Now that all of our growers have winter-sown their seeds, it’s time to share pictures!

If you are new to growing plants from seed, you may be surprised to learn that the seeds from plants that are native to colder climates – like Canada, often stay dormant and will not germinate until they go through a cold, moist period called stratification. One of the easiest ways to provide this cold/moist period is by sowing the seeds in pots, protecting them from squirrels and foraging wildlife and exposing them to the elements. Snow, rain, the cold…. all will help naturally break the dormancy.

Maybe the most common question I get is why not just directly sow seeds into the ground or fling them into the air as nature does? and if you consider the thousands of seeds a plant produces and that hardly any additional plants are created in your garden each year, you’ll see that method has a very low success rate.

This year we also have 3 separate groups of growers in standalone projects and I have visited two sites to check on their wintersowing.

We will continue to share pictures from our members as they are sent in.

Happy growing!