Winter Sowing Round 1

One of my goals this year is to start as many plants from seed as I can.  I’ve been reading a lot about winter sowing and knew I wanted to give it a try this year (even though it seems we haven’t had a “real” winter!)

I can see now that I should have started collecting plastic containers months ago.  Fortunately, a friend took me through all four floors of her apartment building…there’s a recycling room on each floor, and I had a good selection to choose from – mostly milk jugs,  soda and juice bottles, and lettuce containers.  I’ll still need more, but it’s a start:

Using pliers to hold a nail over the flame of our gas stove, I heated the nail enough to easily make drainage holes in the bottom of the containers and ventilation holes near the top.  It worked well, but I don’t like the idea of breathing plastic fumes (!!) so next time around I’ll try just hammering nails through and see if that works.  What methods do you use to puncture the thicker plastic containers like 2-liter bottles and milk jugs?

I cut containers nearly in half with a utility knife:

A few take-out type containers which I’ll put in the cold frame I made from an old window last Spring:

Ready for some greenhouse action:  Containers have been filled with watered and drained potting mix, seeds planted, jugs held shut with duct tape, lids off to allow for ventilation and rainwater.

So far the bricks have kept the cats from knocking over any containers.

At first I tried to research which of my seeds require cold stratification, but I ended up just throwing caution (or seed?) to the wind and planting everything I wanted to try, just as an experiment.  For each variety, I made sure not to plant all the seed so that I can also try them indoors in case some of the winter-sown seeds don’t grow.  Here’s what I winter sowed, nearly a month ago now, the last week of January:

• Fairy Tale Eggplant
• Italian Frying Peppers
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Cucumbers
• Brandywine Tomatoes
• Rutgers Tomatoes
• Cosmonaut Tomatoes
• Paul Robeson Tomatoes
• Jaune Flamme Tomatoes
• Sun Gold Tomatoes
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Borage
• Mustard
• Agastache
• Calliopsis
• Autumn Clematis
• Mirabilis (4:00s)
• White Coneflower
• Catnip
• Campanula (pink)

That’s arugula in the upper left, which I planted last fall…it’s coming up nicely now.

So far the only things to show any signs of life are the Mustard and the Calliopsis, both of which look green and happy so far.  I’m hoping in another month I’ll see more action out there.  I had to give some extra water to a few of the containers that seemed to have really dried out under the porch awning…it’s a really sunny spot, but they’re not getting any rainwater there.  I’m hoping they survived!

Aw Shucks…I’m Versatile!

A very belated and big thank you to Donna at Gardens Eye View and Sheila at Green Place for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award, which some of you may have seen going around lately.  I try to write posts that will appeal to different people for different reasons, and I’m grateful that you two lovely ladies think they’re worth reading!

Donna writes from her heart about her life and her garden, quotes that speak to her, and she shares her poetry from time to time.  She tries to garden organically, with native plants, and to create habitats that attract and nurture wildlife.

Sheila is a gardener in Chapel Hill who writes thoughtful posts about nature, spirituality, and, of course, gardening.  Her photos are fantastic!  I’m inspired by a lot of the beautiful quotes she has too.

Here’s how the Versatile Blogger Award “rules” work:

Include the Versatile Blogger button in your post.

Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to them.  (Thanks again, Donna & Sheila!)

Include 7 random facts about yourself.

Nominate 15 other bloggers and notify them by leaving a comment on their blog.

I feel a little silly talking about myself here, so I’m going to stick with the program and be completely random.

I do like having the opportunity to share the love and recommend several blogs that I read regularly or have recently discovered and am enjoying.  To me, this is one of the biggest benefits of having this award circulating…I’ve discovered many fantastic gardening blogs that I might not have otherwise found, and I’m excited to share some of my favorites with you.

Without further adieu…

7 Random Things About Me:

1. I really, really love animals (and no, not just cats.)
2. I ran the 1997 Minneapolis marathon.  And I’m still proud of it.  I’m not “a runner,” so having ran/jogged/walked/trudged/slogged through 26.2 miles was an accomplishment of enormous physical and mental magnitude for me.  Some days I still think “if I could do THAT….I can certainly manage whatever is in front of me now.”
3. I am tall.  Really tall.  Nope, taller than that…keep going…I’m 6′ tall.  Barefoot.  When I was born the doctor told my mom she had a jackrabbit.  All arms and legs.
4. I got to work for three weeks on a hot air balloon team for the Albequerque Hot Air Balloon Festival in 1996.  A friend was getting his pilot’s license, so we got to fly (and practice landing – ouch!) a lot. (I know what you’re thinking, Donna – aren’t I afraid of heights?  Yes, yes I most definitely am.  And I continue to try to get over it.  Usually without success.)
5. I’m an Aries.  Stubborn, headstrong, and fiery.
6. I used to live in a cabin with no running water in northern Wisconsin, near Lake Superior.  Wood stove for heat, outhouse, hauling water in on a sled through the snow, skiing out the backdoor….ahhh……
7. I love taking trapeze lessons.  It’s terrifying (as in my first fly I stood on the platform for nearly 5 full minutes, paralyzed, fending off a panic attack before I finally jumped!) It’s also the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done.  The closest thing to flying!  It’s on my “get back to doing this” list for 2012.  Hands-down, the best way I’ve found to learn how to LET GO!  I even learned how to do a backflip dismount!! (it’s easier than it sounds.)  That video is too dark, so here’s one of me learning to do a catch, a year and a half ago:  (turn up the volume!)

Here are the 15 blogs that I nominate for the Versatile Blogger Award…I hope you’ll pay them a visit! (Awardees – no pressure to participate unless you want to – just sharing the love!)  In no particular order:

1. Living Lightly In a Wavering World – excellent, informative posts from a Bozeman, MT gardner about urban gardening, sustainable living, frugality, healthy cooking and more.
2. Bucolic Bushwick – a rooftop gardner in Brooklyn shares gardening tips, loads of DIY tutorials, ideas on cutting costs, holds seed and seedling give-aways, and links to a lot of great articles in her “Reading Roundups.”
3. In My Garden (Country Edition) One of my favorite newly discovered blogs – Informative posts and terrific photos from an ornamental and vegetable gardener who recently moved to 3 acres of land in the country and is up for the challenge!
4. Women Who Run With the Delphiniums – Linnie has already received this award a few times, I think, but I had to include her anyway.  Hilarious posts from an Oregan gardener about all things plants with a touch of Westie terrier thrown in for good measure.  She’s got a lot of knowledge and more than a few tricks up her sleeve.  If you haven’t visited, go now.
5. Our Happy Acres – I’ve been following Dave’s blog for a while now and it continues to be a great resource.  Excellent posts about organic gardening, bee-keeping, bread-baking, keeping it local, seed-saving, sustainable living, and a myriad of other helpful things.  Great photos and instructions.  Plus, Dave and his wife help out feral cats so they get bonus points from me.  🙂
6. Gardening In The Lines – Erin lives and gardens in Ontario and shares her gardening diary through this lovely blog.  She has a great “plant of the week” feature on her “Past Plants” page.
7. The Iris and The Lily – Stunning nature photographs from a PA gardener who writes very simply and beautifully about the things that inspire her.
8. Garden In The Woods – Another newly discovered blog from a new garden blogger who writes about gardening on her mostly woodland lot, where she provides food and habitats for wildlife.  (You should SEE how she has outsmarted the squirrels.  Whoa.)
9. Diggin Food – terrific blog from Master Gardener, radio commentator and author Willi Galloway.  She posts about awesome DIY garden projects, kitchen gardening, keeping backyard chickens, seasonal cooking and recipes, and she’s on the board of Seattle Tilth – a great organization.
10. Gardening In The Boroughs of NYC – a fun blog from Mimi, a relatively new gardener on Staten Island.  Mimi writes about growing organic vegetables and perennials, starting from and saving seed, and she has personally supplied me with many seeds for this coming season!  She also has some great recipes and product reviews.
11. Let There Be Garden – Tricia and Bill are former urban gardeners who moved to the country and now have a large garden in Western NY.  Explore her site to find lots of great practical gardening info and DIY tutorials!
12. A Gardener In Progress – This is a wonderful blog from Catherine, who gardens in the Pacific Northwest.  She’s dug up the whole front lawn and turned it into a garden!  Bravo.  Her backyard has a beautiful pond / garden, and her posts are full of wonderful pictures of plants, nature, and gardening projects.  Catherine is a bird-lover  and gardens for them as well as for her family.
13. Gardening In My Rubber Boots – Angela is a Master Gardener in Seattle who writes  about her kitchen garden and her backyard chickens (Silkies!) She is also currently taking a bee-keeping class.
14. Our Little Acre – if anyone has a versatile blog, it’s Kylee!  A gardener in NW Ohio, Kylee writes about life, gardening, plant and flower shows, product reviews, history, and she’s a friend to the cats!
15. Microcosm is another newly discovered blog for me.  Stacy’s photographs are just incredible.  She’s also an excellent writer who examines things up close and personal – in the garden and in life.  A new favorite for sure!
16. (Yes, I’m breaking the rules and including an extra blog!)  Garden On Sherlock Street has some terrific gardening ideas and info.  I love checking out her awesome plant database and keeping up with the pages for planned projects, plants that have been overwintered, food that’s been put up, recipes, and the rain gauge barrel report!

Hope you’ll have a chance to stop by and check some of these sites out.  Thanks once again, Donna & Sheila!