How to Winter Sow Seeds Outdoors



By Trudi Davidoff



It really is very easy to do.



First, let me give you a little background as to why I sowed the seeds during the winter. I live in a very small house, a cottage actually, and I simply do not have room for a light set up, also, any window space I have must be fought from the cat and "Prinny" likes to look out on the street and watch the world go by, so I have to give her a windowsill. She's a good cat and deserves her place in the sun.



I got hooked on seed trading, and as you all know seed trading is like Pokemon..."You gotta have 'em all." I had tons of seeds, I had them all. Though I am not a novice at gardening, I am a novice at growing seeds. This was my second season doing so. Because of my lack of experience with growing seeds, and not having a light set up, I traded for "easy to grow" seeds; I had to start them in the windowsill or out on the patio in flats during spring and summer.



I was thinking a lot last winter about how I was going to start all these seeds; I needed an easy way out. I knew that many seeds needed to be pre-chilled, and I knew that many plants reseed and germinate outdoors without our intervention. I thought about this for a few days and put two and two together. I would sow them into flats, and take them outside for the winter, if all went well then they would germinate in spring.



I am a true believer in "recycle and reuse". I had been saving my take-out containers from the Chinese restaurant (not those typical white boxes that have a metal handle and white rice inside), I was saving the foil pans that have a separate clear plastic lid, and they're usually round or rectangular. These containers were just perfect.....plus I didn't have to go to a store and open up my wallet (hmm, look at all the moths fly out), if I can get away without having to lay down a buck I will. I did need soil so I went to the local discount department store and got their brand which was the cheapest I could find.



Seed Selection



Look at a seed catalogue, most will have some sort of notation about a seed's germination requirements, or you'll pick up a few clue-in phrases.



Look for these terms:



Needs Pre-chilling (freeze seeds, refrigerate seeds, stratify for x amount of days or weeks), Needs Stratification, Will Colonize, Self-Sows, Sow outdoors in early Autumn, Sow outdoors in early Spring while nights are still cool, Sow outdoors in early Spring while frosts may still occur, Hardy Seeds, Seedlings can withstand frost, Can be direct sown early, Wildflower, Weed (such as butterfly weed, joe pye weed, jewel weed.)



Look for Common Names indicating a natural environment:



Plains, Prairie, Desert, Mountain, Swamp, Field, River, etc.



Look for names that might indicate an origin in a temperate climate:



Siberian, Chinese, Polar, Alpine, Orientale, Canadensis, Caucasian, Russian (indicating Soviet origin), etc.



Think about your own garden and your neighbors' gardens too. Do you find plants that have volunteered each spring and shown up as seedlings that you didn't sow? These are very good choices. Let's say that your orange marigolds have returned in spring as volunteer seedlings....you can then be pretty well assured that gold, or lemon, African or French varieties will also reseed. When it comes down to it, a marigold is a marigold is a marigold.



I like Park's Seed catalogue, it has a great germination table right in the middle of the catalogue. They have a numbered guide indicating the best germination requirements for seeds. I took a yellow highlighter and went down that numbered list and highlighted all the numbers that would be appropriate for Winter Sowing, then I carefully went through their list of seeds and highlighted the varieties that corresponded to the correct numbers. This is how I chose which varieties I would Winter Sow. A lot of catalogues, not just Parks, will have a germination table, or some information about germination, look at them, study them, and learn.

To make a flat you take the foil container (of course it's clean, washed in hot soapy water) and a paring knife. Stab a few slits in the bottom of the pan, this is for drainage. Now fill the pan with soil to about a half inch from the top. Give it a real good drink and let it drain. I do this in my kitchen. (I have a sprayer on a hose at the sink and I use this for the watering, works well and won't gouge out holes in the soil). After the pan has drained, sow your seeds and pat them down. Cover the seeds with more soil to the correct depth, if necessary. I like growing plants with tiny, tiny seeds, they're really just the very most easiest to sow. Sprinkle them on top of the soil, pat the seeds down, and that's that.



Now you need to put the lid on but first...and this is the very most important step...take the knife and poke several slits in the clear plastic lid. This is for air transpiration. Think about it, you're making a little mini-greenhouse. If you don't vent the air that is heated by the sun you'll cook your flat and the seeds won't germinate. You've baked them to death. Okay, put the lid on secure by folding down the foil rim. Now the seeds are sown.