Having grown up in Montana, I know you have to be hardy to endure winter. When I got the crazy idea to start a nursery, I knew I needed plants that were mighty and could laugh in the face of our wicked weather changes but I didn't want the pain of a greenhouse, hoop house, low tunnel, high tunnel and hardening off plants so I researched different methods of growing and landed upon winter sowing. This isn't your typical, plant in fall like winter wheat and it grows in spring kind of winter sowing, it involves a lot of milk jugs!
Big shout out to Jackie's Flowers and Espresso for saving milk jugs for me! I'll do a class this fall on how to do this craziness but it involves putting in drain holes, cutting the jugs, filling with potting soil, taping shut and.....
tossing them outside. Yep. Out they went to fend for themselves.
The seeds go through freezing and thawing just like they would in the mountains and when they are ready to sprout they will! We had that cold snap in February and I thought they'd all be goners but nope, March 18th I peeked in my jugs and saw my first sprouts.
And so I wait for them to grow bigger to transplant into my garden and pots but so far I've had incredible success and some Mighty Montana plants are being raised to laugh at snow in April, May or June!
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