Dave, thank you for the free sunflower seeds, I actually really wanted more of the mammoth grey striped type so I could grow edible sunflower seeds next year! That was perfect!

christine00 said:my seeds came today thanks for the freebie sunflower seeds! DogsNDaylilies, I got your pack back, so if you want to pm me your address ill send them on their way to you!

Oh no, bummer! Is say don't worry about them, but I'm really interested in the double blue flower and the Peter pepper. I can send a SASE to you so that you don't have to pay to send them.

Mine came! That box was FULL! GREAT stuff! Thank you everyone, and especially thanks Dave, Trish, and the Whitinger Elves!

Thanks for the many GENEROUSLY sized trade packets!

LynneHTx said: ... All the seeds packets are so well organized and labeled. I apologize for being at the bottom of the learning curve. I wasn't up on how to do the nice labeling nor on how to clean seeds of all the chaff. Thanks for letting me participate and learn from you all.

You did great! Thanks for the sweet peas! Swaps are about the seeds, not the show-off labels.

For me at least, printed labels are the lazy path. For me, hand-writing anything legible would have been The Impossible Dream. And as you know, once I START typing, I can't stop ... sometimes I have to reduce the font size to 8 point so it fits in a 2x3" ZipLoc.

Two things that Dave's "packing list" helps with: if anything handwritten IS hard to read, it's legible in Dave's "packing list". And I can copy "from whom" onto the individual pkt labels if the trader didn't write her or his name on each label.

When I save seeds from some traded variety, I want to be able to say: "I saved these seeds from plants I grew from seeds I got from LynneHTx. She got them from XYZ. He/She got them from ..."

I like the way that feels.

Got my seeds today, wow, I'm gonna be busy this planting season!

I got my seeds today. I had a late dental appointment so I picked up my box on my way and took it with me. Everyone else waiting had a magazine to look at; I had all those lovely seeds.
Thanks to Dave and all the participants. Lot's of fun!

I got my box too! Thanks to everyone-especially the Whitingers for this amazing swap! I can't wait to sow some seeds!

Mine came today, too

Since I was absolutely not prepared at all do swap seeds this year, and the fact that I admittedly squeezed in my participation- I totally admit that my labels were one of the least impressive
Honestly, I was happy that I got that far- and that only happened because I decided that I could get it done faster that way than writing on the baggies with a sharpie (much to Dave's horror, I'm sure!)

I agree with Rick- it's all about the seeds

Thanks for a great swap everyone! Dave has already hinted to the W's that we should think about hosting a BIG one next year

As long as I can read a label, and the seeds actually grow what the label says, I think it's a great label ! (maybe other people are more discriminating and want more embellishment?)

At any rate, to my mind everyone did a great job labeling, and thanks for the gift packet of sunflower seeds, Trish ! (and if you do another swap, I'm definitely IN !!)

I don't put much info on my seeds except it's name, year and my name. I figure it's up to the recipient to look up more info if they want it.

My favorite seed packets come from Botanical Interests. Descriptions, history, cultivation advice, seedling photo ... they fill front and back and insides with fine-print text.

I know - I'm their target audience. Verbose, more verbose, most verbose.

Normal people do only need the name.

I've toyed with the idea of making up "cultivation advice" for classes of seeds so I could add one standard slip to any Spinach pkt, or a different slip to any Bok Choy pkt. Then the "real seed label" would only need to qualify the generic advice with phrases like "cold-tolerant" or "bolt-resistant". But probably many or most seed traders already know more than I do.

Some swaps might want to come up with a way to describe how much pollen isolation self-saved seeds had, but that seems like a very murky thing to try to describe concisely. I think the default assumption is "some or lots of cross-pollination likely" unless stated otherwise.

I've always wondered how people isolate flowers from cross pollination. Seems like it would be a lot of work! I'm lucky, most people in my neighborhood have the same few flower types (what they are selling at Home Depot). So anything unusual that I plant will come true from seed.

I just realized that Trish sent sunflower seeds. Thank you so much Trish. These will be planted along the creek. Can't wait to see them in all their flower glory next summer. We and the birds will enjoy them.

I am still waiting for my box... my husband should be bringing it home soon. I am so eager to see this and whatever surprise supper he gets for me.

And Lynn, chaff is fine! I am glad you joined! It was my very first swap, too.

I am glad all of you are so gracious about the chaff. I know some of my seed had it. I tried to get most out, but it didn't work real well sometimes.

Chaff just shows me where I've already sown.

my box arrived yesterday, so excited have not been able to go through it, looking forward to that tomorrow morning

It would be very difficult to get all of the chaff out of the dust like seeds of sempervivum.

I did get my package Friday night. All of us were eager to see what was inside. @wildflowers One of the children tried identifying the extra acorns and he believes the smallest ones are Pin Oak. This summer, some one had tried teaching him to id the different acorns.

Everyone did such a nice job packaging their seeds. For those who got any of mine... I totally forgot to put my name on the individual seed packets. I am so sorry about that. And my ziplocs were huge! I wasn't sure how many seed packets I would be giving to people, so did a one size fits all.

What I noticed were the extremes in seed sizes. From the acorns and runner beans all the way down to the dust sized Seedbox seeds. And thank you, @Trish, for the sunflower seeds. I always enjoy seeing the wildlife make use of the big sunflowers.

My box arrived several days ago. I've opened it, but that's about it so far. Busy, busy.

Thanks everyone!

Most excellently done, Dave and Trish.

Thank you @Trish for the extra sunflowers. I had a little time Saturday to finish sifting through the seeds--before we had big Christmas party Sunday.
My system is to store seed packs in pockets of old photo notebooks. I have three books of seeds: One for flowers, another for edibles and one for herbs. And a box for bulbils and other types that aren't flat. All of the books are full and bursting.
Also made a large order from GreenHouseMegastore.com for brand new seed trays, domes, carry trays etc... So now I am ready without ever having to drive to a store, due to healing from bunion surgery and not being very mobile.
This year there will be no post-holiday blues because that will mean I can start some seeds!

SCButtercup said:
My system is to store seed packs in pockets of old photo notebooks. I have three books of seeds: One for flowers, another for edibles and one for herbs.

What A GREAT idea!!! You gave me some inspiration to think outside of the box--or, in my case, bags--for organizing ideas. Since this was my first year with an actual garden that I harvested from seed, I have seeds in a couple of different bags, but it's not working for me now, the bags are full and not organized enough to my liking. I haven't had time to think much about a new organizing tool, but your cleverness is spurring all sorts of different ideas, now!