Author Topic: Time to start your winter sown garden for veggies and flowers all season!  (Read 6115 times)

Simple Abundant Living

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Throwing down the gauntlet for Mustachians to try Winter Sowing! Last year, $25 was all I spent for veggies, greens, and flowers that we enjoyed all season.

« Last Edit: March 11, 2015, 01:52:04 PM by Simple Abundant Living »

PJSparkles360

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Thanks for the reminder! I can't wait to get started this year. What do you typically start this time of year?

Simple Abundant Living

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Thanks for the reminder! I can't wait to get started this year. What do you typically start this time of year?

I'm starting everything. The beauty of this method is that things sprout early that should be transplanted early, and later the things that should be transplanted later.

Donovan

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Huh, I didn't even know this was a thing. I'm closing on a house next Friday and have been intending to start a garden in the spring, but I guess I could try and start next weekend :) Thanks for the link!

babysnowbyrd

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I totally failed at gardening last year, but I'm willing to keep trying year after year!

CommonCents

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That would be awesome to try but I suspect I need for it stop snowing here first.  I'm a newbie gardener, but I can't imagine that blizzards are healthy for the plants.  Maybe in March?

Simple Abundant Living

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Snow isn't stopping Kevin Lee Jacob's winter sowing!

RetiredAt63

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Wow.  I had to Google him.

I start some seeds outdoors but not the way he does.  Lupins, columbines, daylilies, Siberian iris and peonies go into the planting-on bed in the fall - I basically harvest the seeds I want to propagate and plant them right away.  It is even easier than his method.  Maybe not as productive, but easy.  If the birds left me any Cosmos seeds I would do that for  them, too.

Vegetables - peppers are slow, I will be starting them early March for putting out beginning of June.  I always have a few volunteer tomatoes where a tomato got left behid in the garden clean-up, so this year there are some tomatoes that got moved to a fresh bed and a label added, so if I get "volunteers" they will be on purpose and I will know what they are.

Metta

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Cool idea! Now I just need to find someone who drinks milk and will donate milk jugs to my cause.

Simple Abundant Living

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Wow.  I had to Google him.

I start some seeds outdoors but not the way he does.  Lupins, columbines, daylilies, Siberian iris and peonies go into the planting-on bed in the fall - I basically harvest the seeds I want to propagate and plant them right away.  It is even easier than his method.  Maybe not as productive, but easy.  If the birds left me any Cosmos seeds I would do that for  them, too.

Vegetables - peppers are slow, I will be starting them early March for putting out beginning of June.  I always have a few volunteer tomatoes where a tomato got left behid in the garden clean-up, so this year there are some tomatoes that got moved to a fresh bed and a label added, so if I get "volunteers" they will be on purpose and I will know what they are.

I had a LOT of cosmos from this method. The flower seeds were wildly successful. I am going to do more annuals for my patio containers this year. Huge bang for your buck. I used to spend big bucks to fill those containers and put some color in my yard. Last year, it was just the cost of seeds. I started green peppers this way last year and we had good production from them. My biggest issue with this method was that we live in a dry climate and in later spring I really had to watch that they didn't dry out. Thus, my plan not to do as many drainage holes this year. Opening them in the day/closing them at night and making sure they don't dry out takes a bit of time later on, but that's the time of year I am itching to get outside and I'm never bothered to do it!

CommonCents

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Re: Time to start your winter sown garden for veggies and flowers all season!
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2015, 07:43:23 PM »
Snow isn't stopping Kevin Lee Jacob's winter sowing!

Pretty sure he didn't get 29 inches though.  It's a cool idea, and one I'm excited to try out with coke bottle, but I think I'll wait till we're done being walloped.   From this week: https://gma.yahoo.com/blizzard-2015-amazing-time-lapse-video-shows-snow-075644805--abc-news-topstories.html

RetiredAt63

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Re: Time to start your winter sown garden for veggies and flowers all season!
« Reply #11 on: January 31, 2015, 09:18:13 AM »
Yes, Cosmos are super easy no matter how you start them.  Great ROI.  Unfortunately the birds love to eat the seeds, so I rarely get to harvest them - they are eaten before they are ripe enough to collect. Coleus are easy too, and they are great for shade containers.

Do you mean that you start green peppers in the snow and cold ?!?!?!?  I thought they were super tender.  It is -21oC right now, and not a huge snow cover. 

I start peppers indoors in late February/early March.  In my basement under lights, where it is cool, they grow very slowly.  If the air is warmer they do grow faster.  Tomatoes, on the other hand, don't seem to care as much about air temperature.  And if they get leggy it just means more stems to bury for more roots.

I had a LOT of cosmos from this method. The flower seeds were wildly successful. I am going to do more annuals for my patio containers this year. Huge bang for your buck. I used to spend big bucks to fill those containers and put some color in my yard. Last year, it was just the cost of seeds. I started green peppers this way last year and we had good production from them. My biggest issue with this method was that we live in a dry climate and in later spring I really had to watch that they didn't dry out. Thus, my plan not to do as many drainage holes this year. Opening them in the day/closing them at night and making sure they don't dry out takes a bit of time later on, but that's the time of year I am itching to get outside and I'm never bothered to do it!
« Last Edit: January 31, 2015, 09:20:39 AM by RetiredAt63 »

E_Monkey

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Re: Time to start your winter sown garden for veggies and flowers all season!
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2015, 06:09:38 PM »
Winter sowing works! It may seem like madness to start seeds outside now. But do it and you will be overrun with seedlings come May.

If you're not sure what to plant, head on over to the Winter Sowing forum at gardenweb.com for ideas.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Time to start your winter sown garden for veggies and flowers all season!
« Reply #13 on: February 03, 2015, 04:31:29 AM »
It looks like a lot of what Kevin Lee Jacobs plants now is what I plant in the fall.  His method is better (head start) if you want this year's seeds, mine works with seeds collected from my own plants or seeds from that year.

DecD

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Re: Time to start your winter sown garden for veggies and flowers all season!
« Reply #14 on: February 03, 2015, 05:34:04 AM »
Well, I've got radishes and lettuce growing now (and onions planted that aren't sprouting...hmmmm....) but I'll be setting out my tomato plants in 3 weeks.  I suppose this method requires that you live somewhere with actual winter!

In other words-- planting times are very regional.

horsepoor

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Re: Time to start your winter sown garden for veggies and flowers all season!
« Reply #15 on: February 03, 2015, 06:39:05 PM »
OK, I'm ready to get started this weekend.  Each year I think I'm going to try winter sowing, then I forget about it until spring rolls around.  I did put some seeds out in the in-ground bed in my greenhouse a couple weeks ago.  Haven't checked on them, but wouldn't be surprised if they've sprouted given that it was up to about 50 each day last week.

Hotstreak

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Re: Time to start your winter sown garden for veggies and flowers all season!
« Reply #16 on: February 04, 2015, 08:51:20 PM »
To the folks who are concerned about planting in the snow, don't worry about it.  The seeds won't sprout until it warms up enough, they will just sit dormant.  The benefit of this system is both a) the greenhouse extends the season and b) you can plant all plant types at once (they will sprout when appropriate).  If you plant all your seeds in the cold of January, they will start sprouting as spring comes.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2015, 08:54:04 PM by RobbyJ »

JetsettingWelfareMom

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Re: Time to start your winter sown garden for veggies and flowers all season!
« Reply #17 on: February 22, 2015, 11:34:59 PM »
We're planting like mad of course Vegas never got cold but it's a tough climate for growing here in the desert....know anything about aquaponics?

Simple Abundant Living

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Re: Time to start your winter sown garden for veggies and flowers all season!
« Reply #18 on: February 25, 2015, 12:38:17 PM »
We're planting like mad of course Vegas never got cold but it's a tough climate for growing here in the desert....know anything about aquaponics?

I've read about it but never tried it. Here's an article from Mother:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/aquaponic-gardening-growing-fish-vegetables-together.aspx

Let us know how it goes if you try it!

Thegoblinchief

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Hey, just pointing out that starting threads where the first post is just a promo link to your blog isn't kosher around here.

Not going to report you, but the mods have locked threads for this before.

Simple Abundant Living

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Hey, just pointing out that starting threads where the first post is just a promo link to your blog isn't kosher around here.

Not going to report you, but the mods have locked threads for this before.

Removed the link.

Revelry

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Don't know if it counts as "winter"-sowing, but I finally got our seeds into their mini-terrariums and out in the sun today.  If they take off growing they should be ready to transplant in mid-May like I hope.  Fingers crossed!

And giving myself a high-five for re-using all the apple juice jugs that I've been fermenting into hard cider.  :-D