Winter Sowing Seeds

Welcome to the season for winter sowing seeds, in which gardeners sow seeds in various containers, put them outside, and leave them be, for the most part, until little seedlings appear.

The most popular method, or at least the first method I became aware of was sowing seeds in one-gallon-sized plastic milk jugs.

To prepare the jugs, you cut them through the middle part on three sides, punch holes in the bottom, add soil and seeds, label them, tape them up, then set them outside without lids and wait.

Another method that’s becoming popular is to use gallon-size plastic bags. Same routine… holes in the bottom, add soil, sow seeds, label them, then you hang the bags up using skewers balanced between two pieces of whatever to hold them upright. There’s an Instagram account that shows this. Just search for “wintersowing.”

Then there is my set up, which I call the Versailles of Winter Sowing, the Palace of Seed Propagation, the Eighth Wonder of Seed Sowing. It was inspired by a reader of my weekly newsletter who I think sensed my procrastination with winter sowing. I had a dozen milk jugs, but twice that many varieties of seeds to sow, so I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Plus, I was going to have to prepare each and every jug. She wrote that she used an old storage container with a clear lid and set the pots inside that, after punching holes in the bottom and top.

And just like that, I knew that’s what I was going to do. Here’s a step by step…

I rounded up some plastic pots from my garage. I usually take empty plastic pots and trays back to the greenhouse where I buy most of my plants, but I had saved some back because I thought they might come in handy someday.

I went in search of an old storage container with a clear lid. I couldn’t find one and briefly contemplated buying one just for winter sowing, but then I had the brilliant idea to turn the container upside down to make the lid the bottom. Now the lid could be any color! I immediately thought of a big storage container that was one-third full of gift-wrapping bits and bobs in the guest room. Perfect!

Next I drilled holes in the bottom, which is now the top, with a one inch hole saw drill bit. I learned quickly that the trick to not cracking the plastic is to apply steady pressure but let the drill do most of the work. Then I drilled drainage holes in the top, which is now the bottom.

Then I proceeded to sow my seeds in the four-inch round pots, add labels, printed with my Epsom label printer, and set them in the Taj Mahal of Winter Sowing.

I rounded up a few miscellaneous bricks, which I used to make sure the bottom was heavy enough not to be bothered by wind or animals, and then I added a few bricks to the top for the same reason.

Voila!

And now, some answers to a few questions you may have.

Can’t you just scatter seeds in the garden and let them germinate in place? Yes, you can, but I often lose track of them when I sow them that way. By sowing in containers, I’ll get some seedlings, hopefully, that I can plant where I want them to be. (I did sow some poppy seeds by scattering them around.)

Do the containers need to be covered? No, they don’t, but covering them keeps out the animals that might like to sample the seedlings. It also protects them from heavy rains that might wash away the seeds. Yes, I realize that a one-inch hole is big enough for a mouse to get in if they could climb the slippery side up to the top. I’ll be checking the seedlings often enough that I hope I’d catch such a critter before they did too much damage.

Is it okay for those seeds to be out there in the cold? I thought seeds needed warmth to germinate? Seeds have all kinds of conditions for germinating. I only sowed seeds that I knew would be fine in the winter weather. They should all germinate in their own good time.

Why not just sow the seeds indoors? I could have sown many of these seeds in containers and put them under lights but that requires far more tending than winter sowing. For the most part, I can forget about these seeds outside. I’ll check on them periodically and if they look dry, I may give them a little water, but that’s about it until I have seedlings!

What do the garden fairies think about the Palace of Seed Sowing? Well, I hope they are impressed, but one never knows. They are garden fairies. Perhaps they’ll write their own post about it?

Thanks for reading to the end. If you have more questions or comments or suggestions, let me know!