Dear sweet seed-swapping people of Frederick, we just moved in, and I am mildly obsessed with our garden space, a dream come true for me. May I still ask to be added to the swap? As I do admire polycultures and variety, pretty much every seed packet I have bought so far is too large for me to use up this year. We also have some babies that the current plants and trees created that could use a new home.

Blanche! "Obsessed" (maybe not even mildly) describes a lot of us here. I love going to MAG events just so I can "talk plants" with people whose eyes don't glaze over in 45 seconds.

If you want to participate in pre-trading of seeds (making requests before the party), sign up for our swap with the Seed Swap tool (under "Useful Tools" at the top of the page). There's a video tutorial that explains it pretty well, but please ask if you have questions!

Those babies will be more than welcome at the spring plant swap!

Robin, it'll be so good to see you!

Thank you for the warm welcome Jill! I started adding the seeds to my list and I will be looking forward to meeting you all in person!

Thanks, Jill. I did register for the Seed swap. Haven't gotten any responses from my other gardening friends.
Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Does anybody want sheet pots (aka "six packs" for seedlings, the ones that fit into a 1020 tray)? I have a few deep 36-cell ones left, but I'm out of 48 cell ones, so I'm planning to order both. I can get the normal depth 48 cell inserts from AM Leonard, but I'm looking for deeper ones, especially for the 36-cell size.

At the Greenhouse Megastore, "Deep" versions of the 6-packs (both 48 and 36 cell ones, "deep" meaning 3.1 and 3.25 inches respectively) are available for 10/$8 (including tax) or 80 cents each. Of course, they're cheaper if I order 100 at a time, but I'm reluctant since I haven't ordered from them before. They do have several good reveiws in our Green Pages, but those reviews are from a few years back. If nobody else is interested in them, I'll just do a trial order and get sets of 10.

I can get 4 oz row cover from AM Leonard, good for 4 degrees of frost protection but fine for keeping pests out of my young bean plants or cucumbers. The 250 foot roll of 6' material (the lowest of their 3 grades) is about $50, coming to $10.25 for 50 feet (including tax). Anybody need some?

Orders should arrive by Friday, but I take shipping estimates with a grain of salt these days.. If it arrives too late for the seed swap, you can pick it up at the spring plant swap.

I'm at the Free Shipping level on my AM Leonard order (because I need a new mulch shovel), so if you want to add anything to my order and have it ship free, LMK!

Jill,
I used to get something from Greenhouse Megastore 2-3 times a year. I was never disappointed. Things always arrived fast and were well packed.

Should I bring industrial warming station for "gifts" table? Nah probably weighs some 200 lbs.
Why is it @ my garage space? Son bought @ Facebook Marketplace during temp gig as chef.
Would be great addition to your carport RickM.

Might work as a fire-safe or as rodent-proof storage, unplugged. Proofing bread dough, making yogurt... depending on the temperature range.

No, I don't want it!

Thanks for the recommendation for Greenhouse Megastore, Rick. I'll go ahead with an order!

I've started going through my stashed seed box to see what I have. Most that I can offer for sharing were commercially packed, but are several years old. Can't guarantee how viable they are but as Jill always says, they certainly aren't viable if you never attempt to sow them LOL.

For vegetables I have various tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. For flowers I have cosmos, belles of ireland, salvia, morning glorys, moonflower, and lots of different kinds of zinnias.

I'll make up various packets to bring, but I'm not sure if I'll get them all entered into the seed swap tool before the swap. The swap tool is fantastic for our plant swaps - cuts down on digging, dividing, and potting up up for plants that end up with no interest. Seeds are a much easier proposition to get ready for sharing. What has worked well for me in the past is to just pass around a small box of what I have to offer.

Looking forward to the get together and happy to see some new comers!

For tomatoes, the individual packets that I make up will only be 5 seeds since they are from limited seed qty commercial packets. If the ones I am sowing for myself this year grow and produce, I'll be able to collect seeds from them in much larger amounts to offer next year. I have never saved my own seeds before and am looking forward to trying it. I read that the golden rule for collected seeds being true to the parent is that the tomato variety needs to be open pollinated. On a quick check, I think all of the varieties I picked are open pollinated.

Also, don't plant cherry tomatoes next to your regular tomatoes. Generally, tomatoes tend to pollinate themselves, but the structure of cherry tomato blooms makes them "promiscuous" (as Dr. Carolyln puts it).

When a hybrid variety crosses with itself, there's no telling what you'll get (it'll still be a tomato of course, but color, shape, size, taste might be like the parent or could be totally different).

OP (open pollinated) varieties are stable. Seeds from a self-pollinated OP plant will produce a plant of the same variety. Of course, a rogue is possible, but unlikely.

There have been successful efforts to de-hybridize some popular varieties. I think the effort with 'Sungold' cherry tomatoes is still a work in progress. Shoe (Horseshoe) says the OP Sungold has tougher skin and isn't quite as sweet, so he sticks with buying the hybrid seed.

For our newcomers, you can see we get really chatty and off-topic at times. Often, there will be a "chat" thread that's separate from the organizational thread for a swap. For a seed swap, I didn't think that was needed, as the only organization info I need from this thread is who is coming. :-)

Speaking of which -- IF YOU ARE COMING and don't see your name on the list in the top post, please speak up!

For those who have been using the swap tool for a long time... Dave recently added a "MASS DELETE" function so you can easiy clear away entries you'll never use again. Scroll all the way to the bottom of your list, and you'll see a link.

I have several other seeds from the last 2 or 3 years that I am not sure will germinate so I am not listing them but I will make several packets and bring at our meet. Also, anything I put my dibs on, I am happy to share them as I don't need the amount being offered, so feel free to ask me for them if you wanted something and I got it. I will bring extra envelopes for people wanting to share/split more.

I am very late this time, but I am coming to the swap with Frenchy. Unfortunately I do not have any seeds, unless I find my big plastic bag where I put the seeds in.

With very few exceptions, seed under 5 years old germinates just fine, and most are OK up to 10 years old. If you're concerned, just put the year in the info on the swap tool.

Bringing seeds to the swap is fine also. I often do that if I just have a single pack to share.

Heads up! TRADING IS UNDERWAY in the swap tool.

Check back regularly for additions... I'm sure I'm not the only one who continues adding packets to my seed list as we go along.

Is anybody interested in trying some parthenogenic cucumbers? They don't need pollinators, so you can keep them protected under row covers. Protected from what? Well, in my garden, protected from bunnies and from insects that transmit disease. I'm looking at Johnnyseeds.com. I've also ordered 250 feet of lightweight 6' wide row cover. It'll take me a few years to use that much (I tend to re-use it for a few years), so if you want some LMK. It's not here yet, but you're not likely to need it before spring swap.

I'm putting in my order for Johnny's this weekend. LMK if you want to add anything to my box. They don't give any time frame for standard shipping, so it could be here by Friday, or it could take 3 weeks. So don't order something that must be started inside this year by March (unless you can swing by Frederick). :-)

I'm getting Unagi, Excelsior, and Picolini.

Heads up! I signed up for emails from Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com) and got a coupon for $10 off a $50 order, which about covers shipping. Having added lettuce and viola seeds to the cucumbers I wanted, I'm up to that total. :-)

Harris seeds is still honoring the free shipping code I have for them -- tree-mail me if you want it.

I'll order from Johnny's and from AM Leonard tomorrow. If you just want one or two packs from Johnny's (not enough to sign up and get the discount), or if you want to save on shipping from amleo.com, just LMK.