Sowing in Winter...

Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows

Fearing neither cloud nor winter's chilling breeze;

by and by the harvest and the labor ended,

we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

She does not fear the snow...hate it maybe, yes, but no fear.  In fact, winter is an excellent time to get caught up on all that went lacking during the summer.  Seeding being one of them.

The frost/thaw action of winter is the perfect time to plant tree and perennial seeds.  It softens those hard exteriors and allows for better germination.  On our farm, we are creating silvo pastures. Multi-storied, tree-lined, alleyways for the cattle to graze in.  We don't plant just any trees, they must meet at least two, preferably three farm needs.  We look for trees, shrubs, and perennials that provide nectar for our bees, nitrogen for our soil and a food source for one or more of the animals living on our place (including us).

Trees are expensive and creating tree-lined alleyways takes a lot of trees so I have had to get creative with my accumulation.   Seeds, cuttings, grafts, layering are all ways that I have acquired treelings.  I am also very familiar with my conservations website that offers native seedlings in bulk for great prices.  If you don't have a lot of space but would like to order native seedlings from your conservation office a quick ad on craigslist will provide you with more than enough people willing to share your order.

For winter sowing you just need to acquire containers that will act as little mini green houses... milk jugs, juice jugs, deli containers, ice cream containers.... if you don't use many of these things ask around there is always someone willing to save containers.

I have dropped some pretty heavy hints on wanting a cold frame like this one for a couple of years now. It would eliminate the need to scrounge containers from other people and stop my back porch from deserving all the "Clampett comments" it receives..  If you don't like it then you know how to fix it. 

This year, my winter sowing includes a tree I am so excited about, bitter orange,  Every year I buy a box of organic oranges and the price was painful to pay, $22 for a half bushel. While I have several indoor citrus trees they don't provide enough for my crew especially when I make my Vitamin C powder.  I need peels and a lot of them. This year the price jumped to $29 because there is a shortage and it finally spurred me to start looking for another source. 

I am that source.  

Some experts say bitter orange is hardy to zone 5 others that it is only hardy to zone 9-10.  I live in zone 6 and I have seen them here so I'm carefully picking a sheltered spot for my new adventure.  The tree it's self is ugly and thorny, the fruit is super sour like a lemon.  The rind is good in marmalade. I bought my seeds off of Amazon. 

winter sowing is easy because this is just temporary housing for them so spacing isn't an issue just toss the seeds in the dirt, lightly cover and mist a bit. Put your cover on and place outside in the dead of winter.  The constant freeze/thaw will push the seeds down into the dirt and bring them up close to the surface.  it will crack the hard exterior and also insure that only the strongest survive.... look at my lil citrus babies getting ready to provide me with organic vitamin C for my crew.

Watch them as the weather begins to warm and soon you will see tiny starts, once they are a couple of inches high you need to separate them out into individual containers....

Winter Sowing is a great time to seed perennials as well.  Remember the Echinacea root you needed for  the elderberry elixir?  Get those seeds in the dirt. but only use the leaves and flowers the first two years.  I add a new group of flowers to my patch every year. harvesting the old and growing the new.

I also put in some milk weed for the girls as well as Sage.  Healthy, hardy seedlings for a fraction of the price.

What could your kingdom use?  Here is a few ideas from our list this year...


Jujube Dates

Echinacea

Sage

Feverfew

Roman Chamomile

Catalpa ~ around my pond for fish food

Chaste tree

American Cranberry

Autumn Olive

Siberian Pea Shrub

I could go on and on..but you've got this.  Just look around, find the need and get it filled.  Seeds are very inexpensive compared to trees and plants, Winter sowing allows the jump start that they need to be large and healthy by the following fall plus eliminates the need for hardening off because they have been outside the entire time.  This also works for tender garden annuals like tomatoes and cukes but wait until the end of Feb and cover if you are expecting a hard frost after they have sprouted.

Please make this a family affair.  Littles love sticking seeds in the dirt and growing things creates ownership.   This way when summer is taking you out at the knees you can ask little Joey to water "His" trees and know he will water and weed them with care because he understands the time that has been invested in them.

Now, girls, let's get our hands dirty.