Winter sowing wabi-sabi style

Thanks to the encouragement of my new gardening buddy (thanks Kathy J!), I decided to get a head start on this year's gardening plans by trying winter sowing.

It sounds crazy, but winter sowing is a gardening technique in which you plant seeds in containers outdoors during the winter. Yes, during the winter!

The process involves using clear plastic containers, like milk or water jugs, to create mini greenhouses filled with soil and seeds. The containers are left outside during the cold winter weather which helps to break seed dormancy. As temperatures rise in the spring, the seeds start to sprout and grow while the containers protect them from harsh weather, animals, pests, and disease. It's a simple and inexpensive way to start plants early so that they're ready to safely transplant into the ground, pots, or planters when it's warm enough outside.

Winter sowing is an excellent example of wabi sabi in the garden.

The process is straightforward. Recycling empty plastic containers highlights the basics: soil, water, light, and seeds. This simplicity aligns with the wabi sabi philosophy that finds beauty in simple, unadorned forms rather than intricate designs (such as pots and planters).

Because the seeds are planted outdoors in makeshift mini-greenhouses, winter sowing reminds us that we don't have control over growing conditions. The process acknowledges that nature will determine the outcome.

We aren't artificially influencing the results of our winter sowing experiment, leading us to think we can control the outcome. Some seeds might sprout sooner, while others might not germinate at all. This uncertainty reflects wabi sabi's appreciation for imperfection and the beauty in the unexpected.

Winter sowing operates on a similar principle — plants grow and change in response to the seasons, representing the continuous cycle of life. The container that houses the seeds may deteriorate over time, and as plants bloom and wither, they reflect nature’s ever-changing cycle, much like wabi sabi's reverence for the passing of time.

While researching how to "properly" winter sow, I realized that there's no such thing. Each seed packet contained very specific instructions on how deep and how far apart to plant each seed. Really?

The most delicious cantaloupe I've ever eaten was an unexpected gift I found in my garden several years ago. Why was it so special? Because I never planted a cantaloupe seed.

It was what some gardener's call an "orphan," meaning that the seed most likely came from my neighbor's garden, deposited in mine by the wind or by another animal digestive process I'd rather not think about. Why then, should I bother to measure the precise depth and distance for the seeds I'm winter sowing? I didn't.

I'd been planning to winter sow both vegetable and flower seeds for several weeks, but never got around to it. Ironically, the day I planted them was the day that the first snowstorm of the season was predicted to hit. I confirmed that winter sowing can be done even if the temperature is below freezing, so I got it done. This will be my first experience with winter sowing and I'm so excited to see how it turns out. I'll share updates as the season progresses.