Winter Sowing

[ivyskeep]

I was this week years old when I learned about winter sowing. I've heard of cold frame gardening, but this is slightly different. Basically, you use milk/water jugs or a similar container, cut it at the halfway mark but leave a portion uncut so you have a flip-top jug. Also put slits in the bottom for drainage. Place moist soil in the bottom half and seeds on top and pat them down. tape the jug shut making sure the spout on top doesn't have its original cap on. Place the jugs outside and wait for spring germination. I found an excellent more in-depth explanation than I state here with pics and the pros and cons of this method at Home for the Harvest. We've saved some distilled water containers, and I plan on starting to use this method around January.

Comments

Hmm ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Interesting. I've had no luck starting seeds in advance.

Re: Hmm ...

[ivyskeep]

I usually have a hard time with tomatoes and end up buying plants, but I'll give this a try too.

Re: Hmm ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Around here, people usually put their tomato plants under jugs, so we know that much works.

This year we had some mixed cherry tomatoes that shriveled up, so I planted them. Took forever to sprout, but they did eventually produce a few tomatoes. I may try to get some plants come spring.