Weed seeds outside over winter

[BreezyGreens]

@ductwizard's thread got me thinking... Any outdoor growers in areas with serious winters ever put seeds in the ground in late fall and let them overwinter in the dirt? Did they grow?

There are varietals that come from areas with significant winters, so the seeds must be able to survive pretty cold temperatures. As a lazy gardener looking to take the guesswork and stress of wondering when to plant out of the equation, is it possible to plant in the late fall when it's too cold to trigger growth and letting Mother Nature take its course in the spring?

[Rwise]

These are from unknown seeds that were in the soil at least for the winter. We did not get below 0, but I have volunteers every year. One is likely a photo the other is an auto.

[BreezyGreens]

0 C or 0 F?

[DabberDog]

I don't know about weed, specifically. Svalbard Global Seed Vault - Crop Trust keeps theirs around 0°. The freezing of the seed shouldn't hurt. What might hurt is if the seed sprouts before all the freezing days are done. Seedlings don't like freezing.

[bdeegan]

Nailed it

[BreezyGreens]

DabberDog Yeah, I was thinking about that. We definitely have "false" springs. The flowers on the magnolia trees in my neighborhood regularly get brown and nasty when we have a warm week when they start opening followed by a return of winter. I was thinking about them. On the other hand, volunteer tomatoes don't show up until it's consistently warm, and there's a history of naturalized hemp in NYC (also USDA zone 7).