Sowing seeds before winter flowers. Is winter sowing of flower and vegetable seeds necessary? Autumn sowing of annuals
Many gardeners use winter sowing of flowers from seeds. This method has many advantages.
First, this method allows you to get the earliest flowering. Secondly, this method of sowing saves a lot of time in the spring, because no one cancels planting and picking, but it will definitely free up the space on the windowsills that the seedlings occupy. Third, plants that are planted in this way will be more “hardened”, resistant to diseases and adverse conditions.
What flowers are best grown in this way, sowing them before winter? There are a lot of them. These are asters and delphinium, iris and calendula, kandyk, cosmos and clematis, ranunculus and swimmer, hellebore, poppy, peony, corydalis and primrose, evening primrose, violet, eschscholzia, ash.
I would like to talk about one more advantage of winter sowing. For some plants, for example, hellebore, delphinium, primrose, stratification is required for seed germination - what does this mean? This means that the seeds of these plants need cold treatment. Therefore, during winter sowing, this procedure does not need to be carried out, as during spring sowing.
The timing of pre-winter sowing can be different - from October to February, depending on your climate zone. The main thing is to comply with the condition - at the moment when sowing occurs, stable cold conditions must be established. If sowing is done in too warm weather, the seeds will germinate, but winter frosts will destroy them. In the cold, the seeds should leave swollen, but under no circumstances germinate. Considering that in last years, even in central Russia warm Octobers and even Novembers are not uncommon, so sowing time can only come at the end of November.
If you plant seeds directly in the beds, then you need to take care of their preparation and creation in advance, when the ground is not yet frozen by frost.
It is very convenient to sow seeds in plastic containers, or pots. In the spring it will be easier for you to find seedlings. On your site, choose a place protected from light and wind, lay down non-woven material, if the snow has already fallen, rake it. Then install the boxes, and in them containers with crops. Place another layer of non-woven material on top and cover with snow.
The depth of winter sowing of flowers should be the same as for spring sowing or slightly less. If you are sowing into frozen ground, then the furrows can be sprinkled with pre-prepared soil. There is no need to water the sown seeds.
In the spring, on the contrary, make sure that the seedlings do not dry out, carry out snow retention, and when the snow melts, it is time to water the seedlings. Pick up the sprouted seedlings and plant them in the ground.
Autumn has already come into its own, the gardens are filled with the bright colors of the new season - asters, chrysanthemums and dahlias are blazing with bright colors, the leaves are turning yellow... the real cold is just around the corner, and with it the end of the next gardening season.
However experienced gardeners They know that autumn is a time of many worries and troubles necessary to prepare for the next season. Among them are autumn sowings.
Pre-winter sowing of annual and perennial flowers involves planting already on frozen ground - in late October - early November, or even on snow - in December - January. However, you need to start preparing for winter sowing of flowers now: prepare the soil, ridges and, of course, stock up on seeds.
If you have never sowed before winter, the very thought of this method of growing flowers can make you shiver chilly: how can you throw them, so tender, right into the snow? In fact, winter sowing of many flowers often gives the best results.
Pros and cons of winter sowings
So, why do you need to sow flowers in frosty weather?In natural habitats, flowers, as a rule, reproduce completely independently. After ripening, the seeds fall into the soil, spend the winter under the snow and begin to germinate with the first rays of the spring sun. That is, such sowing creates natural growth conditions (we are, of course, talking mainly about frost-resistant plants).
In this situation, the plants harden and grow stronger and more resilient than when grown in greenhouse conditions. They are quite capable of resisting spring frosts, are resistant to diseases and good growth. In addition, hardened plants develop healthier and deeper root system, which allows them to obtain water from deeper layers of the soil. And this, in turn, means better resistance to drought and weeds.
By the way, annuals sown in autumn usually bloom about a week earlier than their counterparts sown in spring.
In addition, in the spring you won’t have to worry about whether the ground has warmed up enough for planting. The plants will germinate themselves at the most optimal time for them. Hence another undoubted advantage: freeing up your time in the spring and empty window sills! Pre-winter sowing eliminates the need to tinker with seedlings of these crops.
As for the disadvantages of autumn sowing of annual crops, we can mention, first of all, the relatively low germination of seeds (when compared with the seedling method of cultivation). It is for this reason that when sowing in autumn, seeds are usually sown much thicker than in spring, and this, in turn, increases seed consumption.
Winter thaws also pose a danger to winter crops. The seeds may awaken prematurely, in which case, of course, all the sprouts will die in subsequent frosts.
And, of course, not all flowers can be planted in cold weather. Heat-loving exotics native to southern latitudes will simply die under the snow.
But plants grown in this way will be much stronger than seedlings, and as for germination, you will always be able to notice in the spring those crops that did not germinate or germinate poorly, and duplicate the sowing in a timely manner.
As for perennials, there are even more reasons to sow in the fall. The fact is that many species of perennial ornamental plants for seed germination is necessary - that is, cold treatment. In order to grow these flowers in seedlings, soaked seeds are kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 months. However, it is much easier to sow these seeds in the ground before winter, and then stratification will take place naturally without much effort on your part.
Most perennials develop much more successfully when sown in winter. And if you cover the seedlings with film in the spring, you can often even achieve their flowering in the first year of life.
As for the germination rate of perennial seeds during autumn planting, it is significantly higher than that of annual plants.
Autumn sowing of annuals
The first rule when planting annual crops in the fall is to sow into already frozen ground. Otherwise, the seeds may germinate prematurely and die at the first frost.However, it is necessary to begin preparing the soil in advance - at the end of September - beginning of October, before the ground freezes. It is worth carefully planning the area for planting so that in the spring the seeds are not washed away by melt water.
To prepare the soil in the selected area, it is necessary to dig up, apply fertilizer and make shallow grooves or holes. The depth of the grooves is calculated based on the selected plant species: for large seeds a depth of about 4-5 centimeters is needed, for medium seeds - about 2 centimeters, for small ones - no more than 1 centimeter.
In addition, it is worth stocking up on a substrate for sprinkling the seeds in advance. Since during the winter the top layer of soil can become very compacted, which will make germination difficult, it is recommended to sprinkle the crops with a thin layer of peat, humus or a light soil mixture of compost, peat with sand or humus with sand.
The actual sowing can be started in two periods: in November-December, when the top layer of soil freezes, or in the snow, in December-January. In any case, the seeds should be sown more densely than in the spring.
When sowing in late autumn, the seeds are placed in furrows and sprinkled with prepared soil mixture. On top, you can additionally cover the crops with a layer of fallen leaves.
For winter (in December-January, when the snow layer is at least 25 centimeters) sowing, the soil is prepared in the same way (digging, fertilizing), however, there is no need to make furrows in the ground, since the seeds are sown directly in the snow.
The snow is trampled down, grooves are made in it, and seeds are placed in them. The crops are sprinkled on top with a layer of prepared (unfrozen) soil mixture or peat and additionally with a layer of snow.
In spring, the seedlings will need to be thinned out.
Some of the annuals suitable for winter sowing are: dimorphotheca notemata and rain, bitter and umbelliferous, collinsia varifolia, double-pinnate and sulfur-yellow, keeled, sowing and crowned, malcolmia maritima, 
Drummond, .
Autumn sowing of perennials
The soil for autumn sowing of perennial flowers is prepared in the same way as for annual flowers: they dig it up, apply fertilizer and make furrows. Sowing begins from mid-October to early November. The seeds are also sprinkled with a thin layer of prepared soil mixture.In the spring, after the snow has melted, it is advisable to cover the seed bed with film. This way you will speed up the flowering of perennials, and at the same time protect the seeds from birds and spring rains. After the shoots appear, the film should be removed.
When the entire harvest has already been harvested, and there is not much work in the garden, you can begin winter sowing - an agrotechnical technique that allows you to get a short (10-12 days) boost in the development of seedlings in the spring.
It is especially effective in places where the ground warms up slowly, as well as in arid regions where plants sown before winter can take full advantage of soil moisture. In addition, using this method, you can better distribute your strength and capabilities, saving time for other spring work.
For sowing before winter, cold-resistant vegetables and greens are chosen: onions, rhubarb, sorrel, carrots, parsley, dill, coriander, borage, spinach, radishes, mustard greens, some varieties of lettuce, as well as crops whose seeds quickly lose their viability, for example parsnip, or requiring stratification (katran).
You can sow medicinal herbs: monarda, sage, chamomile, valerian, St. John's wort, yarrow. The smallest fraction can be planted on early greens onion sets, garlic bulbs, which will protect the bulbs from drying out in winter.
The seeds of some annual flowers are also sown in late autumn, for example asters, calendula, mignonette, matthiola, alyssum, lavatera, eschscholzia, annual asters, cornflower, as well as perennial flowers that need stratification: lavender, garden cyclamen, primrose, hellebore, delphinium, aquilegia, doronicum.
Crops such as alpine bell, hazel grouse, Levisia, prolomnik, gentian, saxifrage often germinate only after a year when sown in spring, so to obtain friendly shoots they are sown before winter.
Work begins when the air temperature approaches 0°C or drops slightly lower (to -1-2°C).
The seeds in the ground should have time to swell, but not germinate before the onset of winter. Sowing dates in different regions are individual (for the Non-Black Earth Region, suitable weather, as a rule, occurs in the beginning - middle of November). To prevent the seeds from freezing in the ground, they should never be soaked.
The beds for winter sowing must be prepared in advance, when the soil is still easy to dig up. The mixture for mulching crops is also prepared in advance and stored in heated rooms (so that it does not freeze).
In areas with close occurrence groundwater To avoid rotting of the seeds from excess moisture, the ridges are made higher than usual (by spring they will settle). The soil should be quite loose.
On heavy loams, the ridges “float”, and it is difficult for seedlings to break through the soil in the spring. On clay soils, apply peat or rotted compost (up to 6-8 kg per 1 m2), as well as phosphorus-potassium fertilizers at the rate of 30-40 g/m2. Small seeds are embedded in the ground 1.5-2 cm, large ones - 2-3 cm, onion sets and garlic bulbs - 3-4 cm.
The seeds are covered with pre-prepared peat or light compost so that a crust does not form after the snow melts. In order to get healthy shoots in the spring, the seeding rate for winter sowing must be increased by 50% compared to spring sowing.
It should be noted that, despite all efforts, the seeds may still die in winter or in early spring, for example, during a prolonged thaw, severe frosts or flooding of the area.
Therefore, it is better to save especially valuable seeds until spring. In addition, vegetables grown in this way are not suitable for long-term storage, and flowers fade earlier than those sown in the spring.
Nadezhda Seredyuk, Voronezh
I think whoever has a summer house definitely plants garlic. You can't do without this seasoning. So I plant it without fail.
In the fall, I prepare the bed in advance (two weeks before planting). I always plant garlic in the place where pumpkin or beans grew - these are good predecessors for it. On the morning of October 4-6, I sort out the heads of garlic and separate them into cloves. I choose the largest ones and set aside the flattest cloves for eating. When I finish the preparations, my husband and I go to plant. My husband makes deep grooves with a hoe, and I plant cloves every 10 cm. Then we rake the earth into the grooves and roll it down so that the earth fits more tightly to the cloves. We cover the bed with mulch (buckwheat husks) with a layer of about 5 cm. That's all the planting is.
Before the snow, the garlic takes root, but does not germinate. And in early spring, when the snow melts, green shoots appear. Garlic grows quickly in the sun. I don’t remove or loosen the mulch because the soil is soft and grass doesn’t grow. Caring for garlic involves infrequent watering.
If the lower leaves turn yellow, I take urea and sprinkle it along the rows. Then I water from above by sprinkling. I don't feed anymore.
Garlic stalks grow thick. When arrows appear, I cut them off. But I leave a few pieces to guide me when to dig the garlic. The arrow rises and straightens, and on it are small airy bulbs covered with a white shell. When this shell bursts. I start cleaning right away.
To dry, I put the garlic in a shaded place, under a canopy (the heads turn green in the sun). All the garlic is large, as per selection. When the stems are dry, I trim them with pruning shears, leaving 2 cm near the head. I dry them a little more in a dark place, put them in a box and put them on the floor in a cool pantry. In such conditions, garlic is perfectly stored until summer.
Next October I again choose large cloves for planting. And we use the rest during the winter for food and treatment.
I decided to sow onion sets and carrots before winter
Natalia Sergeeva, by e-mail
About ten years ago, I, a native city dweller who always had difficulty distinguishing lettuce from spinach, bought a plot of land outside the city. And my dacha epic began. It was not possible to build a house. Thank you, my friends helped me get a wooden construction shed, not new, but quite decent.
In a couple of years I managed to put the abandoned area in order. Broke small garden. planted shrubs and flowers. There is not much space left for garden beds, but without them it is completely boring.
Besides, I really like to experiment.
I don’t always manage to come to the dacha on weekends. And in the spring, during the “sowing season,” every day is important. Therefore, I decided to sow something in the fall. I had been eyeing my neighbors’ beds for a long time (some of them were starting to turn green suspiciously early).
I heard something about winter sowing, so I decided to sow onion sets and carrots. And nothing worked for me! The neighbors’ winter beds were already turning green, but on mine the weeds had just begun to sprout. I decided that it was time to meet my neighbors and talk to them about this topic. The neighbors are local people, who have spent their whole lives in the garden, so it seemed to them that there was nothing to explain here, everything was simple. But for me the conversation was very useful: I realized my mistakes. Firstly, the beds for winter sowing must be arranged in a high place so that water (from melting snow during the thaw and spring) does not stagnate there. If the seeds get wet for a long time, they may begin to germinate and die in frost. Besides, they might just dry out. A high place is also good because the sun illuminates it more. As a result, the soil warms up faster in the spring, and seedlings appear sooner.
But I think the main thing that provoked my failure was sowing too early. The autumn was warm and long, and the seeds sown in September (it was still warm) probably had time to hatch and then disappeared. My neighbors reassured me, saying that things happen to them too, especially if the temperature in winter fluctuates: sometimes the sun warms me up, sometimes it’s frosty.
In the fall, I set up a bed for winter sowing according to all the rules and sowed on time. And in the spring it turned green just like the neighbor’s.
On a note!
To create normal conditions for germinating winter carrot seeds, in the spring, when the soil begins to dry out, destroy the soil crust. After mass shoots of carrots, 15-20 g/m2 of nitrogen fertilizers are applied and incorporated into the soil near the row.
Separately about the experience of winter sowing of flowers
In October I sowed the seeds in prepared flower beds.
I don’t go to the dacha very often - work, household chores. Therefore, in the spring I often miss the optimal time for sowing flowers. There are also problems with seedlings: it’s a long way to get to the site, using two types of transport, so you can’t carry much. And there is not enough space in the apartment to grow everything you want. Naturally, more attention is paid vegetable crops- tomatoes, peppers, eggplants. There is practically no space left for flowers.
And I really love flowers. Therefore, I used to be very happy when I found ones that reproduce by self-seeding. And somehow I thought that if you help the flowers survive the winter, then you won’t have to bother with the seedlings and save time. I began to look for information in books on floriculture and discovered that it is not the seeds that need to be helped to survive the winter, but the seedlings - in early spring, when the sprouts die in the ground from frost. And it became clear to me what to do.
I collected cosmos seeds. alyssum, lavatera, annual aster, gypsophila, godetia, iberis. nigella, delphinium, eschscholzia, ash, matthiola, scabiosa. At home I dried them as usual. In the first half of October, I went to the site, sowed it in prepared flower beds and sprinkled it with dry leaves, and covered it with spruce branches on top (so that the leaves would not be blown away by the wind).
In March, when there were still frosts, but the sun was already warming up well during the day, I went out to the dacha. She removed the spruce branches, covered the flower beds with lutrasil, which she again fixed with spruce branches.
So my flower beds warmed themselves until the frosts had completely subsided. In the second half of April, I removed the insulation and carefully raked the leaves. There were no shoots; I thought that nothing came of my idea. But when I arrived at the dacha two weeks later, I was pleasantly surprised: my flower beds came to life and turned green! True, not all the seeds sprouted, but it was great progress! The plants developed very quickly: the greenery was good and they bloomed profusely.
In the fall, I came up with another way to make the task of growing annuals and biennials easier. I sowed the seeds of aquilegia, Turkish carnation, and annual chrysanthemums in several boxes filled with garden soil. I placed them together in the yard. I made the shelter in exactly the same way as over the flower beds: first with leaves, and in early spring with lutrasil. The convenience is that much less lutrasil is required. and it’s more convenient to water.
Now I grow my annuals only with the help of winter sowing.
Sowing before winter: what, when and how
Before winter, you can sow not only garlic. For gardeners who are not afraid of experiments, I advise you to try this sowing method. It has many advantages, and the main one is that you will get harvests much faster (times vary for different crops). Seeds sown before winter undergo a natural process of treatment by the winter cold under the snow. In the spring, fed by meltwater, they swell and begin to grow as soon as the sun begins to warm up constantly. Plus, the plants undergo natural selection, all the strongest candidates that are resistant to weather vagaries and diseases germinate, while the weak ones do not pass the winter test. The better the harvest will be!
What to sow?
Before winter you can sow different cultures. The best thing, in my opinion, is beets, and even today there are even varieties developed for this purpose. It sprouts so quickly that thinning is required, and everything that I thinned out goes into a vitamin salad. Also, without a doubt, sow carrots: and they have the most suitable varieties, such as the proven ‘Nantes’ and others. They also sow radishes before winter,
but I tried it and decided to sow it the old fashioned way in the spring, because early-ripening varieties sprout and ripen very quickly anyway. I also sow zucchini in the fall and harvest the fruit early instead of buying it at the market. I do very well with parsley, which, when sown in the spring, can sit in the ground for a very long time, but when sown in the fall, it sprouts quickly and early, producing very early greenery.
I can say the same about dill. Spring greens are also obtained early from onions, which, when sown in winter, give off their feathers early. You can sow head lettuces, salad mustard and cabbage (red, Beijing and cauliflower) in the fall. You can try to sow tomatoes, but I admit, the results are better when grown through seedlings and then in a greenhouse.
The bed must be prepared in advance. Immediately after the autumn harvest of tops, I dig up the soil and fill it with ash and compost.
This may be, depending on the fall, in the middle or end of October or November. There is no need to rush, because the thaw that comes after sowing can destroy the seeds - excess moisture gives them a signal to swell, and the subsequent frosts will certainly kill the seeds that have started.
The technology itself and sowing rates vary depending on the crop, but do not differ particularly from spring sowing methods. I would only recommend sowing a little thicker and thinning out the crops in the spring.
I have tested in practice that the new-fangled pelleted seeds are very well suited for winter sowing.
Galina Petrovna Safonova, Shchigry, Kursk region.
Planting before winter
First, I’ll tell you what guided me when making such a strange decision about winter sowing.
It's very simple - I wanted to save precious spring time, which is so often missing when you want to plant everything you have planned for the season.
In addition, from the accumulated experience of various gardeners, I learned that vegetables planted before winter undergo a real hardening, after which only the most persistent and strong plants remain. In addition, by sowing vegetables before winter, I will get a harvest much earlier and will be able, perhaps, to sow some other crops. This prospect fascinated me very much.
Winter vegetables and herbs should be sown when stable frosts begin. But the beds need to be prepared in advance so as not to dig into the frozen ground later. Why sow so late, you ask. The thing is that if you sow the seeds before the onset of stable frosts, they will begin to grow together, and we do not want this. I fertilize the garden bed with organic matter; light soil is ideal for my purpose.
A thaw after winter sowing is extremely undesirable, since the seeds can germinate and die with the arrival of frost.
In the garden bed I make furrows 3-5 cm deep. The seeds must be absolutely dry, as well as the soil with which I will then sprinkle the crops. Then I lay out a good layer of mulch, which I also cover with spruce branches so that the layer of snow comes out thick. It’s a good idea to lay a layer of covering material on top of the bed so that melted snow doesn’t wash out the bed and scatter the seeds.
This way you can sow carrots, beets, radishes, herbs... It is important to remember the rule that helped me not to ruin all my plantings: carefully monitor the weather! If the temperature stays at zero, I wait, what if there is a thaw? And if frost strikes and the top layer of soil freezes, you can safely sow!
On the day of winter sowing, seed consumption increases by 1.5-2 times.
If unexpected snow falls, don't worry. Just rake it off and sow it before winter, sprinkling the seeds with fertile soil, peat or compost. They will survive the cold safely.
Seeds must have good germination, be large and full-bodied. It is better to buy high-quality varietal seeds.
Sowing before winter is suitable for cold-resistant crops. These are those plants whose leaves do not have pubescence (the edge of the leaves protects the plants from the heat).
: Winter and spring garlic: how...
Traditionally, in our climate zone, most crops are sown mainly in the spring, although winter sowing often gives much better results than spring sowing. After all, no one is surprised by the winter planting of bulbous (tulips, daffodils) and small-bulbous plants (muscari, scilla, pushkinia, etc.). But they are not the only ones so persistent! Even experienced gardeners are surprised when seeds sown before winter produce stronger plants that bloom earlier and more intensely. In this way, cold-resistant species of annuals are grown, the seedlings of which are not afraid of return frosts.
Pre-winter sowings: pros and cons
Winter crops have their own pros and cons. Firstly, they seem to imitate natural self-sowers, which always produce strong, strong, tall, healthy offspring, resistant to disease and adverse weather conditions. Secondly, allow us to save precious spring time and eliminate the need to grow seedlings that occupy all our window sills. Third, since they use spring moisture and the first warmth for germination, seedlings appear two weeks earlier than with spring sowing, respectively, and flowering of annuals occurs 1-3 weeks earlier. Fourth, during winter sowing there is no need to stratify the seeds of those crops that need it. But for this, the soaked seeds need to be kept for 1-3 months in the refrigerator or on the balcony, and success is not guaranteed, since imitating natural conditions pretty hard.
In late autumn, you can sow seeds whose shelf life is ending, as well as those whose quality you doubt.
Why does it make sense to sow “suspicious” seeds in the garden before winter? Because when stored in a warm apartment in dry air conditions, they will lose their germination much faster, and in the spring they will simply have to be thrown away. And pre-winter sowing will allow you to find out in early spring whether the seeds are suitable, and if seedlings do not appear, you can sow the bed again without wasting time.
Disadvantages winter crops have only two. Due to the vagaries of the weather, seeds can germinate during a thaw in February-March, and then die from low temperatures. At the same time, some of the seeds may sprout later, so when sowing in winter, it is recommended to take more seeds and sow them twice as thick as in the spring.
If you sow perennial flowers, be prepared for them to bloom only in the second year.
Although when grown by seedlings, perennials most often bloom in the same summer.
Favorable dates for winter sowing of flower seeds
Correct timing is the main condition for successful sowing before winter. It is very important that shoots do not appear before frost. Most seeds do not germinate at soil temperatures below 5°C. That is why you need to start sowing after the air temperature has established itself within 1-3 ° C (about a week before the soil freezes). Keep an eye on the long-term weather forecast.
After sowing, prolonged warming should not occur, otherwise the seeds may germinate and die from frost.
If you follow folk signs, then you need to sow when the leaves fall from the cherries.
IN middle lane Before winter, you can sow seeds either in November (with the establishment of stable cold weather) - autumn sowing, or in December-January (with freezing of the top layer of soil and the appearance of permanent snow cover) - winter sowing.
Freezing of the soil is not a problem for seeds (they do not freeze), but in such conditions it is not easy for flower growers to prepare beds for sowing, so try to do this in advance, before the onset of a steady cold snap.
Place for winter sowing of flowers
For winter sowing, only well-cultivated areas with light soil that do not float during thaws are suitable. Heavy clay soils They float a lot and become compacted, so seedlings on them are often unfriendly and the plants develop poorly.
The site must be planned in such a way that the seeds are not washed away by meltwater in the spring.
Lighting is also important: try to choose a flowerbed where there will be no scorching sun. Before freezing, the soil should be dug up, fertilizers applied (organic - humus or compost and mineral - potassium and phosphorus), loosened and furrows or nests of the required depth (according to the size of the seeds) made. To protect the substrate (peat, humus, sand) with which you will fill the furrows with sown seeds from freezing, remove it indoors in advance.
Technology of winter sowing of flowers
During winter sowings, the seed sowing rate is increased for annual species by 50-100%, for perennial species by 20-25%. The seeds are sown dry and planted smaller than during spring sowing. Small seeds ( Snapdragon) are planted to a depth of 0.5-1 cm, medium (Chinese aster, sea alyssum) - 2 cm, large (calendula) - 4-5 cm. The onset of cold weather will not allow the sown seeds to germinate ahead of schedule. Over the winter, the top layer of soil can become very compacted, so in the spring it may be difficult for seeds to break through the resulting crust. To avoid such a situation, crops are mulched in the fall with a soil mixture (compost, humus and sand or peat and sand in equal proportions).
Our advice:
Don't forget to label and mark the winter sowing areas so you don't accidentally trample them or dig them up in the spring.
Watering autumn crops is completely unnecessary and even harmful, since unexpected autumn warming can cause premature germination of swollen seeds. And in the spring they will have enough moisture from the melted snow.
It is much easier to sow in winter, when at least 25-30 cm of snow has fallen, it is trampled down, furrows are made and seeds are sown directly in the snow.
Mulch the sown rows with unfrozen soil mixture. And to protect against birds, the area is covered with snow.
In order not to confuse the seedlings of crops with weeds in the spring, some practitioners recommend sowing seeds in containers (for example, wooden or plastic boxes) and digging them into the garden bed level with the ground. Containers with crops can be placed on non-woven material spread on the ground in a place protected from wind and sun, cover them on top with the same non-woven material and cover it with snow.
As soon as the snow melts in the spring, the beds and flower beds with crops need to be covered with film or lutrasil to protect them from birds and spring rains, which can wash away the seeds.
After seed germination, the film is removed.
In spring, the seedlings cannot be allowed to dry out, so they are watered regularly, especially if there has been little snow. When the emerging seedlings produce the 2nd or 3rd leaf, the plants are thinned out. Repeated thinning is done after 2 weeks, taking into account optimal distance For certain types colors. Grown seedlings of plants that tolerate transplantation well can be picked up and transplanted to a permanent place.
Assortment of flower varieties for winter sowing
The list of floral and ornamental plants for winter sowing is quite extensive. Surely, more than once in the spring you have found seedlings of marigolds, cosmos, lavatera and others appearing in the most inappropriate places on your site. unpretentious plants, which grew in your place last year. Almost all flowers can reproduce by self-sowing. But from spring frosts Only sprouts of sufficiently frost-resistant plants do not die.
You can sow before winter seeds only winter-hardy plants.
Let us list only the most popular of them: annual Adonis, Chinese aster, blue cornflower, viscaria, annual delphinium, dimorphotheca notemata and dimorphotheca rainfly, Chinese carnation, gypsophila graceful, graceful godetia, calendula officinalis, clarkia graceful, cosmos bipinnate and sulfur-yellow cosmos, coreopsis tinctalis, cochia broom, three-month lavatera, marine lobularia, large-flowered flax and its other species, garden quinoa, snapdragon, matthiola bicornuum and matthiola grey, euphorbia bordered, large nasturtium, dark purple scabiosa, Drummond's phlox, Californian eschscholzia , annual species of iberis, lupine, poppy, nemesia, nigella, mignonette, chrysanthemum and zinnia.
Sown before winter and perennials whose seeds require stratification(freezing): decorative onions, aquilegia, aconite, alpine arabis, alpine and new Belgian aster, buzulnik, alyssum, basilisk, speedwell, columbine, gaillardia, heuchera, geranium, carnation, gypsophila paniculata, gentian, dicentra, delphinium, kandyk , bluebell, bathwort, lavender, meadowsweet, liatris, lychnis, perennial lupine, oriental poppy, mallow, matricaria, small petal, hellebore, perennial euphorbia, foxglove, cornflower, aubrieta, liverwort, primrose, chamomile, rudbeckia, eryngium, yarrow, cephalophora, garden cyclamen, corydalis, echinacea, etc.
As practice shows, perennials develop much better during autumn-winter sowing.
However, unlike annuals, perennials grown from seeds usually bloom only in the second year. But there are no hopeless situations: if you sow perennials before winter and cover them with film in the spring, then you will be able to admire their flowering by the end of the first summer! Most of these flowers do not like transplanting, so it is better to sow them immediately in a permanent place in the flowerbed. If the spring seedlings turn out to be too dense, they can be thinned out.
Try winter sowing. There is still time for this. You can do it! And if not, then in the spring it will not be too late to fix everything. Happy sowing!
Svetlana MASHKOVSKAYA,
Candidate of Biological Sciences,
National Botanical Garden them. N. N. Grishko NAS of Ukraine
© "Ogorodnik"
Sowing flowers in winter makes life much easier for the gardener in the spring, allowing for earlier flowering and strong shoots. Thanks to this method, it is possible to achieve friendly shoots from plants that require stratification. So, for example, lavender or hellebore seeds can sprout only after experiencing all the delights of a cold winter.
Timing for winter sowing of flowers
If the place and soil are prepared correctly, then the sowing itself can be done in November, December, and even January, if you can get rare seeds. But I start preparing the beds in advance, already in September. The main rule of winter sowing is sub-zero 24-hour temperatures. In the conditions of the Moscow region, it is usually established from mid-November. If you hurry with planting when it is still warm during the day, then there is a high probability that the seeds may germinate, mistaking autumn for spring.
Preparing beds for winter sowing of flowers
It is more convenient to set aside a bed for sowing flowers that will not be needed in early spring. I try to carefully select the roots of the weeds so that they do not choke the spring flower shoots. For the same reason, I don’t add compost. I carefully level the ground with a rake, making even furrows 1-1.5 cm deep. I stick blank labels into the beginning of each groove, write them directly during planting, and return them to their place. If you don’t do this, then you won’t be able to stick them into the frozen ground.
I'll definitely install the arches. I cover the bed with a piece of linoleum or film on the arches, then even after the heaviest snowfall the film can be easily moved and the seeds sown. In the conditions of the Moscow region, frosts are possible during May, and this is where arcs come in handy. When there is a threat of frost, I quickly throw covering material over them.
Soil for winter sowing of flowers
Separately, I prepare the soil for sprinkling the sown seeds. I put a bag of soil in the barn, because during sowing the soil on the site will already be thoroughly frozen.
Photo: bed for winter sowing of flowers
What flowers to sow before winter
Before winter, according to tradition, I always sow the following flowers:
- asters - this way they grow stronger than indoor seedlings, and they bloom earlier.
- gentian,
- delphinium,
- all types of perennial bellflower,
- primrose,
- lavender,
- primroses hellebore, lumbago,
- new varieties of nibbles,
- small petal,
- cloves,
- rare species of saxifrage,
- Basil, Voronets and other perennial flowers.
How to sow flowers before winter
I have chosen two methods for winter sowing of flowers. The choice of method will depend on the condition of the soil and whether the bed is prepared.
Winter sowing of flowers - method 1
- At the end of November, I remove the film from the garden bed and sow flowers.
- I sow perennials from the edge of the bed, then annuals.
- Annuals develop faster, so I pick them up for transplanting earlier, and take their place with vegetable seedlings. The remaining perennials on the edge of the bed do not interfere with the seedlings.
- I cover the sown seeds with dry soil on top.
- If snow falls, I lightly sprinkle the bed with it.
- No need to water.
Winter sowing of flowers - method 2
It happens that it was not possible to prepare the bed in time, and the ground is already frozen so much that it is impossible to dig it up or make furrows. For such cases, the second method is suitable.
- You can buy land and sow seeds in special containers in your apartment. Containers must be labeled and placed in a single box.
- Once at the dacha, the box is buried in the most shady place where the snow takes the longest to melt. In this case, you need to thoroughly dig up the snowdrift and place the box on the ground, then cover it with snow again.
- There is some difficulty with this method; you need to be at the dacha immediately after the snow melts, because the spring wind will instantly dry out the soil in small containers and the seeds will not sprout.
- In spring, such containers with seeds need increased attention. You can take them to the windowsill, or dig them in the garden bed and constantly make sure that the soil does not dry out.
