 Okay, so we are in my garage this afternoon and I think this is probably the first video that I've done out here in my garage As you can see I have a great East-facing window that also catches a lot of the afternoon Sun so this is where I move my seedlings to when I started them in the basement and they get too big I Can bring them up here in March Early spring it is heated in this garage. So it's a it's a nice spot for plants. So you will probably be seeing some more videos Happening here in the next few months But for today we are going to talk about winter sowing and today we're going to just plant some Perennial flowers I'm going to start with them today. We are in mid-January And you can pretty much start your winter sowing any time it doesn't have to be Any particular time when it's when you're doing this Because as long as it's freezing consistently at night wherever you live Of course where I live here in zone 3. That is not a problem in the middle of January As long as your plants are going outside and they are being frozen And will remain frozen for a period of time You can pretty much start January February and all into March again, you would just check your growing zone and pick flowers and perennials annuals vegetables herbs that are hardy to your zone and they should work for you So you should look for seeds that are Look for things that on the seed packets such as self-sowing direct sew outside in the fall or early spring those would be the kind of Flowers and plants that will hopefully do the best Okay, so we're going to start by getting our jugs ready here. So I take my cordless drill and first thing you need to do is put some Holes in the bottom of your jug so that there is a way for the the extra moisture to drain and your Your so your plant doesn't become saturated with water. So I'm going to just start Putting about 8 to 10 holes in the bottom here Okay, so there's our holes in the bottom And then we're going to try and create a little lid Here with the hinge so that we can open this up in the spring easily and check on our On our plants here So what I do just to get that started because I'm going to use scissors. I Just get a starting hole with my drill Take my scissors here and start cutting Doesn't have to be anything straight or Don't have to worry about it being too perfect Just go right to where the handle starts here Leave a little space like that uncut And then you have Give it a little bend Create it yourself a nice Little hinge lid So once we have the seeds planted we'll be taping this shut To turn it into our nice little Cozy greenhouse and then in the spring when you have some growth and you want to open it up You can Take the tape off if it gets cold again. You can always put it back. So That is the basic way of getting your milk jug ready Now I do have some other containers here that I've Just found in my Around the house that I think will work as well something like this Of course works just as good as a milk jug. It's clear. So it lets in lots of light You can drill holes in the bottom here You can do the same thing Cut leave a little hinge So that will work This is a food container Takeout container that I think should work good. You can plant, you know, you need about Three or more inches. So I think I'm going to try some of my Plants in this Drill some holes in the top drill some holes in the bottom. I Also Have collected a few ice cream containers that have you know the opaque Side so they shouldn't let in enough light. So I'm going to just try them out with drilling holes in the top and Drilling holes in the bottom So I'm going to test out these different types of containers if you have done winter sowing and have used any Special containers you'd like to share. Please let me know in the comments below What's what you've used in the past and what works for you? I'm going to start by mixing up a big tub of the soil here and then moistening it with some water I've already put in some peat moss. I'm just going to add in some potting soil You want to make sure that when you have this soil in your jugs that it is completely Saturated not not dripping with water, but really really moist so that When it thaws in the spring there's a lot of moisture in there for the seeds Help with their germination Okay, so I think I have this Moistened up enough Like I said, it's not too wet where it's dripping, but it sticks together So let's get one of our jugs filled up here Just start by It's kind of handy if you have a container like this rubber made to Do your potting in so it's a little less messy I say that as I spill it all over the front of my shirt. So I think When you want to pack it in here pretty good, just make sure you can see that so I just give it a little press down And I would say you know three inches is a good Rule of thumb for anything to be growing in that should be enough So I'm going to start by planting my butterfly Milkweed seeds here. I've taken half out and I'm going to try direct sowing those in the spring so I'm going to just spread these around and Being a little more sparingly with these than I would with other seeds just because I don't have a whole lot of them And try to spread them out. I'm not too Fancy with my spacing here or Worry about it too much, but Just to try and get them spread out here I think that's enough So you can't see them because they pretty much blend right into the soil here, but I've Probably put about a dozen or so And then I'm just going to put a light layer of dirt on top. I don't want to put too much Give it a little packing Okay, and we'll get that ready to get taped up, but let's try another one here So If you haven't done winter sowing before I guess some of the benefits of this is that it's It's an easy way to start your seedlings without having to invest in indoor Grow lights and seed starting trays and just trying to find space in your in your home to to start seeds I do it just because it's kind of a fun thing to do in the winter and Kind of compare it to my indoor Seedlings to see which works best and I run out of space usually so I want to try this with the different different seeds and see how it works The other thing is too about these is you know, it's kind of a plant it and forget it Thing where you just put them out into the snowbank and I guess the hardest part is just waiting But as the weather warms the containers will Thaw and freeze Repeatedly as winter progresses its way into spring And the action of freezing and thawing helps loosen the seed coat And the seeds know they know when it's time for them to start germinating and um So they will wait until the Until the conditions are suitable for them and when spring hits and the warm air the warm sun heats up these jugs They will start germinating and the rain and the snow will continue to um keep the the soil moist and um Yeah, it should should all work out sometimes, you know every season can be a bit different if we have an early Early spring or we have a long Long cold winter that uh last into spring but For the most part it should work out pretty good So the other the thing i'm going to try is the yarrow and it is a perennial as well And when you when you're looking for you know suitable seeds to to do the winter sowing you look for things like um seed early spring or late fall so you know that it's more of a um A cold weather type seed that needs to go through that stratification process. So We're going to try some yarrow in here These are very Tiny tiny seeds So i'm just going to sprinkle them lightly across the top here And it'll be a little overly generous probably And just a light layer of More soil on top Okay, so before we uh tape these shut i just wanted to um Tell you that something that i do Because sometimes like i said the uh the writing on the outside may wear off is to mark inside What you uh planted in there and the date and um make sure you do it right after you Plant it because i literally just had to remind rewind my Videoed to figure out which one was the yarrow and which one was the the butterfly uh weed because i Right off the bat just um got the two mixed up and wasn't sure which one was which so So the way that to i find the easiest to get your duct tape on here First of all take off these gloves Don't need those so i always rip mine off on the counter here make sure i got a They're not stripped to go around the whole jug so i just start by Taping it at the one end of the where the hinge starts Don't worry about sticking it just kind of quickly wrap it around Folding it in place here it overlaps that's okay Then i just work at Getting it to stick all the way around make sure it's just well sealed right where the slit is And that has worked good for me Then um i write on the top here some people say write on the bottom, but I wrote on the top and again i forgot what it was already This is the yarrow and Today's date And there it is It's all ready to go out into the snow bank And wait for spring So we'll do the next one here We'll do this one in red Just for fun Regular gray duct tape works fine. It's probably cheaper than this colored stuff that i bought Might as well add a little color out in the garden Stick it where the hinge starts here Just hold the place Try not to get stuck to your microphone cord This one i made a little too long Okay, and i just try to make sure it's stuck where the Some of these jugs have kind of a indent in it that makes it a little bit finicky, but i think it'll be fine I haven't had trouble with my duct tape coming off in the winter, but Again, you just double check in your jug to see what you got planted in here Believe me putting that extra Uh label inside the jug will be a lifesaver So this is the butterfly weed January 12 I just wanted to show you also something that I do just to um Just to get you know a little extra moisture into This soil before we put it out into the snow bank Something like this um tinfoil pan works really good and i'll just put a little extra water into the Pan here and while i'm getting some more jugs ready. I'm just going to let it sit in this water and uh Wick up a bit more Just to give it a little extra moisture Also, I didn't mention that I do use rainwater or melted snow Which um if you're able to get some I would recommend that as well. I'm sure Anytime you can give your plants rainwater or melted snow water is a is a bonus So I always have a pail of snow melting in my garage here to water my house plants and Any other good things I got growing So i'm just going to set this to the side and let it soak up some water and do some more Jugs here Thanks to my daughter brady for being the cameraman today So i'm just trying to figure out where the best place to put these First set of jugs are so that they won't blow away So I think we'll just set them in the snow right here Get a little insulation there So there we have our first official planting for 2021 In our garden So i'm going to head inside and do some more jugs up and get some more out here in the garden