Purpleinopp...that idea of putting the plants in milk crates is a great idea..one might want to line the bottom of the milk crates, in case the plants have been watered before you left. Might save the carpeting in the vehicle from being soiled or wet. I like the idea of carrying a few extra milk jugs of water in case the plants need watered when you get there.
The first plant swap that we attended, the hostess had her husband to direct all the vehicles to an open field that was once part of a horse farm. You parked your vehicle and you were asked to make a sign with your username and place it where it could be seen by others, as they walked around looking to see what people had to offer and to find people they had promised plants to..etc. One could even tape your username sign to the front of your table if you take one to set up your plants on. Some people run out of room on their tables and set plants on top of cardboard boxes or crates..Whatever works!
It is nice if you have a camera with you to take pictures of your gardening friends, your haul as you are leaving with your new found plants, nobody goes home hungry that is for sure.
At the first swap, I offered to clean up afterwards..I felt it was the least I could do because the hostess shouldn't have to clean up afterwards since she did all the prepartions to host the event, but nobody else volunteered and people left food that they bought sitting out on the table. As I said there were between 60-80 attending that swap..Nobody signed up for cleanup but me before hand but one gal saw that I was alone doing it and stayed for a short while and helped until her family kept calling her cell phone asking when she was coming home. I didn't know what to do with the left over food, or where to put dishes that belonged to the hostess..I washed dishes with what I think was hand soap because I didn't know where to look for dish soap. I looked in the most obvious place, in the cabinet under the sink and found none. Finally the husband of the hostess came in and told me where to put the clean dishes that belonged to them.
So if you sign up for cleanup, make sure you ask the hostess, where you are to put stuff and what you are to do with leftover food that had been sitting out for a few hours. Duh! There were a lot of left over paper products so the husband said he'd put them in the paper goods cabinet for the next year. I tried to leave her kitchen and dining room immaculate; it was the least I could do for all she'd done for us gardeners. Her gardens are to die for beautiful! Looks like something you'd see in a popular garden magazine!
