First batch of 'winter sowing'- native bin 1

It's about a week before the official start of winter, so already breaking the first rule of winter sowing by starting now- but my plans are a bit ambitious and the snow is here to stay- so I'm going to break the rules a bit. 

               

I could not source enough gallon jugs- still trying, but had to get started with what I could find. I bought a couple Sterilite 60 Qt Hinge Lid Box to try them out as a possibility. I probably should have got a couple in the next size down as well because this bin is taller than the next size, but not really that much bigger. It does work well though, it holds around 20 of my 3" pots and in another bit of pleasantness, the 8 qt bag of seed starting mix from Menards fills those 20 pots exactly. How tidy! There's a smidge of inconvenient overlap in the pots, a couple edges overlap a bit, to fit 20 - but, 20 pots and a whole bag of seed starting mix is some nice round math to work with. 

For prepping the bin, I opted to make some additional departures from the winter sowing method. With the traditional method, you cut large holes in the top to let rain and snow enter and you drill some holes in the bottom for drainage. I've decided that I want to keep these stacked on my patio for easy monitoring which means that they are partially covered and won't get enough snow. I instead made several pencil width ventilation holes around all 4 sides- this way not too much heat builds up in the sun, but, also the bins dry out less quickly. I did not put any drainage holes because I will be controlling the water and a lot of these seeds are surface sown and easily displaced by watering, so this way I can bottom water the seedlings instead. 

To hedge my bets, I'm also just planting outside in 3" pots within 1020 drain trays on a wire shelf. I planted 20 seed packets tonight, half the seeds in a bin, half the seeds in a pot that will just be outside in the weather. They are definitely densely planted because they are native seeds and germination can be a bit spotty with those to begin with. 

Today's plantings were the following: