I’m very excited to have teamed up with Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds to offer a seed giveaway this year!
When there’s been snow on the ground for a month and the wind chill is -23, winter can seem to drag on endlessly. But like a beacon of hope, the beautiful Baker Creek seed catalog arrives in the mail and reminds me that spring is on the horizon.
If you winter sow, you don’t even have to wait until March or April or May to start your garden. You can start it as soon as you get your seeds. And you can start it outdoors. It may seem bizarre to start seeds outdoors in January when the ground is frozen and there’s snow or ice on the ground and the promise of more, but it works.
The gardening conventional wisdom is to start seeds indoors if they transplant well. If they don’t, you have to wait until the prescribed date on the calendar to plant them where you plan to grow them. When I thought, however, of the natural way of things- a plant’s life cycle- winter sowing made more sense. After all, if a vegetable plant isn’t harvested, but goes to seed, it will drop these in the fall or early winter. Then through the decay of organic material, the rains of fall and winter, the freezing, thawing, and refreezing of the earth over the winter, it will become covered and anchored in soil. Then, as the temperatures warm up slowly and gradually, these seeds will begin to germinate and grow strong roots before emerging from the soil. With less than spectacular results from starting seeds indoors and the extra work of “hardening off” those indoor-started seeds, I decided to give winter sowing a try.
So last year, in the middle of January, I started with plastic milk cartons, which were the suggested vessel to winter sow. As it snowed and snowed and snowed enough to bury our milk jugs and enough to build a snow fort with the kids and the temperatures were in the negatives and colder than they’ve been since we moved here (and indeed, natives claim the coldest winter in two or three decades) I doubted it would work. But it did.
Building a snow fort. It ended up being four feet tall.
I started out with the plastic milk jugs. You’re supposed to cut them nearly all the way round, pull back the top, fill with soil, close and seal with duct tape. It was a messy business.
Winter sown kale in a plastic milk jug.
Overall, I found the plastic milk jugs clunky. When I noticed how sturdy and easy to open some ice cream containers were, I switched to these. They are thicker and the tops snap on and off with ease.
Winter sown spinach in a plastic ice cream bucket.
Here’s what to do:
Gather your tools. You’ll need:
1. plastic ice cream bucket 2. scissors or soldering iron 3. potting mix 4. seeds of your choice
Directions:
Thoroughly wash and dry your ice cream buckets. Using a pair of scissors, cut small openings in the bottom of the ice cream bucket. (For the size of mine I did three rows of three for a total of nine openings.) Also cut holes around the bottom of each side. (Again, I did three on each side for a total of twelve side openings.)
NOTE: If you have a soldering iron, I strongly suggest using this method. In a well-ventilated area, plug in your soldering iron and wait until it is hot. Then “punch” the hot iron through the plastic in the desired locations. It will melt the plastic and stink up the place, but I found that I could do half a dozen buckets this way in the time it took me to cut one with scissors.
Cut a larger hole in the ice cream bucket’s top ~3-4 inches in diameter.
Once you have your buckets ready, fill the bucket with potting soil until it is about 3/4 full. (You don’t have to use expensive seed starter.)
Seed your soil with desired seeds, following the sowing directions on the seed packets. Using a permanent marker, label your buckets with the type of seed inside. Snap on the lid and place outside in a location that gets full sun.
And believe it or not, you’re nearly done. The hole in the top will allow enough snow and rain to get to the seeds and keep them moist. (If you live in a very arid area, you may have to water them a bit.) The insulation of the plastic will keep them warmer than the air and ground temperature and the translucency of the plastic will allow enough light to get them germinating and eventually growing.
Once temperatures get above freezing during the day, pull off the lids and allow the seeds to get more sunlight. At night or when temps will be below freezing, snap the lids back on. This will give them the best chance of hardening off and growing strong roots. When you reach your last frost date (or for more hardy seeds the suggested direct sow date), transplant your winter sown plants to their desired garden location.
The Giveaway
Now onto the giveaway, it’s really simple. Just leave a comment, making sure to include your email. I’ll then sign you up for Because Yum’s twice a month newsletter and you’re automatically entered. If you don’t live in the U.S., make sure you can receive seeds from foreign nation before you enter. The giveaway closes on Wednesday, March 4th, 2015 at 5PM EST. Next week, a random number generator will select the lucky winner and they will receive $30 worth of Baker Creek’s plethora of non-GMOs seeds.
You can choose your own or work with me to identify threatened and endangered food varieties in your region.
Even if you don’t win, please consider buying some of your garden’s seeds from this wonderful company. It was started by Jere Gettle in his bedroom when he was just 17 and has grown to become one of the world’s best provider of non-GMO and heirlooms seeds.
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