Winter sowing?

Hi Everyone,
I have been trying to search on winter sowing (cause I'm impatient and can't wait for spring ).

Most of the websites and posts I have found tend to be from the states so I wondered if anyone here has tried winter sowing. From what I can gather you simply sow perennial seeds in a cold propogator and put them in the greenhouse and ensure they don't dry out.

I was thinking of having a go this weekend. Any advise? Go for it? Don't dare? What do you think? BTW I'm in the midlands.

 

Try clicking on the U.K. only button to the left of your Gurgle page to restrict your search, that my help. There is always broad beans.


Cheers Tony

 

Hi Kleftiwallah,

Did that - not many results for the UK.

My garden isn't big enough and I am disabled so no veg for me, just flowers.

 

It really depends on what you want to sow, what do you have in mind?

 

I got interested in this when i was on another Garden forum. There was a passionately loony US contingent that swore by winter-sowing, even advocating sowing tomatoes and other tender plants by that method.

The idea seemed to be that you would sow in winter in covered containers, (plastic milk containers cut in half were recommended, and cake containers with integral lids) leave the stuff out in the snow for a few months and up it would come like cress.

I tried a number of seeds one year and mostly got nothing. Of the few that did germinate early, it was still hard to provide them with conditions where they could continue to flourish through Jan and Feb, due to the damp, the cold and the low light levels.

I think it works better in the US because they have very cold, snowy winters, whereas we have mild and very damp ones.

The seeds that are most likely to respond are ones native to places with a cold winter climate such as the North American prairies, the Russian steppes, and a few places south of the equator that weren't covered in my O level geography lessons.

This guide was written by a devotee. http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/wtrsow/

 

http://www.uk.gardenweb.com/forums/load/ukgard/msg121555122448.html

More about the British experience here.

Is it OK to post links to erm, rival forums, mods?

 

What about sweetpeas( ive got some in the greenhouse),there is another thread just recent for perennial sweetpeas aswell,im going to invest in some of them seeds this week

 

Auntpol, forget the North American stuff. They have a continental climate whereas we have a maritime climate. There's a very significant difference between the two, and insofar as light levels go we are on a latitude more comparable to Canada than the USA.
Washington is at 38 degrees N, Quebec 53 North and BOTH are SOUTH of where I am at 56 North.

 

As long as you are not deliberately trying to lead members off to another forum. Which I don't think is your intention

 

No, no, no, no, sir. It's much nicer here, actually.

 

Years back I had a call from someone who had just bought a listed building & wanted some work doing, I was too busy so I passed the job onto a coleague. He got back to me and asked if I knew who i'd passed onto him.

I didn't. Turned out to be the guy from The Vicar of Dibbley. The one that says, "No no no no no no.....Yes"

 

Hi Sheal, Madahhlia, Zool68, DaveW and Zigs

Thanks so much for all that information - Now I know why the only information I could find on winter sowing was from the states. So now I have to work out when I would be able to start sowing here in england. This is my very first proper year of sowing.

The perinnial seeds I have are aubrieta, dracocephalum, creeping thyme, lavender munsted, armeria maritime, saxifrage, festuca, hardy geranium, campanula tiny bells and campanula carpatica, prunella, evening primrose, alyssum, dianthus and polemonium. (The reason for so many is that I have been asked to grow for my kids gardens and the whole of our village has a plant swap around april/may).

My choices for sowing are either cold greenhouse (I can't afford to heat it) which gets sun from first thing in the morning to late afternoon or south facing patio doors which I could put a table in front of to put trays on.

 

Instructions on the back of the packet should be your first guide.

There are two issues: [lack of] Light and Temperature. Some seeds will germinate within heat, others will germinate better with some heat - but you can get that heat by starting them off indoors on a windowsill - but watch out once they germinate because the light on a windowsill is nothing like as much as in a greenhouse, and seedlings will grow weak, and lanky - so called "leggy" - on a windowsill unless you are careful.

If the plants don't mind some cold (in particular things which are hardy) then they can go in the greenhouse once they have germinated, or failing that they can go in the greenhouse on days when it gets above 10C in there, and then back in the house / utility room etc. for the night.

Starting too early will be a disappointment, compared to starting on time, or a bit late, so I recommend patience! If too early when not enough light the plants will be leggy, weak, and likely to succumb to disease or die of cold :(

 

Hi Kristen,
Thanks for that info ... I've checked out all the seed packets and a lot of the perennials say sow from feb in a cold greenhouse but all say much higher temperatures than we have at the moment so I guess I have to wait.

 

If you have a cold greenhouse I think it would be alright to sow stuff from climates with a cold winter, but not anything originating from warm climates.