I have a new home in the woods with heavy shade. Currently, there is a large mown area in front beneath oaks and pines. I'm hoping to turn large portions of this area into native woodland beds. I'll also throw in as many ornamental shade plants as I can, to make the area attractive from the road and as you come up the drive. There is lots of English Ivy in the few large beds now. Removing that will be a huge project for next spring--and likely will be ongoing. There's also Lily of the Valley that will need to be controlled.

Plants that I'm looking forward to wintersowing include:

Bleeding Heart
Hellebores
Foxglove
Heuchera
Virginia Creeper
Larkspur
Begonia
Coleus

There is also a sunny stretch along the road that I'd like to turn to a butterfly garden. For that, I'll likely do a lasagna garden and spring sow a collection of native perennials and heavily blooming annuals. We'll see how the sowing goes this winter. Best luck to everyone. I look forward to hearing all of your plans.

Martha

Sounds like some great projects, Martha!

My goals are just to grow some new flowers that I've never grown before and cram them into some already crowded gardens. I also want to grow some vegetables and provide some annuals for Mom's garden and the local library garden, but those will all be spring sowing, not wintersowing.

Well my seeds are all organized. They're in a metal ice cream container (from Schwan's) and I put the annual seeds on the bottom, placed two empty bubble envelopes in the middle and the perennial seeds on top. Labels are written and I'm thinking of cuttings the containers of the seeds I'm going to plant on the Solstice tonight. I have a bag of MG Potting Soil just waiting to be opened. I might have to plant more than four kinds of seeds LOL.

My overall goal is to make it through the winter and I have Winter Sowing to thank for that :). I have several new flowers that I've never grown before so I'm looking forward to that as well!

Hang in there everyone! I can hardly wait until the big day is here!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Martha, if you can cover the English ivy with black plastic now, (weigh it down as necessary), is should be dead in the spring. I do this all the time to prepare an area with obnoxious weeds.

A less-costly alternative to black plastic is thick, corrugated cardboard, either from the grocery store dumpster or the local recycling center. Lay it where you want to smother something but be sure to overlap the edges. Top with at least a 4" deep layer of bark mulch. Zap anything that creeps out around the edges with vinegar. Earthworms love cardboard and will soon find their way under yours. Worm p**p is gardener's gold. The cardboard holds moisture in the soil longer and is also biodegradable. It will eventually break down but not before it deprives the weeds under it from getting any light.

"grotesque chandeliers"

I've got my own chandelier story this weekend but it has more to do with a fixture I've always disliked, removing 45 little d-mn glass dangly things from it to wash, breaking one of the flame tipped style bulbs off in the base and having to dig it out with needle nosed pliers, trip to the hardware store for a replacement bulb etc - than with winter sowing :)

How am I ready - I've got containers, dirt, a few of the seeds I want to sow. I'm aiming for possibly sowing some the week after Christmas, but I've got two seed orders yet to place and both are from overseas.

On the other hand, shopping is done, my house is clean save this office and our bedroom where the closets are a total disaster and need desperately to be culled and organized, my tree is up and the lights are on.

I have new thermal underwear (Penney's sale + coupon :) and tomorrow I'm hoping to get out a do a little more cleanup, cut back frost nipped perennials, pick up Fall storm debris....that should help to get my gardening inspiration back again, move me forward to sowing some pots.

I've cut several mini blinds into a huge container of labels...there are hundreds of cleaned juice bottles and milk jugs waiting in the garage at work (I manage a group home for developmentally delayed clients--they love to help and they get a garden out of it, too!)...I've gone through most of my seeds and chosen the "must plant this year" varieties...6 bags of clearance (2 cu ft. for $5!) MG potting mix stacked on the garage floor...I am sooo looking forward to this season, for several reasons.

My daughter and her new husband moved in with me right after the wedding 6 months ago...it was supposed to be "temporary" while they looked for a place here in town (my house is so tiny, eeek!), but oddly enough (hmmm!) they seemed to get a bit *too* comfy with having all the benefits of a nice home with none of the responsibilities (i.e. rent, utilities, upkeep, etc.) Oh, I gave them all sorts of "to do" lists, expectations, ultimatums, you name it...even after marginal improvement, we would end up back at square one...with me feeling overburdened and taken advantage of. It has taken an extreme toll on my health and my spirit--being able to "escape" in the garden has been the only saving grace. They are both busy, full-time students (nursing and sports medicine)...but that is no excuse for the lack of consideration they have shown towards me and my home. My daughter was raised to be respectful of others at all times, so her behavior has been quite the disappointment for me *sigh* I am literally at my breaking point, just counting the moments and trying to hang in there.

So, they have finally found a place and will be moving out this week...I am looking forward to reclaiming my life, my SPACE and my serenity.

Sorry to be so OT, but this is definitely the most anticipated season of WS for me since I found this wonderful site!

Here's to a speedy winter and a bounty of blooms for us all!

irisheyes66 - glad for you that your home is/soon will be once more your own and that you can look forward to winter sowing on the solstice with peace and serenity rather than discord and aggravation. Mine is also a very small house and I sometimes find sharing it even with a cat gives me the screaming heebie-jeebies, especially when I'm confined inside during the cold/snowy months. I don't let an opportunity to go walkabout the garden pass me by, even a quick, five-minute stroll off the back of the breezeway & around to the front bundled up against the cold.

morz8 - been there, done that and am glad deep down in my soul that I don't have any ceiling fixtures in this house. I installed ceiling fans and was careful to select nothing fancy or intricate.

The migrant workers came again last Saturday and cut/split more of the downed branches from the October storm. Wood is neatly stacked outside the cellar door but I didn't have them bring any inside--told them the wood hoops are still full since I'm not using the woodstove now. As long as I have power, I'll use the central heating. Given our two extended fall power outages (September--Storm Irene & October--Storm Albert), I'm saving the dry wood & kindling for a repeat loss of electricity in January/February that could be far more destructive than the others. The thought of frozen pipes is enough to make me nudge the thermostat rather than crumble up newspaper & reach for kindling just to save a few dollars on heating oil.

I prepped a few gallon jugs yesterday in anticipation of solstice sowing but on the whole think this winter sowing event will be a breeze after the previous two. No more newbie nerves at play! I now know the seeds will sprout, the sprouts will grow, the plants will survive pretty much whatever Mother Nature can throw at them and I'll manage to squeeze/wedge/stuff them into my beds among the previous year's WS plants.

LOL, gardenweed...not only are the kids living here, but we have 2 dogs (a 140-lb. Saint Bernard "puppy" and a black lab who is a complete hyper spaz), 4 cats, plus a bunch of neighborhood strays who seem to know where the eatin's goooood :-) All the furbabies were rescued from abusive/neglectful situations, so they are here for the duration...even if they drive me nuts, ha!

I hear you on the whole squeeze/wedge/stuff issue, too...I keep saying, "Well, it looks like I won't be sowing much this season, since the beds are full--there's nowhere left to put anything!" And yet by March, the driveway will be so full of containers the UPS guy goes to the side entrance, lol!

Yes, it will be wonderful to spend the solstice in reflection and peace...I can't wait.

No time for solstice sowing here, the focus is on Christmas now. Our son is coming home to visit from Seattle on the 21st so I'll enjoy spending my time with him while I can.

I'll likely start sowing in January. I really don't intend to do much this year, but I will do a few. Tomatoes for sure, and I'll hope for better than last year. Very few local gardeners grew good tomatoes last year because of the crummy cold, rainy weather.

Karen

I skipped tomatoes this year and regretted it when it got to be August and I didn't have any yummy home-grown ones to toss in a salad. The locally-grown tomatoes from a nearby farm were great despite our rainy summer so that got me through the season but once those were gone... Well, I won't make the mistake of not growing a few plants from now on! I'm trading columbine & Siberian iris seeds for heirloom tomato seeds that I'll winter sow. With all the tree damage from October's Arborgeddon, I'll definitely have enough full sun for them next growing season.