Those flowers that absolutely won't tolerate frost, can you start them indoor and put it outside few days before they would actually sprout or as soon as they sprout? What's the advantage of this method?

Not sure how you would know then they would actually sprout so that you would get them outside just before they did.
and even if you did know, then the shock of moving them from the inside warmth of your home to the "cold" outside, could create havoc with the seed germination process.

Putting them outside as soon as they germinate would most likely kill off the seedling as it has not been hardened off yet.

"Well first, you are providing consistently warm environment indoor so they germinate successfully and get head start by 2 weeks.

That "head start" may look good to you in the beginning, but is lost to the hardiness, health and root growth of wintersown seedlings. The WS seedlings catch up very quickly to those that where started indoors under lights and/or store bought, and those WS seedlings never fail to outshine, out do their "relatives" that where started indoors.

Having been WS now for 8 years, I don't see any advantage to the methods that you are asking about in this post.

Just WS the seeds and put them outside. Mother nature will take care of the rest of the work and you will be quite happy with the results.

Fran

"Just WS the seeds and put them outside. Mother nature will take care of the rest of the work and you will be quite happy with the results."

Thanks for your insight. The problem with putting them outside and let mother nature control it is that sometimes seeds sprout too early and we are still a month away from when they can be planted in ground. If you leave them in their container such 2L bottles till then, wouldn't do they get over crowded?

This is my first year of WS and do not have much experience with it, may be seedlings grow fine in the containers till they are transplanted out. Unless people transplant them to a bigger containers and then into ground, which means two transplanting.

Fran is right.

Just sow a container or two of annuals, put them outside, and see what happens. Or do an experiment, try sowing a couple containers your way and the winter/spring sowing way and see what happens.

Are you worried about overcrowding? You can control how many seeds you put in the container.

Have you read the FAQ about hunk o' seedlings (HOS)? Many of us don't worry about overcrowding.

How many containers have you sown so far? The way to get experience is just to try it and see if it works for you.

I have almost 200 containers right now, 70+ of which are tender annuals (toms, peppers, zinns, morning glories, sunflowers, etc). The forecast has a possible 6-10 inches of snow for tomorrow and Wednesday, but I'm not worried about my annuals because they haven't sprouted yet because the soil in the containers hasn't warmed up enough. If any have sprouted, I will throw a sheet or row cover over them. I might lose a few, but I have plenty to spare.

Just sow some containers and see what happens. We learn by mistakes and simply trying and experimenting. :)

cheers,
Norabelle

I agree - just do it! LOL. I like Norabelle's suggestion - try it both ways and see what works for you, but you run the risk of the sprouts being stunted or killed by the change in temperature.

To answer your question, the advantage of winter sowing is that you don't have to fuss over the seedlings because they decide when it is the right time to come up. It is the hardier seedlings that come up early - well before the frosts are tapering off, and they do fine in the cold with the protection of the containers. Once you mess with that formula, you are going to find yourself having to do more caretaking - which, of course, is fine if you want to do it. In my opinion, WS is about making things easier on the gardener by letting nature take its course, and filling those dreary winter months with gardening activities. Others tout the health of the seedlings - I haven't done this in a while, and I have never compared the results with plants started indoors, so I can't really comment - but the only way to find out is to try.

In 8 years, I've never done a transplant into larger containers until I've had time to get them out in the spring, and I'm sure not going to start now either.

Those seedlings that come from WS are the hardiest seedlings you will ever have and survive pretty much anything, except for a late frost, which can be a bit of a problem for the annuals.

That's why I never plant anything in my beds until May 31st, the old farmers way of doing planting in MA and it's never failed me, in 30 years of gardening on my own, on my grandparents farm and it sure hasn't failed me with WS either.

As my seeds germinate, I move the germinated containers to a new area, making sure that I have all the annuals together in one section and the perennials in another. If there is a predicted frost, I cover the annual seedlings with towels, blankets, sheets, whatever I have to cover them with overnight and take it off in the AM. All is fine that way.

Those seedlings that look overcrowded in their containers are fine just the way they are. There is nothing to worry about. Just HOS the seedlings and mother nature will take care of the weaker ones for you, if there are any in the HOS that you planted out.

I don't plant out seedlings till they have 2 sets of true leaves on them and all is fine and has been fine for 7 full years of WS and don't expect anything different this year, year # 8.

A few perennials I will hold of on planting out till the fall and those get planted into a larger container for the summer, but anything else that is headed for the gardens in the spring, out the go.

Another thing I've also found is that plants that have a taproot, especially things like dill and poppies, actually benefit from a shallow container about 3 inches deep with soil. I've found that sowing the seeds in containers like these prevents the plants from growing the taproot till they are planted in the ground and taproots don't like to be disturbed to much.

Fran

I think I understand what you're saying. Sometimes, the "right time" to sprout just feels like it takes forever. I've learned patience in that most perennials (mostly what I grow) take two years to flower, so I don't mind if the seedlings don't sprout until later their first year. I wish I could figure out how to get annuals as large as the greenhouses do, but I don't think it's going to work. So I budget for a few flats of pansies and impatiens, just to fill the empty places and add some instant color.

I've never paid attention to how many leaves my seedlings have, just that the root system is thick enough before putting them in the ground, or larger pots if necessary before middle/end of May.

It's all a process. There are some things I would never do now what I did 3 or 4 years ago in gardening. You live and learn, and that's the fun of it.

Keep a journal! It really does help.