How bad is it if (so far) all my offerings were already offered during the last swap?

I'm not finding thrilling year-end sales yet, so I haven't re-stocked with new commercial seeds (yet).

I COULD sort through my boxes and find seeds less than 4 years old, but they would mostly have only one packet of each type, which seems like a lot of work to type in and list (for just one or two packets of 2-4 year-old seeds).

Would there be much interest in a "Wish-List Thread"?

Rick, I don't see any issue in offering the same seeds as last time, your had quite a variety! And since my seedlings all fried in the sun this year, ( ) there are a few that I'm hoping I get to get repeats on anyway.

By way of explanation...this year has been a disappointing year for me for veggie gardening, which has nothing to do with any of the seeds from your or anyone else in the swap, the seeds were all great and most had excellent germination rates! The trouble was, I went into this year thinking I would have more land to plant the seedlings that I started back in March, so I kept them in their trays, waiting and waiting, and then things didn't pan out and, by the time I realized that extra land wasn't going to happen, it was nearly impossible to keep the seedlings from drying out in the scorching sun we were getting for days on end. Those that survived being dried out were so stunted (and gnarled) in their growth from being confined to the small peat pots that they weren't worth planting or putting any more effort into, unfortunately. I had all kinds of peppers, tomatoes, a couple of different squashes, onions, different flowers, etc. that I had been lovingly caring for for months....and...I just threw the last of them into the compost yesterday.

Next year I'm going into the season assuming I won't have more land and I'm going to just buy and put together more raised garden beds, instead, and hope that our HOA doesn't say anything about it. They haven't said anything about the additional beds I put in this year, so I'm hoping they won't care if I add even more. (This year, my additional garden beds all went to daylily seedlings and iris...I have ONE box with potatoes in it that appears to be doing well, but that's the only veggie I grew this year that is thriving.)

Thanks for the kind words about "repeat offers" and OK germination!

I don't know how others feel, but if someone asks me for the same seed two years in a row, I take that to be a compliment to the seeds! (Or, as in your case, yet another instance of "I grew the plants, but the plants died" (to the tune of "I fought The Law, but The Law won".)

>> by the time I realized that extra land wasn't going to happen ...

That IS a problem with starting seeds indoors: "Now, where will I PUT them all??" (Starting enough to give some away is one way of concealing the fact that, really, we are just totally over-optimistic and want to cover EVERYONE'S yard with plants!)

Good luck with your HOA! My "park management" just brought in someone to "trim" my profusely-flowering Knockout Rose, AND my F. rufa bamboo like ##@#$%^## hedge, trample one nice hosta flat under work boots, and they MOWED DOWN a big patch of lovely ferns that sprang up when the same ##@$%## bums cut down two healthy trees!

Now that part of the yard is ugly bare rocks, clay, and low-lying weeds. But my looney neighbor who triggers all such complaints seems to hate all living things and treated her own yard that way.

I'd suggest being very forward about sharing garden produce and flowers-in-pots, or even cut flowers, with as many neighbors as you can. Give away seedlings in the spring. Cherry tomatoes in soda bottles. If your garden is super-popular with everyone who pays them rent, maybe they won't be AS annoying to you as they would be otherwise.

white Echinacea Seeds from Milkshake ,

Ripe seeds ..nearly failed bloom , close


unripe seeds with one close


Rick I liked your seeds Got over zealous .I did

I have been greatly enjoying your plantings!

Vicariously greatly enjoying your plantings!

I have not planted one gosh-darn thing this year, and fell behind in weeding so much that I'm in trouble with park management.
My vegetables and greens have all come out of the supermarket freezer!



I'm impatiently waiting to retire so I can spend more time in the garden than it takes to compete with the weeds.

I should be more on the seed discussion thread , only hereI chat anyway ,
Hot weather has kept my garden , and my lack of discipline from being as well as should

I spend to much time smetimes with flowers instead of my vegies , So when things go wrong , back to learning ,
Tomatoes , Grapes . Beets , Teas and greens from several , I enjoy the nature ,,

Most of my weeds to deal with are stinging nettle ,
I need to check on my german red Garlic bubils to offer tomorrow ,

I know I'm a heretic, but my theory is that each thread is like a plant: it is what it is, whatever it grows into. The thread title is like a photo on a seed packet: that's what we EXPECT the thread to be about.

But the first post of a thread is like a seed. What it grows into depends on weather, soil and other circumstances.

Rick ,,, How True .. and as long as we enjoy such threads

Today I got these
Largest Iris seeds I have ever seen ,, Large as peanuts ..


Here is the iris




Most of the remainder of my coreopsis failed and did not finish ,

I was thinking five maybe 6 seeds an offer of the Iris .? One offer I am Keeping ,

Adding also in three or four weeks when the wish lists are up I will also consider some of lastyears seeds , The thing being , I do not seem to be the best seed Keeper ,

Rick, I think you should offer some of last year's seeds. There are bound to be people like me that are new to the swap this year, and surely some others that will want more of a good thing :)

I am pretty much just starting to harvest some seeds. I can't beleive the swap is about a month away.
I am sure that August will FLY (didnt July and June!?)

I'm continuing to organize my seeds :o)

I re-counted everything in a certain box: pretty new seeds that were in last year's swap. I listed 28 of those for this year, so far.

I still need to snoop through other boxes, and add more types. Especially chard, Bok Choy, Michihli cabbage and lettuce.

But then in theory I should count the seeds or re-measure the amount in old pkts before listing them. Or I might fall back on "Big pkt", "small pkt" and "very small pkt". Or, sometimes for small OLD pkts, I combine 2-3 pkts into one larger pkt, and then low germination would be less of a problem.

It would be great to see Wish Lists or a Wish Thread. Then I could make notes to myself about what to look for, and do some FOCUSED snooping through my stash.

But I want to avoid what I've done to some swaps in the past: List 2-3 packets of something "because I remember seeing lots of packets of that fairly recently". It seems that once I EVER see that I have multiple packets of something, I remember that for years. But if I run out or use up or lose that envelope of packets, I forget THAT right away!

And I'm still hoping to find some good varieties in bulk in year-end sales.

Rick usually the Wiiish list comes up about 8 days before tradin starts ,

Red Tiny Tims from you

94degree weather here , not the weather for greens ,,,,

Rick and Jim,

Sounds like there is a lot of eagerness for a wish list and I don't mind creating it a little early since I know some seeds are ready for harvesting now. I'll go ahead and start one tonight or tomorrow. Keep an eye out. ;)

Right, on the WishList thread you reminded us to keep it on-topic there. Good point!

18 days and counting I will add more in the last 8 to 10 dys until the swap
then update everything ready to go ,
cleaning , cleaning , cleaning , to the old Rawhide theme round em up . clean em up ,pack em up ,

I haven't added anything to my list yet but I am cleaning seeds. Its been really hot so I'm trying to stay off the phone as much as possible. Once the heatwave breaks I'll go through my list and add items.

I apologize for "pimping my blog", but this is easier than drying seeds on paper plates, and takes up less space.

The only trick is that FILLING an envelope with wet seeds and moist green plant parts encourages mold unless you can create a THIN layer of seeds, and/or shake them several times per day until they are mostly-air-dry.

Dry Saved Seeds in Paper Envelopes
http://garden.org/ideas/view/R...

Hey Rick it's all good , Half envelopes in snuggie boxes ,,

I've also started cutting mine in half, but then I have a super-thick folded-over flap on one side, with staples through it.

What have you done, so neatly and flat? Tape? Glue? I see that my article is Kindergarten-level compared to your system.

P.S. If you send me the "lightbox" text with some spaces added from your photo, could I use your photo in my "paper envelope" article? You'd get credit. I keep meaning to to take more photos and add them, but I never get A Round Tooit.

Or you could take a few more photos and submit an article that shows what the system looks like done SERIOUSLY!

I will see about somethinglike that , Lightbox and such ,
Most of the time , I cut a dollar store envelope in half , glue stick them closed on one side , Usually my little baggie or wax paper inside them with the seeds .
Makes it worth doing when seeds are organized and stay good ..

Especially if you like Tomatoes and vegetables that you can not usually buy . rare plant seeds also ,

At the moment , I am redoing all ,,

and by the way , it was you Rick Corey ,, That gave me the idea to begin with

If the Lightbox means anything more than sending you a mail , I don't know how

Jim - I heard recently that tomato seeds are supposed to be fermented prior to planting. Have you found that to be true? If so, how do you ferment them? (I'm very inexperienced when it comes to tomatoes since I don't particularly like the taste of fresh tomatoes...although I'm trying to make myself like them.)


Rick - good idea! Personally, I just put my seeds in a paper bag, but that does take up a bit of space, so I only use it for certain seed types. For my daylily seeds, they all go in a recycled K-cup that I've cleaned out and washed because as many as 30 seeds could probably fit along the bottom without any having to stack on top of each other. They dry out nicely that way, they fit well in egg cartons (that I use as trays to hold 12 k-cups), and it eases my conscience about the K-cup waste, so I'll probably keep that method. I might replace my paper bag method with the envelopes, though. If not, at least it's a really good idea that I can pass along to others if someone ever asks.