 Hey everybody welcome to the channel and welcome to spring Here in zone 3, Saskatchewan, Canada as you can see outside We still got a lot of snow to melt and there is still lots of time to do some more winter sewing We hit spring about three days ago The temperatures are going to be below freezing at night for at least another couple weeks So if you live in a cold zone like me, it's not too late to do some winter sewing I have a few jugs here ready to go and I'm going to show you some of my favorite things to grow using the winter sewing method So please hit that like button and let's get started So if you haven't heard of the winter sewing method, this is a process of setting up milk jugs or other clear containers similar to a milk jug getting them set up with some potting soil and planting seeds in them Sealing up the container and setting them outside in the freezing temperatures Usually we start winter sewing depending on what zone you're in and what you're going to be trying to grow You can start this as early as January If you're in a warmer zone even sooner than that But here in a cold climate like I live in we usually start our winter sewing In february Into march and now we're very close to april and i'm very late this year I've just been really busy doing other things Haven't done as much winter sewing as I normally do But I have some certain ones that always seem to work well for me in the winter sewing method So I want to plant those up today We're going to put them in a shady spot Out of the sun for a couple weeks so that they get good and cold They will freeze at night for sure And hopefully stay frozen during the day And then mid april when it starts to warm up and these seeds are Ready to think about germinating. That's when I will pull them out into the sunshine and hopefully We'll have some successful germination So when I was mixing up my soil here, I was using potting soil You want to make sure that You aren't using like soil from outside like from old planters or anything. You don't want to reuse soil From outdoor plants because you'll probably end up with a lot of weeds and a lot of seeds in your soil that you don't want in here So start off with a good potting mix I'm adding in some para light just to kind of help Improve the draining and the aeration of the soil I find that sometimes in the winter sewing method the Potting soil or the soil in these containers gets really compacted and you know, it makes it a little harder for those little seedlings to germinate and grow so Just topping it up with a little bit of para light sometimes helps that Once I got the soil into these containers I gave them a good watering From the top and then also because I have them sitting in these Roasting pans. I also put some water in the bottom and then that just helps Wick up from the bottom as well because you want to make sure that the soil That you're planting into is well moistened so that when the spring when germination Starts happening. Those seeds have a good moist soil to germinate in So you want to make sure you've got about three or four inches of Depth in your soil so that there's lots of room for those Roots to grow because these are going to be in these containers right up until the time you are transplanting them into your garden So once you got the soil well moistened you are ready to start putting in your seeds So there's a very long list of seeds that you can start using the winter sewing method. I've done flowers I've done vegetables. I've done herbs and this year just because I'm downsizing and doing a lot of other things Didn't have time to do a lot of winter sewing There was a few kinds that I always have good luck with they always seem to get good germination and I can get them Planted into my garden and they always do well So I'm going to just stick with a few this year and I wanted just to share those with you chamomile peppermint calendula Are three that I really like to do this in this method I like to harvest my peppermint and chamomile and calendula for teas and to make sals and to make soap So I always want to try and get a good crop of these going in my garden And sweet peas because they're cold tolerant and they like that cool spring Time to germinate. I usually Plant up a few of these. They do really well on this method as well Onions seem to do really well in this method as well because they like cool temperatures also So I have a bunch of onion bulbs the bigger ones started indoors But the green bunching like this are good in the winter sewing method Onions you want to make sure your seeds are fresh If you're throw over a couple years old, I wouldn't recommend using them because they don't seem to germinate as well So we're going to do these green bunching first And I'm just going to sprinkle a good generous Mount on top of this dirt here And then we are just going to top it up with some more of the potting soil So as you can see I'm probably over seeding but Like I said, they're easy to thin out and take apart Afterwards if you need to The last thing I'm going to be doing is my calendula. I love using calendula petals In my soap making I have a really good recipe for a Healing sev that I use calendula petals in check it out on my channel So throughout the summer I like to collect my calendula petals And store them dry them out and I use them in recipes all winter long So once you've got your seeds all planted then you can just Add some more potting soil on top cover up the seeds Give them a little protection Then we're going to give them another good watering and let that Moisture soak in just be careful with your watering that you don't you know Use anything too heavy to water with a sprinkler can would be better than this just so you don't Displace your seeds too much so just a gentle watering on top Then once you got them marked on the inside you got them watered you're ready to tape them up and take them outside So the daytime camps here on the prairies are going to remain a below freezing. They said for at least another Week or so and of course overnight things are going to be freezing for several Weeks so I'm going to just place these jugs On the north side of my shed here just so they're out of the sunlight And I want to keep them dormant for at least another month or so Till the days start warming up and the evenings get a little warmer So I got them over here on the north side of my shed here and I want to Just keep them out of the wind out of the sunlight and And I just want to keep them safe from the dog as well So I'm just using this tub just to cover them up for now. So this is where they'll stay for a couple weeks Tell about mid april when it's time to Get them out in the sun and get them ready for germination So as you can see here, we still have a lot of melting to happen here on the prairies But the warm days are coming the days are getting longer the sun's getting warmer And pretty soon we will be out working in our gardens So I hope you enjoyed watching this video on winter sowing in the spring Please remember to hit the like button hit subscribe and we will see you on the next video