 You can see that we're starting to lose our beautiful blue skies today and the clouds are starting to build up, so It's hard to believe that it can turn cold, but that is just the way it is here on the prairies Gotta always take the good with the bad enjoy the beautiful sunny days when you can and Appreciate any kind of moisture Whether it comes in the form of rain or snow. It's all good for the garden Hi there and welcome to getting clean on the prairies We're just heading out to my garden here and we are going to start the first video in my series of winter growing versus indoor growing challenge So this is what my garden looks like at this time of year. We are in early April. It's a beautiful sunny morning And I'm just going to take you over here showing you my winter sowing patch So some of these jugs have been out here since um January 12th It's when I planted the first batch here and then I did some more in February I think I did a few other kinds in March And I'm still actually planning up a few more got a few more planned to put out here in April So right now here in zone 3, Saskatchewan where I live We still have another month or so before we can start putting most of our plants into the garden So like most gardens who have a short growing season like me starting your seeds indoors Is essential if you want to be able to grow vegetables like tomatoes peppers Onions variety of flowers and all different kinds of herbs It's also something a lot of us do just to cut down or eliminate the need to buy seedlings at the local greenhouses or big box stores and For me, it's just something I really enjoy doing. So that's a big reason why I do Try all these different methods of starting my own seeds so Growing at indoors of course can come at a cost as you need to purchase containers You can reuse off obviously, but a lot of times you have to purchase different types of containers seed starting trays You got to purchase your potting soil seeds And if you really are serious about indoor growing you can get into grow lights and shelving and all of this requires space in your home and Also requires a lot of time and then of course these indoor seedlings require Constant care you pretty much have to look at the after them Every day if not twice a day to make sure they aren't dried out and they're properly watered and that they're getting enough light But you know, there's usually a high success rate of germination with your indoor seedlings and you usually end up with healthy seedlings that are ready to go outdoors So that's where these are a little tricky trickier to Harden off compared to the winter sowing you have to take these delicate little seedlings outside after being in a very controlled environment and expose them to the elements and Take your time hardening them off so that they're ready to to be transplanted into the garden So that takes us to the winter sowing method And why would you want to try using that method as opposed to starting your seeds indoors? So winter sowing is much cheaper. It's you reuse Containers such as milk jugs or juice jugs or any kind of containers as you can see in my Assortment here. It's kind of whatever you find around your home that works So basically your your biggest expense is buying a good quality potting soil and your seeds and some duct tape So that's pretty much all you need to spend your money on and then once you have them set outside in the cold That's pretty much all you do. It's kind of a leave it set it and forget it type method so cheaper lower maintenance Tougher transplants the best kind of plants to use in this method would be perennials and cool weather crops such as lettuces and brassicas I would say some of the cons of the winter sowing is probably a lower chance of germination based on what kind of Stuff you are growing The weather conditions, of course may affect the results. You can get Frost freezing rain snow Once these start to germinate so you notice as I'm running through these Different jugs and showing you the starts that I have done indoors a lot of them have Already sprouted and are taking off quite nicely indoors The starting time of these plants in between the two different methods methods is not really something I'm concerned about simply because It is kind of challenging to do everything at the same time The tomatoes and peppers have been started two or three weeks ago But I am going to try and do some in the jugs, which I just planted in the last couple days and Same with different flowers perennials. Some of them are started indoors Several weeks ago and some were just put into the jugs Lately and vice-versa Some were planted in the jugs back in January, but I'm just starting them indoors in the last couple weeks so bottom line is Where do they all end up at the end of the day? Did they sprout successfully? Did they grow? Did they produce? Did they turn into beautiful flowers or Were they a fail? So that is going to be The part of the challenge is to give you updates every few weeks and show you where things are at and What is working best and what is failing? So as I mentioned earlier in my when we're talking about the pros and cons of each method one factor that can Really affect the success of your winter sowing is the weather as all of us gardeners would know You never know what mother nature might have up her sleeve Especially in the springtime We've had days in March here where the temperatures have been to almost 20 degrees Celsius it's been beautiful warm weather and We are into almost mid-April now and today again another beautiful day, but the weather forecast is Shaying that we are in for two to three days of snow freezing rain freezing temperatures blowing winds and all sorts of things that Are concerning me regarding my winter sowing? So I'm just trying to decide whether I should just leave these jugs out here to the elements and test out these Many greenhouses to see how good they will protect my plants or if I should maybe consider Babying them a little bit covering them up with a blanket or moving them into my Gradge or garden shed. So if you want to find out what happens What has happened with my winter sowing method after we Get through this stormy weather predicted for the next three days, please remember to hit the subscribe button and Click on that notification bell so that you don't miss out on the next video where I will update you on My winter sowing versus indoor growing challenge. Thanks for watching