LOL, this is so timely. I was wondering this morning where on earth I am going to plant all my sprout "babies". This is my first year wintersowing and I just can't seem to stop! I am afraid too that I will have jugs to plant in late summer and nowhere to tuck them. Sigh. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it and just keeps sowing away! Like Scarlet O'Hara said, "I won't think about that today. I'll think about that tomorrow!"

Kimber

Oh Lordy, this is hilarious! As both a genetically programmed gardener for life & a nursery professional, I've forever had what we in the business call our 'pile of shame'. That's the collection of goodies we've drug home from various nursery shopping expeditions or starts of our own that've been continually potted up, and up again awaiting an opening in a bed somewhere! And now I've started WSing. The 'pile of shame' is about to be redefined, and I'm afraid expanded exponentially! Thanks for the warning Martha, I'll start making space today for the new 'waiters'!

You call it the pile of shame. I call it the pot ghetto.

What a great topic! I try not to think about where I'm going to put all my seedlings. lol

I was looking at the Container Count spreadsheet a few days ago and noticed there's a bunch of people that have well over 100 containers. Most years, I have less than 20 and I still have trouble getting stuff in the ground. I have a few leftovers from last year still on my patio.
I'm in awe of those people that have found time to fill so many containers and even more amazed by the ones that get them planted.

As Karen Carpenter sung, "It Only Just Begun". I did over 334 last year. It was so overwhelming, trying to find a spot for all of them. I'm at 93 this year so far, but I got annuals to put in. Yesterday, I planted my first 3 jugs by the 3rd jug I was tired.

I planted out my first container today - scarlett Flax. It was getting tall and stringy so in the ground it went ( 3 groupings). I have some dianthus that looks almost ready to plant that I am goingto try to get in the ground this week. For me, the key is to start NOW planting out.While it's fun to watch them grow up "up close" in the containers, do try to get them in the ground when the second set of leaves are solidly on (perennials). If you wait, the sheer volume of containers to get planted gets overwhelming. Ask me how I know this...

The only thing I feel wifty about is what am I going to do with these tiny little microscopic pansies when what I really need is a big plant. Want the place to look Eastery. I really have to think about what I need in the real world.

Corgitrbl, buy a couple of annuals in bloom for your blooms urge. Everybody likes a little color right away! But plant those pansies, even in pots - they will give you color when the store-bought annuals are done. In my experience, a lot of strong, healthy blooming annuals now wimp out completely by summer. That's about when a lot of my WS plants are kicking in, and they last up until a good freeze.

Thank you, Martha, for the laugh today! I was reading that thinking, we must be married to the same person, LOL! This being my sixth year to wintersow, he's kind of excepted my pot ghetto, though it really goes against his idea of what the backyard patio should look like.

For me, timing of planting out is tricky business. If they go in the ground too small, they get eaten my pill bugs. If I wait too long, it's so hot out that the little sprouts fry. There's a magic window in there somewhere, and sometimes I actually hit it.

Bonnie

I think my largest problem will be separating all those seedlings! The containers that I wasn't expecting much from, and as a result received a heavy handed seeding, are loaded with sprouts... tons and tons. I don't know how I'll be able to untangle all of them, but I just can't sacrifice any! However, as luck would have it, the containers that I knew would be easy (gaillardia, echinacea, evening primrose) only have a few sprouts, and those are having difficulties with excess moisture... I suspect the rest of the seeds have rotted.

For the plants that are very important to me, my method of planting out will be this... Tons of disposable cups with drainage holes drilled in them. I'll wait until seedlings have their second set of true leaves - first set if they're crowded - before transplanting to the cups. Then I'll carefully fish them out and place them in their new home. I'm not sure yet, but I might end up placing another cup with holes in it on top of that for a few days to conserve moisture and humidity in case I've stressed them. After that, I'll let them grow to decent size before planting out. I'm guessing this will help them survive the onslaught of slugs and heat. In the end, I suppose transplanting to a larger container makes it easier to overwinter the perennials should they never make it to the ground in time.

As for everything else, especially the densely sown poppies... Hunk o' seedlings method will be the way to go.

I'm worried - I have nearly 300 cups and probably 75% have sprouted. A whole flat of yarrow is ready to be planted out - 24 plants. Will probably give 10 of them to my neighbor. She'll get some of everything I started this year so out of the 300 cups I'll probably end up planting 200, if you factor in what I kill and give away. I went a little crazy this year for sure.

Oh yeah, planting out definitely is a daunting prospect. I have two gardens to work, my small city lot and my mother in laws large (by comparison) wooded lot. Even so, I'm still having trouble picturing where to put all of them. I already built a new bed for the seeds my son picked out. And I always end up picking up a few packets of seeds every time I go out. And now my hubby is bringing home seeds too. He had brought me a few packets at first, but when he realized this thing actually works, he became a total enabler. We have ourselves a non-gardening convert.
Yup, it's going to take a lot of effort, but I'm determined to find a home for all of them.

Run and plunk. I'm dividing each jug bottom into four sections and plunk! I'm waiting for a rainy day to resume plantout.

This is timely for me as well. I just started my "flower garden" last year. It is about 40 x 30 feet. The septic drains under that area so we don't want to plant anything edible but it makes the soil nice and fertilized for flowers. Last night I tilled the big area that hasn't had anything planted yet, and I wondered how I will control weeds this year. I think I will put down newspaper and cover it with shredded leaves, or straw if the leaves don't work. I'm afraid the shredded leaves will blow away.

I have a little bit of panic in me since we can get frosts up until the middle of May and I have LOTS of sprouts. Some of my more tender sprouts (Cosmos, Mexican Sunflowers, etc.) didn't like that and a few sprouts in each containers showed some signs of cold damage.

Where to plant them isn't much of an issue. If all goes well, they will have a new home at my sister's new home (LOL). Some flowers/herbs I'll leave for me.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Most of my planting out will have to wait because our last frost date is mid-May, though I'll probably push it a bit this year with some things. That said, the early warmth has some of my sprouts getting too big for their containers. I'll be transplanting a few toms from a 16 oz. water bottle to a 2 liter. I thought I only planted one seed in the little bottles, but a few of them have three plants so I must have dropped a couple of seeds in by accident, and of course they all germinated. lol.

Brad, when we're expecting frost I throw a sheet over the containers so the frost can't get to the leaves. IIRC, that's what does the damage, not the cold.

My poppies are also outgrowing their containers. Have to check if they're cold hardy and can withstand being planted out this early. This is only my second year with them.

Caryl