Well , I am also a newbie, and am having some sprouting in zone 5. Even though I have planted lots of seeds in the past, I am new at winter sowing. I have hollyhocks that have sprouted; I soaked my containers, let them drain, roughed up the surface, sprinkled in my seeds, sprinkled a think layer of soil on top, and tamped down lightly with my knuckles. Smaller seeds like poppies I just sprinkled over the wet, tamped soil. I looked at my poppies today, and it looks like the seed coats have split. I am expecting to see some poppy sprouts any day now.

We had extremely warm temps last week and lots of sun. I have my containers in full sun, so they all got nice and toasty for a few days. I live in a fairly flat part of Indiana, out in the country. No swamps around.

I find that a spray bottle works well for watering my bottle containers. Just spray into the opening with a fine mist. The mist covers the entire soil surface without disturbing the seeds.

I am putting my trust in the confidence of all the veteran winter sowers by not worrying about my new sprouts. If they die they die, but everyone says they will be fine. So, I guess they will be fine. We'll see.

ladyrose, there are any number of reasons why some in the colder zones may have sprouts now, while those of us is the "warmer" zones don't. what seeds are sprouting for them? were their seeds fresh, as opposed to commercial or older collected seeds? what was their weather like over the last couple of months? what's their particular microclimate? maybe Mother Nature is just playing head games with us??

in your case, you've got weather and microclimate covered in your (1) and (2). what type/brand of soil did you use? when you say your soil is too compacted, too much water pressure, does that mean you watered your soil after after sowing, instead of sowing into wet/moist soil? with the weather we've been having, you should not have needed to water since sowing. that said, bottom-watering is the best way to go with WS. the lone container i've sown this year was down with horrible, twiggy, DRY miracle-gro soil - it took forever to get wet before i sowed the seeds (kmotgg - fingers crossed). i think i'll sieve the junk out before i sow the rest of my containers. as for sowing too deep, you've already learned that you really don't have to do that - but your seeds will find their way to germinate anyway.

all of my rambling notwithstanding, no matter when i sow, or what, or what the weather has been like, i very rarely see germination before march or so. since i'm just across the river from you, i'm guessing you'll start seeing seedlings around the same time. get ready!

there is still plenty of time to sow more seeds if you wish - even ones that need just a small time of cold strat. i still have to decide what i want to sow this year - figuring it'll probably be mostly annuals. i also fear that some of my established perennials may not have made it thru this crummy winter, since i never did any winter prep on my pots. oh, well.

PV

I checked my containers the other day, nothing yet. Although I can see some that might soon in the next few weeks. I was thinking why some of mine haven't and am trying not to worry.

I am so thrilled others are getting sprouts, yours will sooner than you think :)

Thank You all for the info.

Pvick, you're right, I watered after I sowed. It took the MG a long time to stay moist. Bottom-watering def. next year.

As for sprouts, I looked into my garden, the tomotoes that I grew last summer, have reseeded over. I have 4 sprouts popping out-of-the ground!? (Ain't Life Funny!)

I usually don't have germination in my area (zone 5) until after the beginning of March and it is usually seeds like Larkspur, Snapdragons, Poppies, and Lupines. Other seeds such as Aquilegias seem to take forever, and some others I have planted have taken 2 or 3 years. Just be patient:-)

Rhonda

Sprouts!! Hahahaha! We still have almost 2 feet of snow on the ground.

Yes, there are quite a few variables, but February is very early for sprouts in zones 5/6. You would have to have unusual conditions like a stretch of unseasonably warm weather and a warm sunny micro-climate heating up those mini-greenhouses (like Indiana Matt). This is my 4th year winter-sowing and my earliest sprouts have consistently been in late March - still 1 month away. It's usually the early birds like Alyssum 'Carpet of snow'.

Some people have observed that western zone 5/6 sprouts earlier than eastern zone 5/6, perhaps because of the higher altitudes and stronger sun?

Pretty much ditto what terrene said for me here on the border of Z5b/6a CT. Last year was my first attempt at winter sowing and I kept a chart of when certain seeds were WS and when they sprouted. My very first sprout ever was lupine on March 14. Agastache, alyssum, bachelor buttons, cupid's dart, foxglove, candytuft, Shasta daisy, rudbeckia and dianthus came next--all before April 1st.

My WS containers are in full shade on my breezeway so I got sprouts about a week later than folks who put them in full sun. Since I'm gone all day I didn't want to risk mine frying so they stayed in the shade.

Once the green wave rolls through you'll wish some of them had waited a little longer to sprout. Columbine & stokesia took forever as did canna, tall garden phlox, dogwood & baptisia BUT they ALL sprouted eventually.

I also took a guess at germination rates and found that some were close to 100% while others struggled to hit 50%. Foxglove and butterfly bush were off the charts--I suspect those seeds were having a naughty nightie party in those jugs. Once they sprouted, the jugs looked like Chia pets!

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Thanks for the info. and esp., the types of seeds that sprout earlier than others.

Gardenweed, "that's a lot of 'Foxgloves'".

I am learning.