Okay, everyone, here's where you get to voice your opinion
and have some influence on when the seed swap takes place!

We have now had seed swaps in January, September, and November. I am also open to doing the seed swaps in October. Which month worked best for you or which month do you think would be best? Tell me your thoughts below.

For me, anytime from October to January is good. As long as I have my seeds in by the end of January, I still have time to wintersow. For collecting, I really need until late October or early November. We have long seasons and that gives me time to collect.

As seasons have gotten longer , the later swaps seem better , Zinnia , Morning Glory , Tithonia , are a few that are recently dry . Long , long season here this year ,,
I do get a few early seeds . Later more . So season old seeds probably most of mine ,

Some seeds naturally Hybridize . I love getting those , The larger than you can buy sometimes . I am working on hard seeded zinnia . I get a few more every season , Much easier to germinate and grow .. even though those are all pretty easy

I think September was a bit too early for me. November worked out nicely for me and getting the seeds before December is great! I've already started collecting my wintersowing jugs and will hopefully have all the jugs planted & outside by this time next month. Then I can start my indoor seed starting when the new year rolls around.

These just got dry
Grow a Zinnia ,,

The little baggie at the side Has some arrow pointed seeds that are hard and dark like wild tickseed (yes I have those also ) I keep getting a few more zinnia seeds like that every year These all need sorted one more time down to the choice of which when I grow them ,, Spring seems so far away ..

I like November to January be cause I have time to clean and dry most of my seeds by November. I can still sow seeds in January so that works too.

All of the above work for me, but I don't have a lot of seed-saving going on yet. Even once I do, summer is a better seed-saving-season for me, since The Incessant Rain starts in late summer - early fall. .

I guess this last swap was as close to Christmas and Thanksgiving as I'm comfortable with. The "Holiday Craziness" seems to start earlier every year.

I didn't do September's it was to early for me...the November swap worked well. I am also good with the January one I'm in with poisondartfrog (Alana)
I start my winter sowing after the new year, perennials are first then all my annuals so January is still good for me.

I agree Rick, wouldn't want to do one much later than early Nov. It's already crazy here!

How would everyone feel about the next swap being sometime in the last two weeks of October? Yay or nay?

I'd like that

Should work for me!

...I should have said 'the next fall swap' or 'the next after-season swap', because I'm still entertaining the idea of a one-day swap (Rick's idea from awhile back) that I've been keeping in my head all this time, waiting for the right time. I think for it to be the fun and utterly chaotic type of swap that it ought to be, it needs to have 25+ members, which is where we are at now...

Assuming I do the 'lightening round swap' (working title ), it will likely be in the spring, once everyone has already planned their gardens, if not already planted seeds. That way, everyone knows what is 'extra' to them. It will also give some added excitement to break up the loooooong wait for the fall swap.

Thoughts?


[Just cross-posted with Elena. ]

Both ideas sound great to me.

I'm not sure I'd have time for a Spring swap even if it was only for one day. Packaging up seeds take time and in Spring I'm transplanting, weeding, starting more seeds,etc.

DogsNDaylilies said:How would everyone feel about the next swap being sometime in the last two weeks of October? Yay or nay?

Yay-hurray!

About two weeks earlier than this last swap would be great for me.

When I DO start saving more seeds, any that only mature in late Fall (and need to be protected from The Rains) will have 11 months to dry, instead of a few weeks.

(Did you ever try to save seeds from zinnia and marigold seed-heads that had turned brown and dry, then were rained on for a week? They hold more water than a sponge. You have to wring them out before squeezing them between coffee filters and towels and THEN start the drying process. It made me wonder why they don't sprout in the seed-heads before turning to mold. I guess there's a kind of dormancy even for annual seeds that lets them fall to the ground before sprouting!)

This one is fine with timing, late October would also be fine. I need to wintersow early December so the All Seeds Swap is a bit late for me due to my short winter. The one in late summer was too early for me to get seeds harvested and ready.

It's definitely a balancing act trying to accommodate everyone in all parts of the country, but I'm determined to do so, because there isn't a single one of you that I would want to have to leave because it didn't work out.

It sounds like late October is a good time frame for everyone across the country, southerners, northeners, and winter-sowers alike. I'm honing in on some good dates for the next (October) swap now. I may post it near the beginning of 2017--with dates subject to change, however--just so everyone has advanced knowledge and can prepare.

I would do a quick spring swap

I think Oct-Jan is great, Nov-Jan ideal, only because I had more seeds to offer after October. I'm in for whatever, tho! :D

If you do a spring one, I can't commit. Merely because I'm outside from daylight to dusk. If you all remind me, I'll be here though. You know I wouldn't miss one of your swaps libby.