Sue Murphy with Linn County Master Gardeners held a seed sowing workshop with youth and adults at Cole Library Friday, March 15.
Murphy highlighted while temperatures, especially at night, are not ideal to plant, utilizing a winter seed sowing solution allows plants to better germinate and pollinate.
As part of the event, Murphy trained kids how to take old gallon milk jugs to make a great incubator for seeds that haven’t quite germinated yet get a start for the season.
The first portion was to find a height of roughly four inches from the bottom of the milk jug and cut across that portion of the jug, leaving roughly two to three inches to serve as a hinge for the planter.
At the bottom of the jug, she had youth drill four holes to help excess moisture more readily escape.
“Above that, I recommend putting a coffee filter as a barrier,” Murphy said. “This will better hold your soil in the container, as well as protect from insects like slugs or other insects from getting too close to the plants too early.”
Attendees then filled the jugs with roughly four inches of loose soil.
“You don’t want to compact the soil, as that will impact the plant’s ability to grow in these,” Murphy said.
Then, they were able to plant seeds in the jugs.
After seeds went in the jugs, they were spritzed with a good amount of water to help the seeds get a footing in the soil.
The jugs were then duct taped around the exterior of the container to create a mini terrarium to help the plants get a footing until temperature and soil are ready to grow.
Murphy said that the plants should be in these containers until they begin to germinate and show growth of leaves. At that point, it is safe to remove the top of the terrarium. Between when the flowers begin to germinate, people need to monitor the water in the plants.
“If it is generating condensation on the inside of the milk jug during the overnights from the temperature changes, that’s a fine enough amount of water to help the plant,” Murphy said.
This procedure can be utilized for crops like perennials, annuals and bi annuals. The only plants it does not potentially work with are those that utilize bulbs as the way they grow.
Murphy said as temperatures start getting above 50 degrees in the overnight, that is when it is safe to plant items in the soil.
“I’m a little wary that even though we’ve had such a warm winter and early spring, we’re still seeing temperatures in the 20s and 30s in the overnights, which will hurt plants just starting to grow in the soil if they were transplanted now,” Murphy said.
The method here can be used to help all sorts of plants get a start for the growing season, Murphy said.
She reminded the community that if they are looking for seeds to grow in their gardens, now is the time to start planning for the spring and winter growing. Seed share libraries are available at Cole Library to allow people to select the seeds they may need or want for their garden.
Some of the plant seeds she recommended were for pollinators was something like Mexican Sunflower.
“It’s a very popular plant for bees and other pollinators,” Murphy said.
The winter sowing gardens are also a great way to get small herb gardens started.
Dill and parsley are a great attractor for swallowtail birds as well.
Linn County Master Gardeners annual plant sale is coming up May 10 and 11 at Lowe Park as well.
Emmy is excited about planting a few of her seeds in her container while brother Cam (right) and Grayson (left) listen to directions from Sue Murphy (in red).