Winter Sowing 2006 - Jan update

I’m itching for spring. Besides obsessively checking my bulbs, I’ve been regularly twisting off the caps of my winter sown containers to peek inside. I was rewarded this weekend with a bit o’ green in one milk jug. My Bellis perennis, English daisy, seeds have sprouted. It is only January, but I refuse to worry about them weathering the winter. I believe Bellis perennis prefer cool temperatures, so no harm should come to them. If they get too big for their britches (or their milk jug), I can transplant them to small pots and shelter them in my ghetto coldframe.

So far, I’ve got 35-ish containers winter sown. They all contain varying amount of seed. For example, I think I’ve sprinkled 50 microscopic Astilbe seeds in one milk jug and planted a total of three (hefty) spicebush seeds in another. I have many more seeds to sow – but I’m out of containers! I’m doing my best to generate/beg/steal additional jugs and bottles. I’ve been baking cookies and cakes to persuade Mike to drink more milk. I’m guzzling diet soda out of 2-liter bottles. My coworkers have been ordered to bring me their containers from home. To make up for my shortfall, I may even have to do a little dumpster diving on Thursday night. (I’m a little put off by the thought of taking used food and drink containers from my neighbors’ trash. It seems to be so much more humiliating than simply swiping newspaper.)

My primary motivation for growing plants from seed is the price per plant. I have a lot of grass to kill and garden space to fill. Any extras can be traded or given away. Growing from seed is a slow process, though, and I don’t expect most of the plants to bloom until summer 2007 – when we will likely be moving. Instead of mourning the future loss of my green babies, I think instead on my second favorite reason for growing from seed: the magic of seeing life emerge from a seemingly dead shell.