Winter seed planting

I’m sort of happy it finally started snowing and I can forget all about going out to work in the garden for several months. But I did have one last major task to take care of first, which is to plant some seeds to overwinter outdoors.

I have three lawn-alternative areas where I planted lawn-alternative seeds, but first I put down some more nice dirt. They all look something like this now: 

(Note piles of mulch in foreground that are STILL not raked.)

I’m hoping for a great mix of low-growing gorgeousness in these “lawns”—or at a minimum that I end up liking them more than the clover lawn in our front yard.

I also planted native seeds in my raised beds. The hope is that they’ll sprout in the spring, I’ll identify what they are from my “map,” and I'll either stick them in the yard somewhere or pot them up to get a little bigger first. Then my raised beds will be empty and ready for the vegetables I’ve assiduously started indoors.

Anyway, a lot of native plant seeds need to be cold and wet all winter, and this seems a lot easier than filling my fridge with little baggies.