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If you are a gardener or just enjoy plants, the cold weather and recent warm-up probably has you looking through seed catalogs and longing for spring. There are some fun activities you can be doing during the late winter months.
One of these is winter sowing. This is not the same as starting plants indoors. Winter sowing can be done by reusing empty milk jugs or salad containers. No special containers are required. Some seeds need to be exposed to cold weather to germinate in the spring. This is called cold stratification.
It is important to know which seeds benefit from exposure to our South Dakota winter temperatures. Some of these plants are native perennials and annual plants that reseed themselves. They can be winter sown from December through early March. The seed packet will indicate if the seed is best cold stratified. If you see a code that says C30, this means the seeds should be cold stratified for at least 30 days before planting.
If you would like to know more about winter sowing, this is one of several topics that will be discussed at the annual spring gardening event, “Ready.Set.Grow!” that the Coteau Prairie Master Gardener volunteers will hold on Saturday, March 28. The event will be at the Codington County Extension Complex in Watertown from 9 a.m. to noon. Keynote speakers will be Dr. John Ball, professor, SDSU Extension forestry specialist, and S.D. Dept. of Agriculture and Natural Resources forest health specialist, and Cody Molnar, SDSU Extension horticulture plant pathology field specialist.
For more information, go to the Coteau Prairie Master Gardeners Facebook page.
There will also be information available about becoming a South Dakota Master Gardener. The 2026 course is open for registration now and you must register by March 10 for the 2026 course. The course is a series of online lessons and two in-person events. One of the in-person sites this year is Watertown. If you enjoy plants and helping other people, consider registering for the course as a Master Gardener Volunteer. You will pay a reduced fee for the course and be able to help others with the information you have learned.
Check out the SDSU Extension website for more information about the Master Gardener program. The course is held once a year.
