Winter Sowing

For over ten years now, gardening has been a form of therapy, science experimentation, and my small way of rebelling against the corrupt and toxic food system in the US. It’s another way I’ve found to be self sustainable and to rely a little less on mass produced and processed foods from corporations that don’t have our best interest in mind. Despite being a gardener for this stretch of time though, I had never heard of winter sowing until it started popping up on my For You Page on TikTok this year.

After ten years of babying seedlings under grow lights, being meticulous over timing, and hardening plants off the hardest way possible, I was thrilled to learn of the idea that you can sow seeds outdoors in the dead of winter, inside plastic or recycled containers, and then let nature do the rest. It feels almost too good to ge true.

I love that no matter how long I’ve been gardening, I continue to learn new things. It’s honestly half the fun of it for me!

After scrolling and doing some research on the winter sowing method for a few weeks, I set out to gather the materials that I’d need. A lot of people use recycled milk jugs, but my family doesn’t really drink milk. From what I understand, the containers just need to be semi transparent so that it creates a “greenhouse effect” for the seedlings and allows enough light for the sprouts to grow once they germinate.

The Dollar Tree felt like the most affordable way to get started without having a stash of milk cartons, so I went and found a few different types of clear containers. I like the idea of doing it this way too because I can reuse these containers in the years to come.

The last few days have been unseasonably warm so it felt like the stars aligned for me to be able to start this process without the discomfort of our usual freezing temps this time of year. We live in growing zone 4b so February is normally pretty brutal when it comes to the cold. Today, however, it got above 60 degrees and I was able to work in my garage without needing a jacket!

The containers I filled today are just plain food storage containers. I used a soldering iron to melt holes in the bottom for drainage and holes in the lids so snow and rain can enter and keep moisture and humidity in the container for the seeds.

I went ahead and added a few inches of potting soil to the bottom of each container. According to my research, it’s important to use a potting soil that is meant for outdoors, and to avoid using seed starting mix as it dries out too quickly. Any brand of outdoor potting soil will work, but my preference is the Espoma Organic potting soil. It’s always given me great results.

After filling up my containers with soil, it was time to decide which seeds I wanted to winter sow. Winter sowing doesn’t work for everything, so for my tomatoes, peppers, and certain other plants I plan to grow this summer, I will still need to start indoors. The seeds that work well for winter sowing are things like lettuce, native perennials, and other cool season crops, so I chose some of these to start with.

After getting all of my seeds into their containers, I misted them generously with water, closed them up with their lids, and placed them out in a sunny area in our garden.

We have several raised beds, so I used them as a safe place for these containers to live until the seeds germinate in the spring. This way they will already be close to where they will be transplanted, so it’s a win-win.

As for labeling the containers, I simply used Sharpie markers and masking tape to mark the date and the names of the plants.

I also planted in a few other types of containers that I found at The Dollar Tree, and some that I already had on hand in my gardening supply stash. I’m excited to see if there is any significant difference to using each type of container. The experimentation side of gardening is fun for me. It has helped me shape my preferences and taught me so much about what to do and what not to do.

Now that the containers are placed, I can let them be and check back in a few months to see if this method is truly as effective and easy as the hype on TikTok claims. I’ll post an update on how it went in a few months!