Gardening 201- Winter Sowing

This post originally aired on February 20, 2013. Since I've seen many of you on FB and IG talking about growing some of your own produce this year. I wanted to share it again.


You've chosen seeds, you have a great idea about where to put your garden...but what? It's only 11 degrees outside? (Or twenty, or forty.)

Never fear, enter winter-sowing! We live in Indiana. Where most people don't get enough sunlight in the winter, and it can be really difficult to start seeds indoor without grow-lights. So what to do, what to do? 

Last winter my friend introduced me to a great blog "A Garden for the House." Kevin has WAY more time than I have, for cooking, blogging, & gardening, but I love his advice on winter-sowing. You can go directly there from this link if you still have questions when I'm finished today: http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/category/gardening/winter-sowing/

The general idea is this: start your seeds outdoors, in little greenhouses made of recycled milk-jugs. Since it'll be too cold for anything to grow for a little while, they'll just sit and wait. Once it starts to warm up outside, your seeds will be all ready to go, you'll just need to keep an eye on when they need water.

Here's last year's lettuce on March 16th

By the end of March it was already big enough to eat! Our "frost-free" date here is May 1st, so we were WAY ahead of the game.

We did this for the first time last year and had the best tomato starts I have ever gotten from seeds. Short and stocky!


Now I'm going to show you how I winter-sow. I do it a little differently than on agardenforthehouse, but it's just a few tweeks of my own.

First- save LOTS of empty (washed out) milk and OJ jugs! We had 28 so far, but I'll probably end up starting 40 mini greenhouses total this year, so I'll keep saving them!

Next up, gather your supplies: you'll need: jugs, a tray to pot on, some newspaper to catch your mess, seeds, potting soil, a BLACK sharpie, duck tape, a sturdy knife & kitchen scissors. An empty box to put down when you are cutting is a plus.

Then, punch at least 4 drainage holes inthe bottom of each jug (do this first to ALL of them so you won't forget it!) I punch the knife in, and then twist it. It makes a hole about the size of a writing pen.

After that, you'll need to use your sturdy knife to cut a slit in one side, I like to put it in the middle of a side that adjoins the handle. Do this step for several jugs at a time, them move to the next step.

The following step is to use your scissors to make the slit wrap around all but the part under the handle, this will be your hinge!

Now to the messy part. Mix up your potting soil nice and muddy. On days when the weather breaks, I do this outside in a 5 gallon bucket. But since it was 45 and windy, I did it inside in an old ice cream bucket.

Now put soil in the bottom about 2-3" deep and plant your seeds according to the package. For small things like lettuce, you can plant a few dozen per jug. For plants you want to grow big and stocky (like tomatoes) limit yourself to 4 per jug. 

Use your duck tape (whatever color you have on hand) to tape shut the two sides opposite the handle-hinge. Notice the drip-tray to catch (at least most of) the wet, soggy soil leaking out the drainage holes!

LABEL, LABEL, LABEL! Use a black sharpie (other colors fade too soon) and mark what you planted in each jug & the date you planted it. After all, those tomato plants are all going to look alike when they are still small!

Finally, put your jug greenhouses outside in your garden spot (whether it's ready yet or not!) 

Today I only started 10 greenhouses, but I didn't want to go dig in the garage for more potting soil, so the next time it's warm(er) out, I'll get a lot more started. 

Don't be discouraged if you aren't ready for this because you don't have your seeds yet. It will still be helpful to start your plants in March or April the same way. I'm starting mine now for 2 main reasons: 1- I want fresh lettuce ASAP, & 2- I'll be doing a lot of these, so spreading them out makes it more enjoyable!

Dreaming of fresh tomatoes!

Thanks to Arlene for being my photographer for the day!

Gardening 101- where do I start?

It's the most wonderful time of the year, time to plan my gardens! 

Ok, not really, the most wonderful time is when it is warm enough to stay outside for more than 30 minutes, but it IS time to start thinking about gardening.

Most people don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. This is especially true in gardening. 

I have been gardening almost my whole life. I am NOT an expert, but I have learned a lot of things along the way over the past 35+ years of growing things, and I'll be happy to share them with you! I'm not committing to weekly posts, but there will be frequent ones about gardening, since it is one of my favorite things to do. :)

Now, there are all sorts of gardeners out there, you need to decide which kind you want to be THIS YEAR. That doesn't mean you can't change, but you need at least a basic idea to get started. 

Will you be a sustinance gardener, growing everything possible & putting up cans and cans of veggies for next winter ? (This is NOT recommender for beginners!) Do you want to grow veggies at all? Maybe you want to be a flower-only gardener, with maybe a few herbs thrown in. Perhaps you've been eyeing your neighbors' tomatoes the past few summers and want to do small scale gardening. Will this be in a garden bed, raised beds, in containers, or amongst your flowers?

If you're a novice...or just a little unsure how much time and energy you want to commit, I suggest you choose a small scale garden area, either a bed or containers. Remember that if you choose containers, you'll probably need to water them daily in the heat of summer. If this is not a realistic expectation in your lifestyle, then choose a bed instead, where you can get away with every other or every third day watering.

So, let's say you choose to do a small-scale garden bed, 8'x16'. Now what?

First, give some thought to what you want to plant, and where you will put the garden. Almost all garden vegetables like full sun (7-8 hours a day), so this needs to either be out in the open, or on the south or south-west side of your yard. With a small bed, you're NOT going to have enough room for corn, or long-vine-y things like pumpkins. That's ok, both of those are usually available at your local farmer's market. Another thing to think about, how far is this proposed garden site going to be from the spigot? Because there will be days you need to haul water. Will your hose reach it? Will you be carrying buckets? (Remember that city water is not as good for your plants as rain water. But, you CANNOT water you plants with softened water from your house. So, make sure you have a spigot that's not connected to the water softener, if you have one, or that you can bypass the softener somehow.

Think about the things your family enjoys eating the most. Tmatoes, lettuces/ greens, cucumbers, onions, peppers??? These will determine your next steps, so decide what you want to grow.

Now, you've decide what to grow, you've picked a place, and you're sure you'll be able to water it. Great! But you're thinking, it's January, come on?!? Yes, January, the time to plan when you need to plan. If you're going to buy all of your garden plants from your local hardware or health food store, you can take a break for this month. If you're wanting to start your own plants, you need to make out a schedule.

Last year a friend suggested I look at the blog www.agardenforthehouse.com , it has a great section on winter sowing (my new favorite way to start seedlings.) You can read all about it here. Just read through all of Kevin's posts on winter-sowing. I'll share at a later date about a few modifications I made, but you'll get the jist (& you'll start saving milk jugs!)

One more thing for now, where to get your seeds. I have some favorites. You may have some too. Sometimes they send you lovely seed catalogs full of pretty pictures & descriptions. I like those a lot, but there are some companies I've shied away from because they don't test their seeds for GMO's. I'm planting a vegetable garden to give my family the best food at the best price, and GMO's are not a part of that equation. That is a personal choice. If you're not aware of GMO's and the threats they pose to heirloom vegetable varieties (& our overall health,) I'll leave you to do that research on your own.

Right now, my seed catalog reading consists of:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds http://rareseeds.com - there is a link to request your own lovely copy of the catalog on the middle of the homepage.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange http://www.southernexposure.com - also a link to order your free catalog!

FEDCO http://www.fedcoseeds.com -they have a great fundraising program that our 4-H Club does every year.

Remember, in the world of gardening, like in all of life, you will run into companies or websites that don't always agree with your views or lifestyle. That doesn't make their advice any less meaningful. Take the good, leave the bad, use discernment. I don't have to agree with someone's personal choices or politics to know they carry the best ______ seed, or have the best tips on combatting _________ garden problem.

So, happy planning, happy dreaming. Check back soon!

"For mine is just a little old-fashioned garden where the flowers come together to praise the Lord and teach all who look upon them to do likewise." -Celia Thaxter