Feb. 2 Column: Winter Sowing

What would you say if I told you it’s possible to plant specially-prepared containers with seeds and put them outside, where it’s snowy and/or rainy for the rest of the winter? That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But winter sowing is a viable, no-fuss way to start seeds and it just happens to be the topic of this week’s video and column.

Here’s a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Give seeds a cold start.

Before I continue, I wanted to clarify that this is my final, monthly winter column. You will be happy to hear that my weekly columns will resume on Sunday, Feb. 23.

Why would you want to try winter sowing? There are plenty of reasons:

• You don’t need space to grow them indoors, under grow lights. I don’t know about you, but I never have enough room for all of the seeds I want to start!
• You don’t need special equipment.
• You don’t have to fuss over them for weeks at a time. Once the seedlings have filled the container(s) outdoors, it’s time to plant them in your garden.
• The plants won’t be exposed to (and killed by) the nasty fungal disease, “damping-off syndrome.”
• By the time you plant the seedlings in your garden, they will already be acclimated to your temperatures and sunlight. This eliminates the need for going through the week-long, tedious process of hardening them off.

Interested? Well, you’ll definitely want to read my column (again, the link to it is above). And you’ll want to watch this week’s video (see below), in which I take you through the steps for winter sowing. It’s easy and a fun way to feel like you’re gardening in the dead of winter!

Before I forget, the types of seeds you want to sow are those of annuals that are labeled “hardy annuals,” perennials that grow in your region, vegetables (primarily onion family crops and Brassicas such as cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi and kale), and many different types of herbs. UPDATE 1/5/22: There used to be a website called wintersown.org that had an extensive list of seeds to start, but sadly, it doesn’t exist anymore. I will keep my eyes peeled for another helpful site. Unfortunately, I can’t remove the reference to that site in my video. Sorry about that. It’s one of those things that is completely out of my control.