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33 Comments
thanks brother for your videos
Do you have to win or so flowers and plants from a warm climate area
Onion, leek, and celery all worked great this way for me.
I do leave the tops off, so they don't overheat. But keep the tops.
For your summer crops, like Tomato, pepper…don't overseed, or you'll get tiny starts. And either start them later, or bring them inside if your going to have frost. Inside, use the tops in case of the little flies.
The best part is, no hardening off 😊
I can’t find strawberry seeds. Can I plant strawberry bare roots in the winter?
I did Winter sowing last year with onions, echinacea, lavender and it worked well.
Thanks for the great tutorial. I've never tried winter sowing , but I will this year as I have some Rosemary seeds to start.
This explains why most of my lavender didn’t germinate 🙁 I’ll do this now! Thanks!
I’ve winter sown for many years. I use milk jugs cut with a hinge and caps off. I’ve been successful with nigella, poppies, milkweed, delphinium, foxglove, echinacea, veronica, gaillardia, Jacob’s ladder, Lilly scales, and many more. I live near Calgary Alberta and have never had a problem.
I never cold stratify my rosemary. It’s a Mediterranean plant. I started them last week in soil on a heat mat and all have already germinated. I wish I could keep them alive inside during the winter so I didn’t have to start them every year!
How do the pros winter sow? Seems like you’d get the same results if you use trays outside. That’s what I’m trying this year. Mine are daisies & echinacea. I figure they’ll germinate when it warms up to the correct temperature. That’s when the heat mats and grow lights come in handy. Doing it with the plastic bottles was just a fun way Laura came up with and everyone decided to copy her. Very cool! My dad just kept all his seed packets in the fridge. ✌🏻
Hi. Just wanted to wish you a fantastic growing season in 2025. 🌱
Perfect timing 🙂 the seeds I ordered arrive today 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
Good advice. Last winter I attempted cold stratification on lavender & rosemary with little success. I managed to get one rosemary plant out of sixteen and none of the lavender. Could be they are more finnicky than I'd expected being Mediterranean type plants, operator error is more likely though. So I decided after autumn clean-up this past fall to cast the remaining seed from the packets into the gardens I'd like them to grow. After this past cold spell the last few weeks <PA> I definitely figure I'll find out this coming summer if it was me or if it isn't meant to be.
Thank you for the information I was one of those ppl questioning their skill for those very plants lol
Can you use a covered seed starting tray?
I’ve been winter sowing for years, and here are some tips that may not align with this video.
1) poke drainage holes before cutting the jug in half. It’s more stable that way.
2) you must leave the caps off. It’s important for air flow and to allow water or snow to get in, it’s not optional.
3) The inverted method shown here does not leave sufficient space for the plants to grow.
4) taping the sides closed with duct tape keeps the moisture in—so you get the condensation you need. Tucking the top into the bottom can work, but you lose height which is needed for the growing plants.
5) When you put them outside, make sure they are in a spot that is open to the air, not a covered location. They need to get the rain. I usually set mine right on one of my raised beds.
6) Here in NJ we jug sow waaaay later than Feb 14. In fact, we do it for summer and fall crops, too. I jug sow tomatoes, cucumbers, everything. it works great. Only thing you need to do when it’s warm out is to make sure the jugs don’t get too hot and that they stay moist. Sometimes you need to open the tops to cool them off
I tried to start Rosemary last year and only got one seed to germinate. I did not know it needed cold stratification, glad to know the seed was probably fine I just didn't start them correctly.
Not me running to my freezer to take my seeds out …
Oops
I've got poppies, rosemary, lavender, st Johns Wort, Bee Balm and pansies winter sown in containers sitting in my garden. Didn't have great luck stratifying in the fridge so trying this way. I also sprinkled poppy seeds throughout my flower gardens early winter.
I’m going to try this this year. Since I’m a family of one, I don’t get empty gallon jugs often. I’ve asked family and neighbors to save jugs for me, but no one has come through. I was actually going to start this week, but I ended up with pneumonia and a sinus infection! In another video I saw about winter sowing the gentleman used the tip of a glue gun to make the drainage holes.
I use end of year cuttings with rosemary. Success rate is high, and I have fresh rosemary every year. No cold stratifying for that. 😅
I don't suppose you could put up a list of typical veggies that NEED this winter stratification?
I just put the seeds packets into the fridge for 2 or 3 months then planted them into 12 cell containers. The other thing I did was just plant them in the 12 cell kits with their own bottom tray and moisture dome. Then just watched them. I have some that didn't germinate so I am leaving them outside. I live in the low AZ desert where there is little frost.
For my winter sowing I just put about an extra inch of compost on top of one of my raised beds and then pop a Rubbermaid container over top of it.
Do you have to moisten seeds before winter sowing
I just did a bunch of winter sowing. I put in a bunch of flowers that I couldn't get to germinate in the past, herbs that I knew were finicky, and weird things I got in an MIG grab bag like Gogi berries that I just had no clue what to even do with. LOL Wish me luck!
Can I do this with garlic? I didn’t sow in fall like your suppose to.
Great video! I’ve done winter sowing for three years and it’s so easy and so much fun!
I do this with everything. Leave a hinge and tape. Cap off. Water if needed.
I will try this with my rosemary seeds this week. In Minnesota, zone 4.
So far my favorite method is to use the black 10×20 trays with a plastic cover on top.
1. Drill holes into bottom of 10×20 tray if they don't already come with holes
2. Fill seed cells with seed starting mix (I can typically fit 6 in my 10×20 tray)
3. Place seed labels using a garden marker
4. Sow the seeds and water them in with spray bottle or gentle flowing watering can
5. I like to take a picture of my 10×20 tray with seed labels facing me just in case the labels fade
6. Carefully poke holes in plastic cover (I poke quite a few small holes, roughly 8-10) and then place on top of 10×20 tray
7. Use twine to secure plastic dome on top
8. Place outside in a spot that gets minimal sun
9. Every week or two check on the trays to make sure the soil isn't drying out (I usually pick them up and go by how heavy they are)
10. Once seeds start germinating remove plastic cover and thin seedlings as needed
11. Transplant once seedlings get second set of leaves (sometimes I wait a little longer)
Love hearing about Winter Sowing on your platform, it is very disappointing that you didn't give credit to creator Trudi Greissle-Davidoff. Also disappointing that you didn't read up on the method, I thoroughly agree with @lgrillo's comments below. ALWAYS caps off. I routinely winter sow in sw Ontario, Canada, in Mid March with great results. Spring sowing is utterly a thing. As long as there are still a few frosts in the forecast – winter sow to your heart's content. Anything that self seeds will work well winter sown. Seeds Latin names also tell you which ones work well 'canadensis' 'siberica' other cold place names…
I use kitty litter containers , cap off PLUS I also cut hole in top of jug. I SELDOM need to add moisture. Here in Northwest Michigan, I don’t start until April 1, still cold enough here for cold stratification.