blooming nearby. I am new to growing salvias and have since read that for many gardeners salvias are good reseeders, so they were a fine choice.

Q: I am inspired and glad to know that what our plants do naturally can be replicated by us humans. I have baggies, liquor sacks, and folded-over napkins full of seed heads and loose seeds that my husband & I have collected in our walks. All the ones requiring cold stratification are in the fridge; should they just be outside??

A: I wish you lots of luck with your "wild seeds". These will be great choices for you to Winter Sow. Among my flats I had fabulous germination with black eyed susans, they're one of my most favorite wild flowers, they seem to give the garden a cozy look when they're blooming (imho, or maybe that it's just that I love them so much). The black eyed susan hybrids (catalogue rudbeckia varieites) did just as well as the non-hybrid wild species too.

Q: Trudi, I had to try this and perhaps I started too early because I had 2 containers with quite a few seeds that were growing into plants when all of a sudden they were all dead. It may have been lack of water? Would a cold spell have killed them off? Not according to your theory, but I was so disappointed. I have started more but do you suggest waiting until February.

A: It sounds like you started your flats too early. With Winter Sowing you want to wait until Winter to sow the seeds, they'll go dormant immediately when the flat is taken outside, and then later on in the Spring when the weather warms the seeds will break dormancy and germinate at their own best time.

As with all flats it's important to keep an eye on the moisture before AND after germination. With a Winter Sown flat the moisture is trapped in the soil when the flat freezes, if you have a winter like I do where there are often many days temps just above freezing and night temps below freezing you still won't have to worry too much about the flat moisture. It's very cool/cold outside and the flats don't warm up enough for much (if any) evaporation, and as the flats have vented lids only the very excess of humidity will evaporate.

Give it a try again. Yes, definitely wait until you're into "true" winter, that way the seeds won't have the possibility of germinating too early.

Q: I am in zone 8 and I was wanting to know since there is no place safe for me to put these outside without my sweet big puppy getting into them. Could I keep them in the garage? It gets very very cold in there but they won't get frost or snow on them. Do you think it would still work this way. I have lots of shelves waiting. Also I think I read that poppies can't be transplanted so could I sow these in the beds now and not cover them?

A: If you put your flats in the garage, not only will they not get any rain or snow cover (both of which seeps in to the flats to keep them watered), but they will not be exposed to natural light. Is it possible you can set up some sort of table outside where you can safely place the flats, or maybe you could enclose an area with some inexpensive fencing (like turkey wire and metal stakes) to keep your flats in? I don't know how well your flats will fare in the garage, I think the major concern is the amount of daylight that they would not be receiving.

Poppies can be transplanted very well with little or no shock if you move them while they're still small (less than 2" high, and even smaller). One of my most successful flats was a packet of mixed perennials from the dollar store, many of the seeds grew into poppies and I had no problem transplanting them at all.