Winter Sowing for a Cutting Garden

Who doesn’t love a low cost, low maintenance way to start a garden. Winter sowing is taking off in popularity across Ontario for these reasons and more! But can you utilize winter sowing if your goals are to grow a cut flower garden?

I won’t keep you hanging; Yes. Winter sowing can be used for a cut flower garden.

There are a few things to keep in mind though, if you want to be successful:

1. Timing
   Often we start seeds indoors to get a head start on the season or bump up the harvest time. Starting seeds indoors can allow you to grow plants in a specific seasonal window that they might otherwise miss. For example, we often have fairly short springs. We go from risk of frost, into nearly scorching summer without much of a window in between. Winter sowing removes this level of control over germination timeframes and harvest. Your seeds will sprout when they feel the conditions are right, and not when you want them too. This can mean that you may have a very short window to harvest blooms from.

2. Cold-hardiness
   Although many blooms are grown from seed, not all start this way. Some start with bulbs, tubers or corms that cannot tolerate our winter conditions. Seeds are a safer bet, but even then, some may turn to mush with the freeze-thaw cycles that we experience. Best to stick with “cold hardy” or self seeding varieties for this method of sowing.

3. Inventory
   Assuming you are going with the more traditional “jug method” rather then “soil blocking in a storage tub” it’s a bit trickier to count out and space your seeds. As water falls into the jug, and freeze/thaw occurs, your seeds may relocate and clump. If you are after perfectly spaced seedlings that you can easily prick out of their growing container, you will be disappointed with winter sowing. The seedlings from winter sowing often have their roots entangled and need some level of prying apart.

Since many cutting gardens staples are annuals, the seed starting process can require quite a bit of real estate. Winter sowing is a great way to offset the demand on interior space. This method works for perennials too, especially those that are native to Ontario and likely require some form of cold stratification. Liatris (blazing star), Lupinus (Lupine), Echinacea (purple coneflower), Asclepias (milkweed) and Monarda (wild bergamot) are all examples of native perennials that can be used in a cutting garden, but that can be started using winter sowing.

If this method sounds like it fits your cutting garden goals, here are the ‘Coles Notes’ to winter sowing so that you can get started right away:

If you want even more details, I’ve gone more in depth on the topic of winter sowing in Ontario in this blog post.