How to Start Winter Sowing for Beautiful Spring Blooms

Gardening is often considered a seasonal activity, with specific tasks in spring, summer, fall and winter, depending on the type of climate in which we live. In regions where winter is very cold, gardeners generally leave their vegetable garden in sleep and may not even go there between December and March.

But winter sowing is an easy -to -perform seasonal task, which helps enrich the soil and increase the diversity of vegetable life in the garden over the four seasons. You will find below our best guide to start sowing in winter.

What is winter sowing?

Winter sowing consists in planting seeds outside during the winter. These can be food crops, coverage crops or spring flowering annuals, among others. To sow in winter, you have to plant seeds that resist cold temperatures.

Although many gardeners like to start the seeds inside in winter, for those who do not have space, sufficient light or time to do, winter sowing can be an excellent option. By sowing the seeds directly outside, there is no need to get fucked with sowing bins, potting soil, cultivation lamps or other elements usually necessary for sowing inside.

Benefits of winter sowing

Winter sowing has many advantages, including saving time and money, the lack of storage of planting equipment such as sowing trays, and effective use of space and light available.

• Flexibility: Outdoor winter sowing allow you to avoid the more complicated and often longer method of starting sowing inside.
• Save money: Winter seedlings require very little investment. Everything you need are seeds, and these can often be acquired at low cost, or even free of charge, from local gardening associations or online seed savers.
• Save time: By sowing outside, you will not have to transplant the sowing of the containers in the garden.
• Use the space effectively: If you have a limited interior space to start sowing, winter sowing outdoors allow you to cultivate where you have room so that sowing matures.
• Limited light ok: The lack of light makes it difficult to start the seeds inside: winter sowing allow you to enjoy the sunlight available outside.
• Method without frills: This little technical seed starter method makes it possible to do without containers, earth and other special equipment or materials.

When to sow in winter

Winter seedlings are preferably done at the end of autumn and early winter (from late November to early January). Many annual flowers that love cold and flower in spring can be sown during this period. These include single pimples (Centaurea cyanus), capucines, myosotis (Myosotis sylvatica), the mufliers and the sweet Alysson, which can all be restarted in the garden over time.

Cover crops such as winter rye, winter wheat or red clover can be sown at the end of autumn to germinate slowly during the winter. Winter resistant green vegetables such as kale, pak-choi, spinach and some lettuce can also be sown late in the season, and your green vegetables planted in summer can be kept in activity when temperatures drop. Aromatic herbs from early spring such as dill, oregano and mint can also be sown in winter. Do research to find out which varieties that are best for winter sowing.
If a strong jelly occurs and temperatures remain freezing for an prolonged period, some food crops may need protection to continue working. It is at this point that the sowing made every two weeks, from the end of autumn to the beginning of winter, are an effective method for sowing to be at different levels of maturity and strength and have a better chance of survival.

What to sow in winter?

There are many plants adapted to winter sowing, and it can be difficult to choose the ones you want to try. Take into account the space you have and sunlight. Do some research to discover the different varieties of seeds to try. Here are some specific suggestions for food crops, coverage crops and spring flowering annuals to sow in winter.

Food crops

Many gardeners grow green vegetables in winter in a greenhouse or another form of winter cover. We recommend a few cold -resistant varieties that can push without protection in the USDA 4 to 7 areas. In the event of extremely low temperatures, a simple fabric cover can protect them. Plant them in the middle or at the end of autumn to help them settle before frosts.

• Russian Russian cabbage: Also known as “Ragged Jack”, it is the most tolerant curly cabbage, and it becomes even more tender and soft in cold weather.
• Spinach: The varieties of cold -resistant spinach include ‘Giant Winter’, ‘Bloomsdale’, ‘Auroch’, ‘Sunangel’, ‘Acadia’, ‘Hammerhead’, ‘Kolibri’, and ‘Space’.
• Bok ChoyRosette Tatso ‘is considered to be the most resistant variety of cold to cultivate in winter.
• Lettuce: The varieties of Roman lettuce are the most Cold resistant lettuces to cultivateAmong the cold -resistant lettuces, let us quote ‘Flashy Troutback’ and ‘Plato II’, or ‘Winter Density’ which is a cross between varieties of Roman and latume.

Cover crops

They must be sown at the end of autumn so that they have time to germinate before temperatures become too cold. Coverage crops are useful to increase soil nutrients like nitrogen during winter; When plants die, they also feed the soil.

Clover: These plants produce food for pollinators and help fix nitrogen in the ground. It is best to sow them before the first frosts. Try the purple clover, the red clover and the clover with snow leaves. You can mix them with a little sand to facilitate sowing.

Winter cereals: They include oats, barley, wheat and rye. Sow them in fall. There are many varieties, including old varieties and biological seeds. You can bury them in the ground by slowly raking them and tapping them slightly. Young shoots can be consumed in different ways.

Peas of Austrian fields: Unlike other blanket legumes (such as the Vesce), these peas nourish the soil but do not need to be cut to avoid re -embellishment. Harvest the shoots in spring before they go up in seeds in May. You can also gently return the plants with a hoe before they go up in seeds, to plant other crops in the garden.

Annual spring flowering

These flowers germinate in winter and flourish in early spring. They often rely in the garden and when they go up in seeds, these can be harvested to be planted at the end of autumn. All these flowers can be sown in fall and early winter.

Blueberry: These colorful annuals attract many pollinators and are available in a wide range of colors, including ancestral blue variety. The other colors include pink, white, purple, lavender, red and many two -color.

Myosotis: The pale blue flowers are welcome in the spring. Cut the stems when they go up in seeds to prevent them from being too assertive in the garden. Small tufts can be easily torn off and replanted elsewhere if they grow in an unwanted place.

Nasturtium: These colorful and edible flowers are often cultivated in planters or containers; They have a dragging port, so winter sowing in containers are the most effective.

Mufliers: There are small muffliers which are more tender annuals: larger muffliers which have woody central stems are the most resistant to cold and the most likely to rest, like the ‘Rocket’ series in bright colors.

Advice for winter sowing

In addition to choosing the right time and the best varieties of seeds, there are some planting methods to keep in mind for winter sowing.

• Sluck the floor: Use a metal rake or a hoe to slightly reduce the topsoil. This allows you to create an environment favorable to the seeds to germinate.
• Rake Seeds: Large seeds, such as cereals or peas, can be slightly raked in the soil to facilitate planting and ensure good spacing.
• Sand: If you sow small seeds like lettuce, curly cabbage or flowers, mix them with a little sand to give them a little weight when sowing.
• Tap the ground slightly. Small seeds also have an interest in being slightly packed after planting to prevent them from being dispersed by the wind or eaten by birds.
• Sprinkle very slightly: If time is very dry when you plant, a little water can help germination. The ideal is to plant just before a slight snowfall, but if it is not possible, adjust your watering pipe to a very light misting adjustment and sprinkle slightly after planting.