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Post by ahntjudy on Feb 5, 2024 9:20:22 GMT -5
I know there are mice and other things out there, have never had critter problems here but I'm not rural. emmsmommy , I highly encourage you to give winter-sowing a try. It is the easiest thing, involves no watering, no electricity, no schlepping of trays of stuff in and out to harden off...day after day... You just plant, put it out there and stuff grows. Depending on your weather, you keep an eye on them for water needs when things start growing. The con to this method is that it is slower than grown inside. Nature takes over and takes her time. I winter-sowed a few tomato seeds a few years ago, just to try, and for around here, they germinated way too late for any decent growing season, so I limit the winter-sowing to the hardier things, especially my greens...Flowers too... I say, "Go for it!" You'll be pleasantly surprised.
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Post by pondgardener on Feb 5, 2024 12:23:41 GMT -5
ahntjudy, that is quite a few jugs of Italian parsley. What do you do with all that comes up? Or is germination spotty? I just got a packet of Italian parsley this year to add another crop to the dill that comes up for the black swallowtails that frequent the garden.
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Post by breezygardener on Feb 5, 2024 15:30:26 GMT -5
What do you do with all that comes up? If nothing else, Tiger swallowtail caterpillars absolutely adore it! I always plant extra for sharing.
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Post by ahntjudy on Feb 6, 2024 8:47:18 GMT -5
pondgardener , besides using a great deal of fresh parsley, I freeze it. I also supply it to my brothers and my neighbors. As breezygardener said, I plant enough for the munching caterpillars as well. As far as germination goes, I plant so many seeds in the first place, I get plenty of transplants.
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Post by tbird on Feb 12, 2024 15:29:33 GMT -5
Anyone winter sowing flowers?
Was going to try as all my space is going to go to vegetables. Have not done before. Any tips?
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Post by breezygardener on Feb 12, 2024 17:08:46 GMT -5
I seem to recall the only flowers I wintersowed were Echinacea/Coneflowers & I did end up with quite a few seedlings. I believe it was a "Pow Wow" mix.
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Post by datgirl on Feb 12, 2024 17:19:41 GMT -5
I tried some cone flowers from seeds I gathered last year. That's it.
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Post by ahntjudy on Feb 13, 2024 9:05:34 GMT -5
I used to winter sow gomphrena, which did fine, but no longer do that as the millions of dropped seeds come up on their own out there.
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Post by tbird on Feb 14, 2024 13:06:45 GMT -5
datgirl how did they do? coneflowers?
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Post by tbird on Feb 14, 2024 13:11:40 GMT -5
ahntjudy - surprised the winter sowing of tomatoes didn't work out for you in zone 7! My area is formerly zone 5 and easing into 6 the past decade, and I have had volunteer tomatoes give a decent harvest the past few years so was considering at least some winter sowing of tomatoes. Not sure about peppers. Thinking of shepparding one plant of each kind indoors.
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Post by datgirl on Feb 14, 2024 13:22:06 GMT -5
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Post by binnylou on Feb 17, 2024 19:03:58 GMT -5
Another winter sowing jug to the deck today. This one is seeded with saved blue Salvia seed from last years flower garden. I stuffed some snow down in to the jug…
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Post by breezygardener on Feb 18, 2024 13:22:55 GMT -5
surprised the winter sowing of tomatoes didn't work out for you in zone 7! I am also in Zone 7 (or 7a depending on who you talk to) & I've never even thought of wintersowing tomatoes. I've had plenty of volunteers pop up here & there, but just like ahntjudy, they were too late & never ended up getting large enough in time to produce anything at all.
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Post by binnylou on Feb 18, 2024 13:29:28 GMT -5
I have winter sowed a few tomato plants, but years ago. The trouble with winter sowing some things is adapting to the pace of Mother Nature. I remember those plants being very robust.
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Post by breezygardener on Feb 21, 2024 12:59:40 GMT -5
Woo Hoo!! The "Giant of Italy" flat-leaf Italian parsley seeds I winter-sow jug planted on Feb. 2 are just starting to sprout!! Nineteen days is well within their normal germination time, so I'm very pleased since they can be real slo-mos in that department. The old legend that "parsley makes the journey to the devil & back more than once before germinating" is frequently very true. I've lost count of the times I've lost patience with them & have ended up buying plants, which is not cost-effective.
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