Hi Whitnit,
Welcome to the Winter Sowing forum.
Oriental Poppy is a perennial in our areas. Perennials can be sown from mid December on.
It is too soon to sow annuals for us. I do not start sowing them until late February or March.

But you can buy potting soil mix now and collect milk jugs and other containers.

Have you checked out the Winter Sowing FAQ to see which seeds can be Winter Sown?

Hi and welcome to winter-sowing :)

Perennials I start in December but Annuals and Veggies, I would follow what FAQS say above.(they helped me tons last year) If we have a bad Winter again this year, I'd reccommend actually not starting annuals/veggies till April or May as I lost a few Zinnias, Cosmos and tomatoes last year that I did in March!!

As far as any advice for wintersowing the first time? Remember to put a few drainage holes in, stick with good potting soil(don't use seed starter soil or cheapest brand potting soil) and be generous but don't thickly sow seeds. I had better results meaning bigger seedlings where there were a few but not overcrowded containers. Oh and I'm sticking too the miracle-gro potting soil but that is just my recommendation. :)

How many do you plan on doing? Any perennials?

~Michael

P.S. It can become addicting once you start! Lol

Of the plants on your list, I've had good success winter-sowing Alyssum, tomatoes and Petunias. However, they also do fine if you sow in the early spring because they don't need cold stratification to germinate.

I direct sow cucumbers, squash, and Zinnias. I also tried direct-sowing Marigolds this year, as part of a border around the veggie garden and they did great.