Winter Sowing

Winter sowing is a fun and easy way to scratch that gardening itch during the coldest of seasons while giving your garden its best possible future. It’s a win-win endeavor for everyone involved, so why not give it a go? It’s not too late to start!

Here’s how:

Gather a bunch of empty one-gallon water jugs and drill 4-5 drainage holes in the bottom of each one.

Next, use a pair of kitchen shears or a box cutter to cut around the jug, starting and ending at the base of the jug handle. Leave about one inch uncut so that the jug hinges open at that spot.

After cutting around the jug, fill the bottom with potting soil and sow your seeds there, following the directions on the seed packet. With a Sharpie marker, label a plant stick with the seed type and push that in the soil as well. If you don’t have ready-made labeling sticks, popsicle sticks will work just fine.

Sprinkle the seeds with a bit of water and then seal up the circumference of jug with duct tape, leaving the cap of the jug off. Use your Sharpie to label the outside of the jug with the seed type again. I also like to put the plant height and sun preference here, too. This helps me to figure out where to put the seedlings when they are ready for planting in the ground.

Find an out-of-the-way place outside to put your little terrariums, and let Mother Nature do the rest. Just set it and forget it! By providing this protective shelter for your seedlings, you are giving these little guys the best chance for a good start and a strong growing season.

At this point you can start thinking about where these sprigs will go once they are ready to plant. You can easily prepare a few new garden beds for them during this interim period, and all you need to do so is a cardboard box!

First, think about where you want a new garden bed to be. Once you know where you want to start a new bed, lay pieces of cardboard (old flattened boxes) on the ground covering that area. Layers of newspaper will work as well, if cardboard is not accessible.

Next, lay unopened bags of topsoil on top of the cardboard to hold the cardboard (or newspaper) in place. This will prevent anything from growing in the covered area, and the topsoil will also provide extra soil for your new bed when you are ready to plant. Leave the area covered like this for weeks or months until you are ready to plant your seedlings.

When your sprouts are ready to plant, open the bags of topsoil in the new area, and dump the topsoil directly onto the cardboard underneath, and plant your seedlings there. The remaining cardboard on the ground will help to keep other formerly established plants from growing, giving your babies added time to get rooted without competition. You can add compost to the topsoil mix for an extra vitamin boost at this time if you have it available.

Now that you have a good idea about how to plant, where to plant, and how this whole process works, feel free to check on your seed jugs as the growing season approaches. You can always sprinkle them with a bit of water if they look dry as the weather warms. When the time is right, you will begin to notice the seedlings starting to sprout in their protective vessels. So exciting! When the plants are a few inches high and your beds are ready, open up your self-made terrariums, take out your seedlings all in one piece, and set them in the ground in the area that you have prepared for them. You can also gently break the growing clumps apart to spread and thin them out if that suits your needs better.

Think about cultivating native pollinator plants to give the flora and fauna in your area the best chance for a sustainable and productive life while helping our planet as well.

Happy gardening!