Does anyone Winter Sow?

dixie 12/14/2020, 11:44 am

Does anyone Winter Sow? I'm in zone 7 and temps get down to the single digits occasionally, but we don't have any snow cover.

I always start my own tomatoes & peppers from seed and the timing is sometimes hard to pin down. One year I had tomato plants blooming in the living room. I took them outside during the daytime & hauled them back inside every evening when temps started to cool back down. Sometimes I wait too late to sow my seeds.

I finally tried winter sowing last year with my peppers and tomato and I was amazed. The plants had the thickest & sturdiest stems that I've ever had. I just knew the seeds would rot or not sprout until the weather was warm, but they sprouted while it was still pretty cool & ready to set out by our last frost date, 4/15.

I just received my seed order, so can you guess what I'll be doing today?

OhioGardener 12/14/2020, 12:46 pm

The only winter sowing I have done for vegetables are the volunteer tomato, pepper, squash, etc., that come up from the previous year's gardens. Nature knows when they should sprout, and won't germinate them until the soil temp is correct for the plant type.

markqz 12/14/2020, 4:56 pm

dixie wrote:I finally tried winter sowing last year with my peppers and tomato and I was amazed. The plants had the thickest & sturdiest stems that I've ever had. I just knew the seeds would rot or not sprout until the weather was warm, but they sprouted while it was still pretty cool & ready to set out by our last frost date, 4/15.

Our temperatures here are warmer than yours, but my experience so far with plants from the tomato family is that although they will sprout, they won't thrive. This may be because of the constant cloud cover. However, it's the best time of the year for the cold-loving brassicas (except Bok Choy), because the insects are somewhat subdued.

TCgardening 12/28/2020, 1:28 pm

I do as winter is our best growing season down here in S Fla. Can't grow much besides weeds here in the summer.

Luke Allen 12/31/2020, 8:40 am

I winter sow turnips. I discovered them as a winter sow by accident. I tried to use them
with clover as a cover crop for the winter. Nothing came up. The following spring I discovered
I had lots of turnips. The original sowing was in November. I found them in March/April.

Luke

chestnutmare 12/31/2020, 9:48 am

Yes, I winter sow and have been doing so for a number of years now. I have purchased my seeds (43 varieties of flowers, annuals and perennials) and soil and am getting ready to start the process of winter sowing. There are several helpful sites but especially from the woman who popularized what has come to be known as winter sowing, Trudi Davidoff ( http://wintersown.org ) Her site has so much information such as what perennials and annuals can be safely winter sown; how to do winter sowing. etc. I am eager to get my mini-greenhouses (24" wreath storage containers that I got for 95% off and put holes in the translucent tops and in the bottoms for drainage and airflow and in a few months, look forward to seeing new life springing forth.

dixie 12/31/2020, 11:13 am

I have used Winter Sown in the past and it is a great site. I got my seeds sown this weekend.

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Does anyone Winter Sow?

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Turnips

Winter sowing

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