Starting seeds outside in the snow

We interrupt your normally scheduled bathroom remodel update with an important announcement: I have started seeds outside in February in Wisconsin! 

A gardener in Minnesota gave a webinar through Minnesota State Horticultural Society ("the hort" for people in the know) and as a subscriber to their magazine, Northern Gardener, I attended for a mere $5 fee. The presenter has been starting hardy annual and perennial seeds outside in the winter for decades with excellent results! She doesn't start any seeds inside, bypassing a complicated setup with heat mats and grow lights that we are very familiar with in this house. I decided to give it a whirl following her detailed instructions and recommended seed lists and start times. Why not? Minnesota falls mostly into USDA hardiness zones 3 and 4 while I'm in zone 5a. If it works in MN, why wouldn't it work for me? At the very worst, I will sow seeds in the cut flower bed in early May, no different than last year. 

I used clamshell containers from mixed greens and a vinegar container, which I cut open around the middle leaving a hinge below the handle. Mr. H set me up with a drill to make drainage holes and holes in the top of the containers. I added a few inches of potting soil and heavy sprinkling of seeds before sealing the containers and taking them outside to a sunny spot in the snow. The clamshell containers will stay closed without any help, but the presenter recommended sealing cut containers with all-weather duct tape, which Mr. H grabbed for me during one of his many trips to his favorite store. (Menard's, obviously). I watered the containers through the holes I'd drilled in the top (through the spout for the vinegar bottle) and will watch them in the next several weeks, adding water if we don't get more snow or rain and looking for condensation inside the plastic--a good sign. 

For my first attempt at outside seed starting, I kept my seed choices to a small number: liatris (prairie blazingstar), two varieties of poppies, and Chinese forget-me-not, which I loved in my cut flower bed last year. On the liatris seed packet, there are instructions for giving the seeds a cold start to improve germination: 30 days in the coldest drawer of the refrigerator!

I'm curious to see how this will work!