Yes you do, but most of us do..42 jugs..happy planting

Welcome newbie, you've got the Winter Sowing bug. Take pic's in the spring when they sprout.

Once you see how much sprouts, you'll be hooked.
After trying lavender indoors 2 years in a row, no luck, but the first year of wsing, all 3 varieties of lavender sprouted for me.
Mother nature knows what she is doing.

Smokey,
I'm a newbie doing wintersowing this year for the first time too! Isnt it great to find a forum where everyone is addicted to the same gardening habits!? I've not gone dumpster diving but have been saving containers for a while, and thinking of ways to get more! I went a little overboard on the seed-buying (and traded some too). I plan to start soon.

Did you put drainage holes in the bottom of your jugs?

I, too, would love to see photos when yours start to sprout!

Disney nut, GLAD to hear your lavendar sprouted outside/winter sowing. I bought Spanish lavendar to wintersow then read somewhere lavendars were difficult to start from seed.

With all these seedlings, I'm wondering if anyone wants to trade extra seedlings once they root well come spring/early summer? I know I'll have some extras. How about you?

I haven't actually started yet... I'd better get cracking! I'm waiting on some seeds from a swap and trying to get my new laundry sink area ready for sowing. I used to do my wintersowing in the kitchen, but it was a bit more difficult last year with three new overly "helpful" kitties. They were jumping in my big rubbermaid of potting mix, running off with seed packets, etc!

Now I've got a big laundry sink with sprayer in the basement and will hopefully have a big workbench on wheels with a waterproof top next to the sink. I will still have to carry my containers up the stairs to go outside, but I used a large concrete mixing tray to carry them outside already. So, it is just the extra stairs to deal with. They might keep me in shape for when it comes time to plant all those seedlings!

English lavender has worked very well for me with wintersowing in the past, haven't tried the Spanish kind though.

Smokey, you may have a problem with the sharpie fading. I'm not sure how quickly it fades in the sun, but I know some people have had that problem. I use a "garden marker" which is a black marker like a sharpie but is much more fade resistant. They sell them by the seed displays or online. Many also just use pencil as well which won't fade, but is lighter and maybe can rub off. Some use paint pens, but they are pricier and you have to be careful since it smears easily before it fully dries. The fumes on some kinds are not good to breath in either.

Happy sowing all!

I've started too :) Did my first four litter jugs on the first, second four on the second... all wildflower mixes. Over the next couple days will be prepping up more litter jugs to put outside on the racks.
Later on I'll start with milk jugs.

Valal111,

Double check wsing those spanish lavender seeds, you might want to treat them like zinnia seeds and put them out early spring. I believe they are not frost hardy and need to be treated like an annual in our zone.

For the lavender that responded very well to wsing for me was Hidcote, English Munstead, Lady, French Perfume, also tried White Ice and only got 2 seedlings from 1 whole packet. It must be the freeze thaw cycle that makes it sooo easy with lavender.

I second using a garden marker, I bought 2 of them over 5 years ago and am still using them. By summertime my ws jugs had almost no fading where I had written on them, unless you put tape over the writing than peel it off in spring. The first year I ws I wrote the seed variety on the top and bottom of the jug, than used packing tape to attach the top to the bottom covering what I had written. When I removed the tape in spring, most of the writing came with it, why I don't know. I did a lot of seedling guessing that year, lol.

Disney,
THANK YOU for cautioning me about frost-hardiness of the spanish lavendar. I double checked..purchased from Swallowtail and it says hardy to zone 5. however, I think I'll play it safe and only plant a few via wintersowing and plant rest as "annuals" in March or April.

When you say garden marker, do you mean one of those "grease pencils" I think they call them? I bought a box of 10 on ebay with free shipping for what I would have paid for a couple of them at Home Depot.

WHOOPS! I stand corrected! I was looking at the wrong lavendar seed....The Spanish says only hardy zone 7! Thanks for this reminder, Disneynut! :o)

I also bought a pack of garden markers from ebay last year. They work well.

A while ago, some suggested using colored plastic toothpicks inside the containers as a code, besides using something that might fade in the sun. A red pick might be for Stokesia, a blue could be used for calendula, etc. When you run out of colors, just use two or three picks in the container. Keep notes on which color and how many picks you used for which seeds. I used this method very successfully last year.

Also, instead of using tape, which can be sticky and difficult to open and close, someone suggested using a hole punch, or punching holes with a knife that has been heated, and threading twistums, (or the little twist ties that are used to close bread wrappers), through the holes to make a closure instead of using tape. I punched three spaced out openings in the top part and three matching holes in the bottom of each jug, secured them with the ties, and it too worked well for me. It is much easier to open and close the container than using tape. It doesn't seem to matter if the opening around the middle isn't tight.

I also was worried about the labels fading. as I began my winter sowing right after the holidays I had a ton of ribbon around (the thin ribbon that comes on a spool with several colors) I just tied a bit around the neck of the bottle to "label" as a back-up. This might work with extra yarn you might have laying around also. I like this because you can identify the container right away from afar instead of squinting to read a label, etc. just an idea........

Pencil works very well for writing labels. I've got year old labels (mini blinds) in my flower beds that are in full sun, got rained on, had dirt splashed all over them, the works. Wipe the dirt away and they are as legible as the day I wrote them.

Rodney

Vall lall you must put holes in containers for drainage, i then put used large water bottles over the top, no tape needed if I could post a picture I could show you xx

i had chinese lanterns once ... took me a few years to get rid of them.. when they tried to take over the whole yard ... lol ...

sharpie on plastic doesnt last long ... thought that will be fine for the sowing season ... try a regular old pencil ... carbon has a half life of millions of years ... if the blind is too slippery to write on ... hit it with some steel wool or fine sand paper.. to break the smooth surface ...

if the part written on.. gets under the soil ... NEVER wipe it off.. to try to read it.. you will usually wipe off the writing ... just let it dry for a bit ... then see what you can see ....

always place the blind at an angle out in the garden ..... with the name facing down ... trying to avoid any sunlight on them ...

i have found them out in the yard ... legible.. after many.. many years ....

ken