Winter sowing 2019

I dabbled with winter sowing in 2017, using row accelerator covers, which are sturdier row covers with mesh tops to let in water. I ended up with some good new plants but also a lot that died or were eaten; I think the slugs figured out how to sneak under the cover.

The covers don't really have the same greenhouse effect as smaller containers, so this year I wanted to try "real" winter sowing with plastic jugs. We don't drink much milk, but I had also been wanting to try watering some indoor plants with filtered water. At 99 cents/gallon, that was a pretty cheap easy source for jugs. (For the record, I didn't notice any difference in the health of my indoor plants using filtered water vs. chlorinated tap water).

I started the first four jugs January 6 and continued planting a few a week through February 2. They are all flowers, mostly west coast natives, to fill in areas around the yard:

• Springbank clover, trifolium wormskioldi
• Checkermallow, sidalcea campestris
• English daisy, bellis perrenis
• Hedge nettle, stachys cooleyae
• Delphinium, Pacific Giant mix
• Bee balm, bergamo variety
• Sweet peas, Lord Nelson
• Alyssum, royal carpet
• Chinese houses, collinsia heterophyla
• Desert bells, phacelia campanularia
• Harebell, campanula rotundifolia (old seeds)
• Farewell to spring, clarkia amoena
• Bird's eye, gilia tricolor
• Globe gilia, gilia capitata
• Baby blue eyes, nemophila menziesii
• Baby five spot, nemophila maculata

I saw sprouts in less than 3 weeks, the English daisy and alyssum were first.

Then, we got snow, and more snow.  A lot of snow that stuck around, with temperatures much colder than normal. I wasn't worried about the snow because it will insulate plants in cold weather, but I was afraid the seeds that were already sprouted wouldn't survive the cold nights.

But when the snow finally melted enough to peak inside, the seedlings were just fine.

And as the snow melted and temperatures started to warm up, more seeds have been sprouting. 

We had an inch of wet snow again this morning (last gasp of winter, we all hope), and the seedlings are just fine! I'm looking forward to seeing how quickly they grow once it really starts to feel like spring.

Chilly March 7th

I am also using the row accelerator cover for most of the same seeds because I wanted to compare them. For the most part, the seeds in the jugs have sprouted first and are larger, but the seeds under the cover aren't too far behind!