Looking Ahead to Winter Sowing

I've started collecting empty gallon milk jugs for winter sowing, which I plan to start at the end of January.  This worked so well for me last year, that I hope to do more this year, and to try out more kinds of plants with it.

Winter Sowing Update

Parsley seedlings grown outdoors in a milk jug

Earlier this year, I posted about trying winter sowing, starting seeds in mini-greenhouses made from gallon milk jugs.  I had read about this last year, and was simply itching to try it for myself.  I've started seeds indoors for several years, and had dealt with watering, watching out to see if seed trays are too wet or dry, damping off, fungus gnats, and all the many trays perched on every conceivable surface in the house. Then there's the taking the trays in and outside to harden off the seedlings before they can be planted. Winter sowing as described would simplify all of that.

March in the Garden

Leaf lettuce

This is a photo of the leaf lettuce I planted in my little plastic green-house back in December.  It's taken it a lot longer than a late spring planting outside normally would to get rolling, but now I've got plenty of fresh mixed greens for myself and my bunnies.

Winter Sowing

Getting ready for winter sowing.

Today I started planting my garden for the summer--way earlier for outdoor planting than I would have ever thought possible before!  Over the last several months, I'd run into mention of "winter sowing" using plastic milk jugs like tiny greenhouses, and found fascinating descriptions of this method of starting plants.  It is supposed to avoid the all-too-prevalent problem of damping off, and gives the gardener seedlings with healthy root systems that do not need to be hardened off before planting.  I decided to try it for myself.