BASIL BECKY..... Gardening from the Heart: I Love Winter Sowing

BASIL BECKY..... Gardening from the Heart: I Love Winter Sowing:                      Three years ago, I tried Winter Sowing. Wow! It yielded such fantastic results, that I have continued to do it and it...

I Love Winter Sowing

       
             Three years ago, I tried Winter Sowing. Wow! It yielded such fantastic results, that I have continued to do it and it will always be on my "to do" list for January.  Over my 40 years of gardening, I have always had such good results with direct-sowing, but really struggled with starting seeds. Incorporating this technique into my routine has been a game changer.
              This method yields excellent results by mimicking nature. I accomplished this by using the seeds that need the cold stratification that sitting outside in their "winter greenhouse" provides.  For example, I ended up last year with over 100 Foxgloves. These plants naturally drop seeds in the fall and then new plants appear in the spring. Other Biannuals such as Parsely have also been so prolific.
              I also had so much success with different Milkweeds, Agastache, coneflowers, and Butterfly Weed. The possibilities are endless.  I have attached an article that I published Regionally. I hope you will try this method and recycle your plastic containers and end up with great seedlings!

 I first heard about the Winter Sowing technique for starting seeds on a podcast over a year ago. The hosts were homesteaders in Texas. They had extensive gardens and also sold plants. They propagated most of their seedlings using this method. Of course, a quick Google search provided me with much needed additional information including a definition that follows.

" Winter Sowing is a method by which seeds are sown into containers that act like mini-greenhouses. These seed vehicles are then located outside, experience the chill of winter, and eventually germinate in the spring." It is a phrase that was first coined by Trudi Davidoff.  You can read more about her on her website www.wintersowing.org. 

      I do not have a greenhouse, so finding a suitable area to start seeds is very difficult for me. The notion that I could use the outdoors as a place to start seeds set my wheels in motion, so I gave this method a try.    

   Now after one attempt I am hooked. That is not to say that I had a 100% success rate and all was perfect. But the pros outweighed the cons, and I am going to do this method of sowing certain seeds again this upcoming winter. 

    Here are the steps that I took for this project.  

# I sorted through my recycling to find an assortment of potential plastic containers. Milk jugs, vinegar jugs, fresh greens containers, large fruit plastic containers, and liter beverage bottles all went into the potential greenhouse pile. 

#2 I decided to start with perennials. I have good luck with direct sowing annuals in the garden but not perennials. So I end up spending a fortune on new perennials.

#3 All summer I collected seed packets, buying some when they went on sale after the planning season rush. I tried to focus on plants that I wanted in mass and ones that I have not had great success with direct sowing. Here is an example of the many ones I tried. 

Parsley, both the curly and the flat leaf( I need an abundance of these for my Spicebush Swallowtails to munch on). Hollyhocks (I am still experimenting with this beauty, as it always dies in my garden. But I am determined). Butterfly Weed, (to add to my Butterfly Garden), plus some Coneflowers and various other perennials. I tried to stick to seeds that required cold stratification to germinate. 

#4 Early in January, I enlisted the help of my husband to prepare the bottles for me. I have a lousy track record with knives, so I thought this the best approach.

#5 The milk and vinegar jugs, were cut open about 1/3 of the way down and just 3/4 of the way around. So it resembled a lid that opened but was still attached. By doing this, I was able to plant the seeds evenly. And I figured that when they are ready to venture into the real world, I will be able to transplant them into the garden swiftly. My husband created drainage holes on the bottom of the plastic jugs using both a box cutter and a drill to make the drainage slits and holes. The salad greens containers already had hinge type lids and just needed some additional drainage holes.  

#6 I purchased seed-starter mix and filled each vessel with about 4 cups of the mix. Next, I made sure the soil was wet.

#7 Following the directions for seed planting depth and coverage, I sowed each container. Then I watered them into their winter home. 

#8  I marked each filled container in two places. First I used a water-soluble pen and wrote on a plastic knife and duct-taped it to the side and also I labeled each jug by writing on the container. 

#9  At this point I wished them all a good growing season and battened down the hatches. I used duct tape to seal the flip tops, and made sure the caps were off the jugs and took them outside to my patio table. Since I had a somewhat eclectic array of duct tape, including Mickey Mouse, from a project with my grand babies, my Winter Sowing project table was very colorful.

All throughout January, February, March they endured the snow, sleet, and rain and I did doing nothing to them. By April I was starting to see some sprouting, then in May there was a lot of significant growth. Near the end of May, I began to transplant my hundreds of seedlings into pots and the gardens.

I would estimate that I had about a 60% success rate. Here are the reasons for the failures. 

#1 The salad containers worked the best. The holes in the bottom of the vinegar jugs and coke liter bottles seemed to get stopped up, not allowing the water to drain efficiently. Thus causing the containers to fill with water and destroy the seedlings.  So next year I will focus on better drainage. 

#2  My labeling system was a big miss. I double labeled all the growing bins, but only about 1/2 of the labels were still legible. I had saved all the seed packets, 

and had to do a guessing match game. My labeling system needs some serious TLC before next season. 

#3 I need to be more proactive with transplanting the seedlings. I lost quite a few due to not separating, thinning and putting them either into pots or safely in the ground.  My lack of experience with transplanting seedlings was an issue. But I learned and will do better next year.  

The bonus was that I ended up with hundreds of seedlings, from Foxgloves to Parsleys to Butterfly Weed and much more. It also helped me fill that urge to get my hands in the dirt in winter and provided me with something interesting to watch all winter long.  I feel my outdoor Winter Sowing without a greenhouse was successful. I hope you will give this fun project a try. 

This project has inspired me to explore the world of seeds....maybe too much !! Enjoy

BASIL BECKY..... Gardening from the Heart: Keep on Learning ..

BASIL BECKY..... Gardening from the Heart: Keep on Learning ..: Through-out my many years of gardening, I have always had a deep desire to learn everything I could about this passion. It started as a yo...

Keep on Learning ..

Through-out my many years of gardening, I have always had a deep desire to learn everything I could about this passion. It started as a young child when my interest in nature was artfully nurtured by my parents. I remember vividly spending hours being fascinated watching my mother tend to her award-winning irises. She would patiently answer every single question I fired at her about how to grow and then display them for the flower shows. 

Memories of time spent with my father in the yard tending to our large apple trees and various other small gardens are forever etched in my mind. Each summer all six kiddos were assigned the task of picking up every apple, even the rotten ones. Daily chores became an opportunity to learn and I soaked up the information like a sponge. Only after every single of the expired apples was up off the ground, would we all go inside and churn the apples into yummy applesauce. I was proud to be the number one churner and if I close my eyes, I can still taste the sweetness of that red hot apple sauce we made. 

My love of nature continued to be nurtured by my parents in many different ways all throughout their lives. This gentle guidance turned me into a life long learner and seeker of nature knowledge. This was a wonderful gift to bestow upon a child and one that I have worked hard to pass forward to my own kids and grandbabies. 

My parents were avid gardeners so alongside encyclopedias and Nancy Drew novels were flower and landscaping books  As a young gardener, I devoured every garden book that I could find. I loved looking at Mother’s collection of books, most of which still occupy valuable spots on my bookshelves. 

In my early garden- years there were many garden shows on public television and HGTV that gave me inspiration. Shows such as  “Gardening by The Yard “  starring Paul James have unfortunately become a thing of the past and so there is currently no G in HGTV. Luckily  KET/BBC  still airs and produces some great shows such as “Growing a Greener World”  hosted by Joe Lamp’l. 

I personally feel very strongly that visiting gardens all over the country has helped me grow so much. There is not one garden that I have strolled through that has not inspired me in some way. I always see a new plant combination, unique garden art or some other exciting change I can make to my spaces.  

But flash forward to this decade and my continuing source of knowledge comes from 
social media. I am in awe of phone apps that allow you to take a picture of a plant and then voila, growing information magically appears. And keep in mind the expanding diversity of garden blogs Instagram feeds and Garden Facebook groups. Lastly even Siri can provide you with instant knowledge. But a word of advice, always verify the information and the source. 

However, the fastest growing communication /media field is now the Podcast. I must confess that I personally have gotten hooked. Perhaps it is because I spend a lot of time in the car driving back and forth to our lake house, or perhaps it is my insatiable desire to learn all I can about my passion. Whatever the case, I love podcasts and know they have expanded my knowledge exponentially.   

The diversity of garden content, and the variety of “how to” topics is vast, and the individual personalities of each podcaster spur me on to listen to as many different garden podcasts as I can. 

Just as each garden that I walk through becomes an inspiration, each podcast opens a new door. Many are interviews with experts and authors of new books. I am sure that is the reason my book collections have increased at least 3 fold in the last few years. 

Here are some of my favorites and my humble critique of why I enjoy them. The list is long and each one is very different but well worth my time. 

I must say my number one go-to is “A Way to Garden by Margaret Roach”  She is a gifted writer, lover of nature and wonderful interviewer. Every weekly episode is inspiring and fun. Her books are so insightful as well. I really enjoy the fact that her Podcast is put on by the smallest NPR Radio Station in the USA. 

“PlantRama: Science, Art, And Dinner: It’s all in your backyard”  by Ellen Zachos and CL Fornari is another podcast that I never miss. The conversation is always lively and educational. Both ladies offer different perspectives resulting in complete coverage of any topic discussed

“Joe the Gardener”  hosted by Joe Lamp’l is podcast packed full of garden knowledge. He explores every aspect of gardening. In addition, he offers some great on-line courses, Youtube videos, and much more. 

A few others I really enjoy are “ Gardenangelists”  The hosts are Dee Nash and Carol Michel. It is a meeting at the garden gate between two top gardeners from different regions. The Podcasts is fun to listen too and always leave me wanting to buy more plants and books. I was so excited to meet Carol at a “GardenCom” event in Indianapolis over the holidays. I look forward to being involved with this group and meeting so many talented Garden Communicators, 

A few other podcast worth spending time listening to are  “Epic Gardening: Daily Tips and Advice “  hosted by Kevin Espiritu “, “Let’s Argue About Plants”, hosted by two editors of “Fine Gardening Magazine”; “Cultivating Place” hosted by Jennifer Jewel, “The Daily Gardener” by Jennifer Ebeling and “The Plants We Eat “ hosted by UNC Botanical Gardens…Jeff Gilman and Cindy Procter. 

All these Podcasts have supporting websites, Youtube videos, and offer so many ways to keep your gardening knowledge growing.  So join in on the latest craze and send me the Podcast you enjoy and I will add them to my list. 

BASIL BECKY..... Gardening from the Heart: Reality in 2020...Letting it Go

BASIL BECKY..... Gardening from the Heart: Reality in 2020...Letting it Go: One year ago we made the decision to purchase my parent's beloved property in Brown County Indiana. We love the property, and as I hav...

Reality in 2020...Letting it Go

One year ago we made the decision to purchase my parent's beloved property in Brown County Indiana. We love the property, and as I have mentioned before, it sits directly in between all three of Blitz’s( Blitzbuilders.com) offices.  So perfect for Randy, as he will never retire. It is dramatically different from our property in Kentucky. But 50 years of memories and acres of untouched land kept calling to us. I believe my parents were watching from above and not letting it go until someone in the family stepped up. 

I have struggled with this decision because I love our house in Kentucky, I love the South, my good friends and all my beautiful gardens and years of plant collections. But it has become harder and harder for me to keep up with two properties. We love to travel to visit family and explore new places with friends. Massive gardens with collections of antique peonies, perennials, 60 different varieties of trees, vegetables, fruit gardens, and natives do not tend to themselves, so I am having to hire out a lot of the garden labor. So maybe it is time to come full circle and begin to let it go.

We have so enjoyed the lake this last hot summer and working together, with my husband of 45 years, to develop new gardens and new memories. Our grand-babies love to come to the lake and that is so important to us. 

Brown County gardening will be such a different situation. I intend to do raised beds and containers for veggies. Because growing my own food is very important to me as well as creating native pollinator gardens.

The areas that I plant will be wild native flowers and gardens. But we have acre after acre of native forest and untouched land. Wildlife all around and a beautiful lake to enjoy. 

It just is too hard for me to balance both places …so I am beginning the transition of taking seeds, moving plants. When I am at the lake, it is so peaceful and less stressful than my beloved gardens in Kentucky. 

I believe my big Siberian Elm gave me a sign this fall, it dropped one of its big limbs. My mantra for this house has always been if my Big Siberian Elm ( one of the largest in the country ) ever goes, I will have to sell the house. But it is a long way from going and will be here for years to enjoy.

This will be a very slow process, but if there is anyone out there who wants a beautiful historic home, with over 6 acres, a barn, and a historic 200 year-old out-building. Plus an unbelievable collection of perennials, trees, and natives…please let me know. I will not give this property up until I know I have someone who will love and care for it as I have done for 25 years. 

We have lovingly taken care of the land and the house. We have kept all of the original features and it has been well-loved  We are doing some work now to prepare to sell. So reach out to me if you have an interest… or just keep checking in for updates on this transition.