I thought we leave 'em outside all the time till they go in ground. Unless you think with warm weather, those seemingly lifeless seedlings will just mysteriously become lively again?

"Aren't we suppose to sow seeds and then forget it?"
Yes, some do say that you should. As a newbie years ago I found that that isn't always the case. I lost tenders to frost then, too, though never hardy annuals or hardy perennials. Since then, I always cover tender sprouts (like toms, zinnia, marigold) for frost, and sometimes put them in the garage overnight for a predicted deep freeze. I always advise newbies to do the same.

I do think wintersown sprouts are a little more cold hardy than indoor seedlings. The question is how much is "a little more"? If you think about it, common sense dictates that any plant has it's own built-in tolerance. Tender plants are PROGRAMMED to die in cold weather. And even hardy perennials and hardy annuals have to have a limit. Even well established garden plants don't survive particularly cold winters. Container plants have even less tolerance than those in the ground so...

Karen

That makes lot of sense. I think the cold spell we had recently in North east lasted for few days without break. If it was for a day or so they would have survived. Mine didn't have true leaves, if they had true leaves, may be they would have rode through. I would like to hear from some more people whether their's survived or not, and did they take any precaution like moving indoors, throwing blanket etc.

I would also like to plant Okra and Eggplant, I believe they are warm weather crop so is it Okay to start them now? Do you winter sow them or do direct sowing in ground?

We recently had a week where nighttime temps dipped close to freezing for us. I threw a tarp over the whole ws lot and the tomatoes came through fine.

Caryl

Most years I do get to wintersow and forget it. But the early heat meant I had to water earlier than is usual and then I had to tarp two or three times for late freezes. This is not typical of Mid Atlantic/Northeast weather. It happens like once every five years or so, so please don't let it color your wintersowing ideas.

By the way, tarping can be as easy as a good layer of newspaper held down by some rocks.