A couple hints from a 15 year winter sower. I put a plant tag inside as well as labeling the outside. Use a paint pen or grease pencil. This year I am using a Garden Marker. So we will see how it performs. Got it from Amazon. Sow heavy as the plants are tough. They don’t seem to mind a little root untangling. Some people sow in clear totes where you can sow bigger quantities. Put a reminder on your phone to check them if you put them in an out of the way spot. Make marks on your bench as how long you need the duck tape to be. No waste but just right. I keep a spread sheet when I sow and how each type of seed does. This is such a great method. Thanks for sharing. There is a Facebook winter sowing group which is nice for those with questions.

Hey y’all if your interested in doing this method of seed starting, you can go to your local Starbucks and ask for some of their discarded milk jugs for free. I work for Starbucks and we’ve saved jugs over the years for school projects. Also, don’t forget to get your free coffee grounds for your compost. We generate a lot of grinds everyday, all day and I love when people take the grinds for their gardens. And the grinds are free as well.

I really appreciate that Laura does cheaper methods of seed sowing and starter kits so it fits the budget!

I buried individual small peet pots inside the milk jugs last year and it worked great. It kept the roots separated.

Praying for your safe and healthy delivery Laura...God bless😘🙏🌷

I did this method last year and I covered the tops with a tulle square and a rubber band just to stop the slugs and snails from getting in and eating all my hard work. It worked beautifully and I'll be doing the same thing this winter (I'm in Melbourne Australia so we are in Summer currently) thanks for the video from last year because it definitely helped me get a jump start on planting this year. It's also a great project to do with kids, my 4 year old loved helping me 😊

You could duct tape a soda bottle as a funnel to the top mouth of the water bottle, if you live in a dry area to get more rain to enter the jugs.

Winter Sowing...the promise of good things to come. 😊😊🇨🇦

You can obviously afford a much more grand seed sowing (the studio and grow lights are amazing!), and also all the plants you purchase and are sent every year. I just wanted to say it’s lovely to see you continue to share projects for every size, scale and budget. You are always inspiring and I know you work hard to include every garden and gardener and while I love the big projects, things like this are very sweet to see too. All the best with your growing seeds and your growing baby! 💕💕

Congratulations on baby! If you have any energy for gardening...that will be a gift from God!

Very relaxing comparing to what is going on this world .

Laura had a couple of things she forgot to mention that she just posted about on Facebook, so here they are: We uploaded a video about it this morning, but there were a couple things I forgot to mention (how long do I get to blame it on baby brain??? 😆🤪): 1. I talked about watering a bit, but wanted to stress that with the winter sowing method you leave the lid off the top of the container so it can catch natural rain or snowfall. This is usually enough moisture to keep your seeds going, but if you live in a super dry climate like we do, you may need to give them a bit of supplemental water. To do this, I just stick my spray bottle through the hole on top and mist! 2. Here’s a list of everything I planted! Total oversight to leave that info out... sorry! 🥴💚 Green Globe Artichoke Amazing Grey Poppy Breadseed Rattle Poppy Misty Lavender Larkspur Fancy Pink with White Bee Larkspur Black Beauty Scabiosa Fama White Scabiosa Snowmaiden Scabiosa Cherry Brandy Rudbeckia Sahara Rudbeckia Prairie Sun Rudbeckia Barlow Mix Columbine Echinacea purpurea Crane White Kale Crane Red Kale Crane Pink Kale Berried Treasure Red, White & Pink Strawberries There are some really great resources online with lists of seeds that are great for this method of growing. Google ‘winter sowing’ and you’ll find all kinds of good info! 👍 Also, you all always have great suggestions in the comment section, so that’s a great place to get started, too!

I normally run my plastic containers ( have to buy bottled water) to the recycler once a month. I saved them last time. I'm ready!

Can you let us know everything you planted out there? Would love to know the varieties.

Got my first dozen milk jugs set out in the Fairbanks, Alaska snow!

Due to Corona I start with sowing. And now I love it. Here in Holland I will wait for another Month.

I turned my volume up to listen to the rain. I love the sound of rain so relaxing. I can’t wait to get my seeds and try this.

Even if you have so sofisticated stuff you still do stuff without any of them. That's really valuable to us. So thanks. Safe delivery Laura. Love for Aaron and Benjamin, and of course Russell and cheddar.

Dark, raining & cold here in Ipswich UK, nearly everyday for 6 months! I'm sowing herb seeds today thanks to your last video. Thanks for sharing xoxo

I live in Florida strawberries are coming in at Plant City which has a large strawberry festival early. I bought fresh strawberries yesterday. Yum.

At this point I wish I lived in a place that never rains, here in western Washington we have had severe rainfall and in fact, my entire back and parts of my front yard are flooded right now. Your videos are bright spots when things like this happen to us, so thank you. 💗💗💗

Hey Laura! So, I don't normally comment, but just to tell you, I like your videos even before watching them because I know they'll be awesome! Can't wait to see you with baby girl.🥰 Xoxo

Was so happy to see you have the buried treasures strawberries, but REALLY was hoping to see you put the seeds in. I also got them this year and will be WS them. This is my first year trying this method and am so excited, but trying to soak in as much info as I can before I plant them up. Helpful hint to those that haven’t cut their jugs yet, if you have access to a bandsaw use it! My husband drilled the drainage holes and cut the first jug. He was like nope let’s try the bandsaw! Whipped through them like butter and the cuts were even & made him happy. 😄

Yay, your videos are getting me so excited for spring! Once the sparkly-ness of Christmas is gone, I am so ready for sunshine and warm weather. So exciting to see the first planning bits for this weather!!

Keeping the caps are good! They come in handy when the rain is heavy and you wanna keep them from getting waterlogged :)

Good for you! After last year, I didn’t get the impression you would do it again. I’ll be starting mine this weekend.

My husband and I did this last year after watching your video. We lived in a very windy totally unprotected area, besides along our house but we had a big overhang and they got very little water. We ended up digging them into the ground to the soil level inside the jug and it worked perfectly! Just a suggestion if anyone is struggling!! Love your videos!

I guess you can also hang a tag around the handle of bottle like you did with dahlias. Great video as always.

Use a livestock ear tag marker. It’s like a permanent marker but specifically for writing on plastic and not wear off or fade in the elements. Love watching all your videos! I hope you show updates along the way of these jugs and when you transplant them.

For watering, take a 1 liter plastic bottle, with the cap heat a large needle and poke maybe 15 holes in circle on cap. Fill bottle with water, cap. Then it fits perfectly and gently to water through top water jug hole. Careful not to burn fingers by getting needle too hot!

Tried winter sowing several annuals and herbs for the first time last year and had great success. I seeded heavily and, after the fact, read that zinnias don’t like their roots disturbed. There were about 30 seedlings in one jug, but I had no problem teasing them apart to plant. They did great! I’m in wet western Washington 8b, and had just one jug where the seeds didn’t germinate (basil I think) before algae took over.

Im so glad you did this again. My 6 year old daughter and I are going to try this out. :) we have been collecting jugs.

Good morning Laura this is a great kickoff to 2021...so excited for gardening this year....

I love the rain sounds. Winter sowing worked great for me this last year. Getting ready to do it again.

Perfect timing for this video! Thank you Laura for sharing various methods of seed starting. Excited for your baby girl!

Perfect timing! I just told my sister yesterday that we needed to start our winter sowing. I found your 2020 video too late last year to try it.

You got me thinking about seed starting! A good refresher plus new thoughts about improvements on winter seed starting! 🌿👩‍🌾❄⛄

Such a great project! I loved it last year and now this year as well. As a recently former homeschool mom/director, this would a fun project to do with Benjamin. Good luck this season! I can’t wait to see all of the inspirational things you do!

I make weather-proof labels (using a label maker and weather-proof tape) which I put on plant tags and place them inside of each jug. When transplanting the seedlings into my garden in the spring, I use that label to mark my plants. The labels I made 2 years ago are still easy to read and have not faded! ~Margie

Hi Laura and Aaron! Thank you so much for updating on how you're doing your winter sowing this year vs last year. That is very helpful!

Just when I was thinking about where to find a "heavy duty spray bottle" she asks Aaron where they got it. Great job at reading my mind Laura! 😁 Also the reason its "so expensive" is it's a pack of 20. It is NOT 200$ for 1 spray bottle

After last year's not going so well, I didn't think you'd try this again. So cool you did! As well as pointing out everything you learned. Hope the results are better for you this time.

Wow you’re going to have a lot to look forward to this spring with all the bulbs you have planted, and now the flowers and vegetables. Can’t wait to see the outcome.😊

Laura love that you did this again. We all are learning from each other! Spring is right around the corner 😁

Thank you so much for the inspiration! I rushed home from school and did this project! I am also going to do this with my Kindergartners, too. I LOVE this channel. Thank you so much for being a bright spot in such uncertain and dark times. ❤️🌱

This was very helpful. You're my go to person and I was just thinking about WHEN and HOW to start a back porch container garden. I live on the west coast of Central Florida near Tarpon Springs. As a retiree I have the time and my heart's desire is to grow some of my food AND to tinker with flowers. Lofty heights to hit for me as I am my beloved husband's caregiver... Thank you for this video, you're a very good teacher and I learn a lot!! Thanks, Jaimie B.

i'm planning to number the container, inside and out, then the details in my journal. put packing tape over your writing on the outside

I forgot about this, from you last years video. I can do this ! I don’t have a setup for seed starting indoors. I really want to try this. Thanks for sharing and blessings for a safe delivery of Baby Girl!

Thank you so much for showing us how you are doing things differently this year and explaining why you are making these improvements. I found that super helpful!

Thanks to you :) last year I did sweet peas with this method. They were the sturdiest little plants !! and they grew and flowered so much faster than the ones I planted in the spring. Can't wait to do it again, so thanks so much!

I'm so glad you did this again this year. I have been collecting jugs all year for this project. I will wait a few more weeks before I start, but I am very excited to try it. AND - I did NOT know I could get seeds from PW. That's FANTASTIC!!!!! Thank you for all you do for me and my garden

Yep definitely doing this. This would also be a fun experiment with kids! Sharing this video with all the moms in my life. ❤️

Can't wait to see how "Round 2" of milk jug seeds turns out. Hope to see updates as they grow.

Glad to see you do this again. I have poppy seeds I need to plant and this looks like a good way to keep track of them so they don't wash away.

Thanks for posting this today. I have been eyeing my stash of milk jugs and my box of seeds. This will be my weekend project!

Winter sowing is exciting! I winter sow just a few things at a time, kinda a warm up. Once I see seedlings coming up it gets me fired up to do more! I love the milk jug method! GREAT!

I'm a new viewer and I'm going to try this seed starting method with cold hardy lettuces, spinach and kale. A gardening buddy recommended your channel so I look forward to watching older shows as well. Wishing you and your husband much happiness as a family and a safe and healthy delivery of your little one!

If you want to plant inside (or need to because of the weather), cover your work surface with a plastic table cloth (a lined one works best). When finished, just take it outside to shake off the soil. I let mine dry on a covered porch and wipe off before using again. It limits the mess I create when planting. (Just a helpful suggestion.)

Best gardening channel, I'm not forced to do anything... I get to see beautiful plants, great tools being used and magnificent colour all the time.... You are so hard working... It's inspirational, 2021 is gonna be a great year for you guys. Truly, exactly why you are so blessed.

Thanks Laura ! After watching your video, I rushed out to my recycle trash to collect all the empty water jars b4 it is too late for the recycle garbage pickup. Next, head to buy seeds ...

I drink a ton of milk so I am saving all my jugs now!!!! 😊 Yay!!!! Now to order some seeds! Thank you Laura...you give us all hope! ✨ Praying that you have a wonderful delivery soon!!!! Love to you and your family! 💕

Winter sowing plants and babies!! You are awesome!! I’m only 9 weeks pregnant and wish I was 2 weeks from my due date! Love watching you!

I watched you do this last year and I’ve been saving my milk and water jugs. Bought my seeds snd I’m excited to try this! Thanks for sharing your experience with this method!

Thank you for sharing your new method and what didn't work as well last year. Also thank you for the info on the little green sprayer.😊

I also live in a very dry climate and tried this method last year with minimal success. I would have to water through the opening pretty frequently, and I totally dislodged the seeds! I'll have to try again using some of your new tips.

I planted 23 jugs yesterday. Used all native seeds this year. Easy peezy. Can’t wait till spring!

I had done this last year after watching your video last winter. It was such a fun project to do with my little boy! We grew two varieties of sunflowers and nasturtiums. They all turned out great. I was so excited to see this video and it has inspired me to get an early start on it this year. I am thankful for the tips of what other seeds will grow well. My son and I will have fun planting even more this year! Thanks for the inspiration!

This worked so well for me last year. I also planted to thick and it was a struggle to separate. I planned to put a lot less seeds this year also. Thanks for sharing this method a real price efficient help to me. Thanks for the new tips. I am waiting on seeds to arrive to get started.❤️

Last year I had a newborn and a 3 year old right around seed starting time. It wasn't the easiest task to do, but I involved my 3 year old who shares very similar interests to Benjamin (trucks, tractors, cars, rocks and dirt). He helped me fill all of my seed trays and absolutely thought it was the coolest thing. He also helped with seeds when possible (the larger one) and helped put the stakes in and water. It became our little project that he was so excited about all season. We'd check on the plants together and he would show anyone who came over. Once it was time to put them in the garden he helped then too. It was hard to find special little moments with him with his newborn sister needing so much time (while also getting my tasks done), so I found tag teaming this project was a great way to spend time with him which is especially important when bringing home a new sibling. This year he is 4 and loves to go through my seed catalogs with me and is excited to start out seeds again. So sum up this ramble: boys like ours love playing in the dirt so consider having him help you this year with your seeds. I bet you both will really enjoy it.

Well it’s a good thing I missed our community recycling this past Saturday. Now I have milk jugs to try this out. I went by Walmart this morning and bought some premium potting soil on clearance for $6 a bag. Wow. That was surely a sign I need to get going 😁

Laura, I love you and your channel so so much!!! I am a teacher in the uk and I am absolutely exhausted by this past year and all its troubles. We just went into another strict lockdown and now schools are only open to vulnerable children and those of essential workers like doctors and nurses. And Ive been put on the rota to be in school and work with those children this week and was puzzling over something to do with them in the afternoons and you have super inspired me!!! We are so totally gonna do a gardening lesson :) I have some daffodils left over and some carrot seeds and loads of pots, and I have time tomorrow to pop to the hardware store which is open to get everything else that we will need. Just something simple and fun to keep them busy and not staring at a computer screen all day. Thank you so so much, for sharing and for inspiring me and many others like me, literally all the time 💞❤🥰 you're the best! Also congratulations, so happy for you guys😍 ❤ 💖 xxxxx

Hello Laura, I want you to watch once Ninnie's cottage garden 30 July 2020. It's a small garden but designed very beautifully. You are a true artist, making living paintings with flowers. I feel so good to watch your videos. I'm from India but presently living in Oman in a very small flat. I've a very small garden over there which I miss a lot. I always watch your videos, Japanese gardens and gardening videos to fullfill my longing to have one. Lots of love and blessings to you and your whole family. God bless you.

Really liked your great idea of using the milk jug to start seeds. Looks like the seed will have a moist, protected, warm space all wrapped up in 1 jug. Couldn't get any better than that. Really enjoyed your vidro! 👏🙏🌲

Yay! Glad you are doing these again. I must say these winter sowing helps jump start on lot of things. As you said, it's good to put the heat loving seeds later for winter sowing than this early. I noticed that on my tomatoes and beans. Some of the beans had frost bite here in Cleveland, Ohio , zone 5b. Winner sowing is definitely a good one . I did this last year with you.

So excited to see you trying winter sowing again! I will try for the first time this week. Thanks!!

You are due any day now and you still are working like a mad woman planting things!!! You are a true inspiration to everyone. 💝🍼🌱

Im so glad you did this again! I thought after last year you had written it off. I tried it last year because of the video and had great success. Zone 8b. Cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and Audrey White Gumphrena actually did really well for me starting this way.

I was so excited to try this method instead of investing a lot of money on starter kits. So I’ve been saving my 2.5 gal rectangle water jugs. They’re all hanging from a rope in the basement ready for planting. ☃️

All I can say is.. you’re a rockstar! 9 months pregnant and you make all of this look easy peasy! Thanks for being a motivator!

Thank you for touching on this again. I remember your post from last season and new this was a good option for me. 1/3/21 I planted onions and shallots this way, with plans to expand with flowers and herbs. This will allow me to have enough space indoors under our grow lights for tomatoes, peppers, etc.

I love it, I love your greenhouse area, I love that you use inexpensive methods, I love that you recycle items without patronizing your viewers about doing so, I love it.

I am going to try this idea, because i love bug-free gardening, lol. I will start with my brassicas and strawberries. I like the ideas of the vermiculite and labeling inside the container. Thank you for showing that gardening can be year-round with proper planning. Come on baby girl!🤰👶 🍼😇

Thank you so much ... trying this method on my green globe artichokes...my first time trying them🤞I live in CT and it sounds challenging but I always have an experimental crop and for this year this is it. Looking forward to your updates. Good luck with your new baby .... such an exciting time!

Definitely gonna try this out with some of our cold hardy seeds! We’ve successfully done it before with milkweed seeds. Another good recyclable container is plastic cookie tray from Costco 😆

I want to thank you and Aaron for taking the time making all your great videos, of information. One hint I have learned for plant ID tags, (I propagate plants and pot in 4" & 1 gallon pots) is using a PENCIL on a PLASTIC tag. Wooden plant stakes deteriorate in about 6 months here in western WA and using a pencil will stay on for years. Thank you guys again.

I watched all of your last year videos on seeds to start in plastic containers yesterday. So glad you did this follow up! I live in coastal N.C. and we get a lot of rain in winter. I’m going to use the seed starting potting mix. Hope this is the correct way to go. 😬 I’m so excited to give this a try! You are such an amazing woman. Thank you.

You give us inspiration Laura , on these cold wet days we don’t feel like doing much . I have never tried this method of seed sowing before , but i feel a should give it a go . Another idea you could do is to number your plastic containers & keep a note of there contents.

So glad for the update on this method....got the water gallon containers............gonna try!

Trying winter sowing in zone 4b because of watching your reveal video earlier this year. Thank you for bringing us along on this adventure!

I love this. It's too warm here in Southern California to make this kind of sowing work, but here's the best thing I learned....I CAN GET PROVEN WINNER'S SEEDS!!! I've struggled to get my hands on Buried Treasure strawberry plants so now I'm going to grow my own! One more awesome lesson learned from my fav gardening channel!

Hi Laura great video today on sowing seeds. Can't wait to see end results. A lot of beautiful plant to come. I love these type of videos on getting lots of plants as cheap as possible. Thank for that

You have saved my sanniity during this covid ordeal. I love your utube videos. Big thank you and all the best for your new baby. Judy in Southern California

Thanks for revisiting this - completely forgot which soil to use and I like the idea of the top dressing with vermiculite- can’t wait to get started !

Thank you for all the great tips. Here's a labeling suggestion; number your containers and transfer numbered info onto index 📇🗂️ cards. This may help for future reference. Praying for you, Aaron, Benjamin and baby girl for a wonderful transition to a family of four! 💕💕💕 We cant wait to meet baby girl.

Look forward to trying this method, thank you! I live in a super dry area with a very short growing season so these mini-greenhouses are great!

So inspired by your tutorials on winter seeding in gallon jugs!! Going to try it this winter! 🌷🌻❤️

Delphiniums, Forget Me knots, Ornamental Kale and of course Sweet peas! 🌸

That is a brilliant set up with the milk jugs. I always have leftover seeds so I will try this and also use grow lights to see which method works best in my area. If this method works best for me I will switch over to it next year. I may end up with an excess of strawberry plants but you can never have too many strawberry plants! Lol this will be a cool experiment for me.

What timely video ! I did it last year as well and my biggest problem was labels ! Mostly washed off and strong wind blew half of them over 😤 I’m trying again ! I’m glad for the new tips ! I was relieved to hear you say it’s early ! I ordered my seed on line yesterday 🤞zone 6 here

I actually spent all day off and on here going through my seeds and figuring which seeds I could direct sow now like my Swiss chard, 🥕 carrots and about four others. I them checked that all my milk jugs were clean and then figured out which ones would be winter ❄️ sown (about 7 others), now need tape and more plastic markers then I'm all ready. Your video came out again at just the right time.