WINTER SOWING

    

If you are feeling garden withdrawal and sadness due to not being able to get your hands in the soil in January, here is the answer:  Winter Sowing. 

Winter Sowing has been such an enjoyable and successful way for me to start multiple plants. I love this easy and prolific way to garden in the dead of winter. 

I have successfully done this for over five years. This method seems to work best with perennials seeds that need stratification, which includes many natives. Winter Sowing mimics natures way of reproducing plants. 

Winter Sowing was a great boost for me when we first moved  to Indiana. I started milkweed and many other natives  and had a bountiful harvest. It allowed me to start establishing  pollinators gardens early on in my garden planning. 

This year, I have winter sowed a variety of herbs, perennials and veggies. They are happily sitting on our back porch enjoying the snow, rain and cold air of an Indiana winter. I love that I use recycled containers and do not have to baby these guys. 

Previously I have written two articles on my blog on Winter Sowing. I went into  great detail about the process of Winter Sowing. I am not going to go over it again but if you go on my blog and enter Winter Sowing it will pull the blogs up for you to enjoy.  In addition, if you google Winter Sowing, there is an abundance of information on the Internet. I also have really enjoyed the Facebook groups on this subject. Or please feel free to ask me any questions. I am so happy to share my experiences.

I can not encourage you enough to try this fun, effortless and fruitful way to sow so many seeds. It is just one step in my seed starting, but by far the easiest. In addition, I will still begin many more seeds the traditional way starting in about a month. 

Growing my veggies, herbs, annuals and perennials from seeds is so rewarding and I am loving this learning adventure. One of my favorite podcast and websites: Joe the Gardener has so much information plus many classes line to help anyone interested in seed starting. 

If I had to say what is the most important step with Winter Sowing,  however, I would emphatically state; label, label and label again. Plus make sure you have great drainage in what ever containers you use to start the seeds. Thankfully, my husbands commands his knife and does all the hole poking and cutting for me.

Here is the list of seeds I have sowed for my 2024 garden. Now I will rest up until the first of March to start sowing seeds inside, at my growing stations. The hard part is going to to be staying away from the temptations of the seed catalogues and ordering more seeds. Believe me I do not need more, I have more than enough. But does anyone ever have enough seeds? 

What I am Winter Sowing for the 2024 Garden

HERBS ( I have promised several friends, I would help them establish Herb Gardens. So I wanted to make sure I would have plenty to share) 

Chives (common)

Parsley (Tripe Curled)

Parsley (Plain or single Italian)

Parsley (Moss Curled)

True Greek Oregano

Rosemary

Sage (Broadleaf)

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)

Thyme English (Thymus vulgaris)

Fennel Finocchio (Foeniculum volgare var. Azoricua)

VEGETABLES

Creme Brûlée F1 Onions (2)

Bunching Onions (Flavor King)

Onion (Red Burgundy)

Broccoli Seeds (Calabrese)

FLOWERS

Pansy (Swiss Giant Blend)

Pansy (Got the Blues) 

Violas (Cool Summer Breeze)

Butterfly Snapdragons(Chantilly)

Snapdragons (Doubleshot orange bicolor)

Blackberry Lillies (collected seeds)

Hardy Hibiscus (collected seeds)

False Indigo Baptisma( collected seeds) 3 containers

Calendula - Pacific Beauty

Sweet Peas (Sweet Dreams)

HERBAL VINEGARS

        Making Herbal Vinegars has always been one of my favorite fall harvesting tasks. I am fascinated by the beautiful colors that the leaves of herbs produce as well as the flavorful taste the herbal vinegars impart to any recipe.

        I try to collect interesting bottles all during the year. That way I have an eclectic collection to fill with all my unique vinegars. They make wonderful gifts, especially when a recipe using the vinegar is included. 

        For this blog, I m going to focus on the actual process of infusing the herbs into the vinegars. I always try to do this step right after I harvest the herb.  It is so enjoyable to be in the kitchen with the sink and counter full of the smell of freshly harvested basil filling the room. 

        My favorite herbal vinegar is Opal Basil Vinegar.  The red color of the leaves almost instantly turns the vinegar a jewel red color. The only problem with giving this as a gift is that it looks like a beautiful bottle of rose wine, but this is better.      

      I use distilled white vinegar for this infusion. I bring a pan of white vinegar just to boiling. I have already stuffed a jug full of the cleaned basil leaves. I pour the hot vinegar over the leaves filling the jar. I then place the large container in a dark area so the sunlight does not leach out some of the color flavor.   I use approximately 4 ounces of leaves in a quart of vinegar.

    It is important even though vinegar is a natural preservative to still make sure each jar is sterile. The herbs need to be clean and dry. Tip: Rinse the herbs in cold water, because any heat applied can steal some of th precious oils of the herb. 

        After at least two weeks, I will strain the vinegar and pour it into the decorative jars. I also add a sprig of the herb, preferably with a bloom on it into the jar. Then I will cork and seal the jar. It is a good idea to place a tag or a label on the finished product, especially if you are doing a variety of herb vinegars

        This year I had a bumper crop of Opal Basil. So I made many jugs of Opal Basil Vinegar. They quietly waited, mellowing and imparting more favor into the vinegar until the harvest season was over and the gift giving season began. Then it was fun and easy to strain the vinegar and put it into the gift jars. 

Here is the recipe I include with my gift of Opal Base Vinegar:

Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad

1 head cauliflower      1tsp salt

1 bunch broccoli.       2 tsp dry mustard

2 stalks celery           1/2 cup Opal basil vinegar

1 cup sugar.               1 onion finely diced

2tbsp poppy seeds.    1 1/4 cup oil

Break veggies into bite sized pieces. Add celery. Mix all the rest of the ingredients  and add to veggies. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.  

    

    If I am making a flower herbal infusion such as Nasturtium Vinegar,  I would use a higher quality vinegar such as a white wine vinegar. (I made this vinegar this year and it was so beautiful, with a nice peachy color and had a peppery flavoring).  Rice Vinegar is a good one to use for maybe a lemon grass vinegar, or for any herb used in Asian cooking, 

 Here are some of my other favorite herbal vinegars. 

Tarragon is great when infused with a Champaign Vinegar.   A white wine vinegar is wonderful with a fish dish and great on chicken was well.

Chive Blossoms turn the vinegar a lovely pinkish hue. It is great when used as part of a vinaigrette. If you make a vinegar using Garlic Chive Blossoms, the vinegar imparts a mild garlic flavor. 

Salad Burnet Vinegars made from the blossom of this wonderful and little known herb. The leaves and blossom of this herb impart a cucumber flavor to any dish, so the vinegar has that same flavor. It turns a lovely pink color so is beautiful to display. 

Hot Pepper Vinegar was a new one I made this year. It is so beautiful. I have not taken out any peppers so I am afraid it may be very hot! 

Wild Violet Infused Vinegar...  This one is a nod to my dad. As he aged he became obsessed with wild violets and would transplant them all over our yard and gardens. This makes a beautiful sweet vinegar. The color fades over time but the taste remains strong. 

    I hope this might inspire you to take your herbal flavor into the winter by preserving them in vinegar. I am sure you will not be disappointed with the taste and you will be charmed by the beautiful bottles of vinegar.