Winter sowing
I had never heard of winter sowing before last year. I had seen people with milk jugs in their yards and thought they were just really advanced gardeners. Little did I know they were just working easier, not harder! Basically winter sowing is a way to create a mini greenhouse and help seedlings to harden off while they are growing. Its pretty easy, though we failed miserably last year. The things we learned last year were:
We need to have the containers more easily accessible
We need to have our jugs/containers tethered to each other or contained in a way that strong winds won’t blow them away
Duct tape is much better than packing tape
So here is our step by step guide to winter sowing. Our gallery of pictures will be at the bottom of the post.
Supply List
Milk jugs
Ruler
marker
Something to cut the jug and poke holes in it
Paint pen for marking your jugs
Popsicle sticks for marking inside the jug as well (you don’t have to use popsicle sticks, but they are usually cheap and easy)
Potting soil (avoid fertilizer and water retention soils)
Compost (optional)
Vermiculite (optional)
Water (warm)
Spray bottle of water
A larger container to mix potting soil, compost, and water
Duct tape
Something to hold your jugs to each other so they don’t blow away
Directions
Collect milk jugs (you can use other plastic bottles, but milk jugs seem to be the easiest to work with) and all your other supplies
Measure 3” above the bottom of the jug and mark it. You will cut along this line leaving just a small hinge for the top to still be connected to the bottom
Drill 4 holes in the bottom of the jug and 2 holes on the sides (about 1.5” up)
Mix potting soil with water to make sure the soil is moist but not wet. If you are using compost you can add it here. We do 4 parts potting soil and 1 part compost and 1 part vermiculite
Fill each jug with the soil mixture and add seeds. We usually lightly cover them. Anything that is native to your area can be winter sown.
For large seeds we do 4-6 seeds per jug and for smaller ones we do 6-8.
Mark the inside of your jug and the outside so you know what is in it. Everything starts to look the same come spring;)
Spritz the top of the soil/seeds with water and use duct tape to tape the jug
Leave the cap off and set it outside in a sunny location. Last year we found several of our jugs were blown over during really windy days, so you can use some kind of rope to tie the jugs together so you don’t find one flying into the neighbor’s yard.
Check on your jugs occasionally to make sure that they haven’t dried out
When they are growing and pretty hearty you can take the tape off and open them up during the day
When its time to plant, you can plant them like any other seeding. Dig your spot in the garden, place the root ball in, and water well!
