Shelly this is such a fun thing to do. Love looking at the photo, it is like opening a Christmas package with baby plants just waiting to be born.

I have gone ga-ga for seed saving and trading. But beware, it's addictive.

I know, it is very addictive. I just received some wonderful seeds in the mail the other day. Can't wait for next year to see them become plants. Each seed is a tiny miracle.

That will keep the post office in business.

I love saving, labeling and trading seeds. Or giving them away!

Often the cost of buying a BIG commercial packet is only slightly greater than the price of a small packet. Then I can split it up into 5-20 smaller packets, give some away and trade some.

That way, for a small up-charge, I get 5-10 times as much variety, and up to 20 people get to try the same seed I bought.

>> That will keep the post office in business.

Yup. Unless I find multiple things I want to buy at the same time, I pay as much for postage or 'shipping and handling" as I paid for the seeds themselves. And when trading in bubble mailers, $2.07 for the first three ounces is 5-10 times the cost of the seeds if I only send 1-2 varieties.
($2.07 on Jan 27, 2013)
($2.32 on June 11, 2014)

And yet that is STILL cheaper than buying a single commercial packet. And perhaps 1/3rd the cost of one commercial pkt + S&H.

I love trading, but I keep losing packages and falling into procrastination. I warn people not to send TO me until after they receive FROM me.

USPS Price List Notice 123 Effective January 26, 2014
http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300...

First Class Domestic:
http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300...

First Class Dimensions:
http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300...

I usually have bubble mailers charged as "First Class Package" since they are thicker than 1/4" or not uniformly thick (or the clerk claims they are). A "Large Envelope / Flat" would be half the price.

This is what I think the postal regulations about dimensions mean:

And often the seeds that you get from swaps are better germinators than commercial seed.
I do the NARGS swap every year as they send out Phytosanitary certificates so we can send seeds across the border.
I also am in a Canadian swap.
In the New Year there are Seedy Saturdays held across Canada.
They always have a table where you can drop off excess seeds, and pick up other seeds.
You can also purchase seeds and plants from small seed/plant growers there.

That's a great idea. I'd love something like that around here.

I participate in the American Horticultural Society seed swap each year and have gotten a lot of interesting seeds there. You do have to be a member so I suppose that technically it isn't entirely "free". It's one of the benefits of membership - which I enjoy.

The Hog Wild Piggy Swap will open in five days, over in Cubits, Ella's Garden. Barely time for me to count how many packets of each thing I have extra, list them, and decide what to "oink" for from everyone else's lists.

Last year we exchanged a total of 14,000 packets, and many of the members have pretty esoteric seeds.

The thread "2013 Hog Wild Swap @ Cubits (FWD)" in Plant and Seed Trading forum

I know. I didn't have time to get ready for that one.

Tee, you can always join the herd after the initial rush is past. The more, the merrier!

It will will run until Midnight on December 16th.

Thanks, Rick. I'm still thinking about it.