Spring planting - getting ready

In the crisper tray of a basement refrigerator is where I have acorns, chestnuts and a few other seeds, some of which were stored in bags of peat moss. While always in the back of my mind, I haven't made a habit of peaking in our stash.

On Saturday I discovered that a good majority of the red and black oak acorns had germinated:

Now it's time to think about getting them in the ground soon, except the ground is frozen down to 24". The next best thing is to put them in dirt in planters. I was impressed with the star trays that we received the aronia plants in, and I purchased a few for this purpose. The trays that came with the aronias are currently in the garden filled with white oak acorns (with hardware cloth covering to keep the critters out.)

I put the nuts in a peat moss/sand mix and gave them a good soaking. These are placed under a south facing window near a heat vent.

Since nearly all of the chestnuts germinated as well, some with an inch plus root, I planted some of those in a tray and a few extra pots. Those 32oz drink cups from the convenient store work very well for planters. 

Potted this past weekend: 45 red oak, 38 black oak, 52 chestnut.