Seed Swap and Chat #47 Waiting for seeds

Need some postage to help?
Let me know, I'm not rich but every little bit helps.
Still waiting on a check, but I can scratch up postage.

For those of you having problems with your computer, there is an excellent free program called Spybot. We run both Windows XP and Mozilla Firefox and Spybot works very well with them both. It cleans up any spyware on your computer. AVAST is also free and we run it here also. It tracks down and isolates viruses on your hard drive. We run them once a week and have had excellent results with them both. They are easy to use also.

I don't know if any of you have run across it or not but there is a link on one of the threads here on DG that has a bad virus on it and when I clicked it My AVG wouldn't access it and popped me a notice telling me it was unsafe and would not pull it up. I backed out of it and later saw someone else mention that she had clicked the link and found the virus there. I got the free version of AVG 2 years ago and liked so well, last year I upgraded to AVG 8 and love it even more. That was what caught the virus and kept me from messing up. I'm not sure why DG diddn't pull the link off after she told them about it but it was still there the last time I looked, and don't remember where it is, I just stumbled upon it from time to time.

Rides.... Appreciate the offer, but not necessary. It covered. : )


But don't them programs like AVAST put their own spyware on yoru puter? If they read yoru whoel puter to find bugs, the don't they have al yoru information, password s and such and other imporatant data? I always been afraid to us e them, becaus e of that fear.

I haven't had any Problems (knock on wood) but I do know I had problems everytime I tried to get on DG forum. but I just ignore it. I love DG. They just got to get over it. My cousin used it in Anchorage at a militry bse up there. That is how I found it. I figured if it good enough for the Military, it good enuf for me.

They don't read your information, they look for "signatures" that all viruses carry...sort of like sifting through seeds to find the odd ones. You don't look at the individual seeds, you look for the ones that don't belong.

I don't know about many of the programs but I know for sure that most of the major businesses around here use AVG because my DIL works for one big one and they have major computer tecs always there working on their computers and they only use AVG. The tec told her to tell me to download one from the free site and I di and loved it ever since, but since then I found the newer version that has more protection and I upgraded to it and wouldn't change for anything. I haven't had the first problem since I got this program. But I did before. My computer came with Norton and it didn't help me, I had viruses get in, I changed and bought windows antivirus program-50.00 and it didn't keep them out so I got AVG and that is all it took.

My DH calls Bill Gates and Peter Norton the "devil's own children". We had always had Norton's from the time the programs came out. The last Norton's program we had had a real time virus scan on it....not a problem except it used over half the total memory to run and we were always losing programs due to "not enough available memory" I spent 6 hours on the phone with Norton's Tech Support only to be told I didn't know enough for him to help me....hung up, backed up all my files and reformatted the drives...we have been using avg or AVAST ever since. I have also discovered that DG likes Firefox better than the site does windows XP. Never have a problem with Firefox, but lots of problems with XP.

I have xp professional and was gonna change to fox fire but couldn't figure out how to get all my stuff over to that program since all my stuff is on Internet explorer. Everytime a new EE comes out it upgrades it for me so I just ended up staying here for now. I know nothing about these complicated thingys. I just thank goodness my DIL works in an office where she has access to the professional internet tecs for me for free. My son works on Computers too so he can totally wipe them out and re program them and reset them up with any programs you want and I get that for free too. One day I'll take time to learn how to use them more than just turning it on and off and DG site.LOL (maybe)

mekos sounds like you are doing just fine. Terese has been helping me with mine. I have spy bot and AVG both free and I downloaded Clary Utilities per her recommendation and am on Firefox. I downloaded it and that I could do. Saturday night though I could not get IE or Firefox to send. Things seen better now. Now I probably need to clean up some stuff in the Add and Remove programs but am afraid I will remove something that i need. I'm still waffling on the other thing she recommended.
Well off to the shower. Be back later
Just remembered to ask "Lea, how are you getting along with your 'puter problem"
hope we get all this settled. lol
Now off to the shower Be back later
Veronica

Herb -- I know what you mean about the reformat... been there done that. When my kids were younger... and this was before "Admin" and setting up own "profiles" .. i just forbid them from downloading anything. NOw they are both in college so they have their own laptops. Though mine still gets used for some games. Before I got Ghost, it would take me almost 3 days of 'playing' off and on getting everything back to where it belongs.

But i think in 12 yrs, i've only gotten 2 viruses where i had to reformat. the "garbage" things that muck things up.. .enough cleaning and tweaking and i can get rid of them.

I never much cared for SpyBot... not sure why. I had that and Ad-aware [which was great about 10 yrs ago] but i dont like that anymore either.

I did a bit of research and reading about many of the free products ... that is how i settled on the 2 I use now. My favorite site for reading up on programs is cnet.

Now -- don't forget... we have a great computer forum here too. A lot of great knowledgeable folks in there.

Re- Norton's being a resource hog... it was when i had it to. then i ditched it in 10/2008 when the licensee ran out. But i hear the Norton's 360 is much better. I still like FREE though.

Terese

I agree about Norton's I switched to 360 as well.

I don't worry about that stuff with the windows and pc viruses. We only use Macs and it pretty much takes care of itself.

Well Mekos, I'm with you and I know I will never understand computers lol

I have the Norton's 360 and I swear what I have popping up is a Norton's thing keeping me from getting into my computer prompting me to buy another program but what do I know!

I spent three hours on hold yesterday, yes I did! Tony called at the same time and got someone with authority and she called me back and gave me a number to call and a case number and put me thru to someone and then he told me I had to call someone else and pay over $100 for another program. That's it! I knew better than to get Norton's again per Terese's warnings and didn't listen now I am paying a year later, I have one more year to go with them.

Carolyn, thanks for your help Tony here has a friend that works on computers he is suppose to call today or Tony will have to take it to his house and he will take a look at it, I'm going to try and call again with this case number they gave me yesterday and find out what is going on :)

They have a new Norton's for 2010 'Live' from what I understand and the one I have now I get free support but the new one coming out will cost every time you call support why don't these places have free support for their products! It's not right!

I hope MichellT's little one is alright I really hate that so many sad things have happened to people around here at Christmas. Having a sich child is the worst. I'll be praying for the both of them.

I just have to get off of here Tony's computer is so hard to type on it's like doing excersizing for your fingers lol His key board is full of everything I'm wondering if he doesn't have coffee in it like Ella's lol I swear I saw something crawl out of it the other day lol

Maybe you need to turn it over and Shake it!!
That is what i do to mine once in awhile, knock out the
"Dust Bunnies" I've had this one awhile and sometimes the gets act like they don't want to work.

Lea -- what software does Tony use on his computer?

Honestly -- look into the freebies. Venture [if you have time] into the Computer Forum... there is a lot of information in there. And feel free to Dmail me any time... you know that. But with Tony there ... i'm sure he can help you faster.

Uggg.. Ella -- how many more days til Spring?? I think i'm gonna get my kid going today with the glue gun to melt some holes in my containers and get sowing. Now -- I'm guessing you dont use the "glue" part?? i've never used one before ... is the tip hot and you just poke with it??

tcs heres a page to count the days down for your.

http://www.calendardate.com/year2010.php

Yep just use the tip of your glue gun it you shouldn't have any trouble melting holes, the glue keeps coming out I just use an old dish cloth to wipe it off as it seeps out I can't get the old glue stick out of my ex's gun lol

I'm not sure what Tony uses for a virus protector and Tony really doesn't know that much about computers but he has a friend that works on them for a living :)

Tony had to go to the doctor's today and it was 2 degrees outside, we have ice on the windows that is probably 1/4" thick Ha! Now it's 10 degrees with a wind chill they said on tv of 3 but I'm sure it is colder out here in the boon docks!

Rides Tony took the keyboard outside and banged it the last time I used it and I think it just stirred things up in there it was harder to type on then lol I have been taking the vacuum to it every time I do mine since :) Doesn't seem to help lol

73 days until spring that's way too long to wait LOL

my gosh Lea... you are colder than we are up here. Currently a balmy 17° .. heading for a high of 22.

HEY, finally checking in and trying to catch up with y'all.

With apologies to all, my seeds finally went out today. I did let Ella know that I might not be able to finish packaging until after the holidays, but I kept hoping I'd gitter done between other things... I didn't do much seed collecting this year, so there won't be a lot for her to sort out, about 4 dozen oinked packets from my meager list and another couple dozen extra packs.

The photos of all those piggy piles are amazing!

:-)

Shoot them piggy piles is all ove r th eplace. LOL

I aroudn folks, just not on as much right now cuz fillign wishes and ones and such.

Want to warn newbies, cuz they may not know, just cuz you put a don't wanton yoru list, you may get soem don't wants. I have to share the seeds out for evrybody and we have some cultivars that we have a whole lot of the same thing so even if it was on yoru dont want , you got to take it. Remmebr anythign ya don't want you cna trade on the seed swap or giv e away , but hopefully ya all wil try soem of the seeds you get, what is that old sayign abotu nothign venture d nothign gained and you just might surpris e yoruself and find ya have anew like or somethign to grow to share ith somebody in yoru neighborhoods that may not be able to affor d any plants or such.

Lea... Did you try restartign yoru puter? You mad e me go and look to see hwo many days i had left on my Norton and when i did i ended up also havign it put up a creen wantign paswrod to enter into my norton account. heck I have hard time remmebrign wher e I leave my shoe s and glasses let alone a password. and no matter what I did it wouldn't clos e or go away, so I restarted and it went away and my norton stil workign fine. So if ya havent' trie d that ya might.


Well 73 days is bette r than 120 that for sure. : )

Ok so that just leave s I think Mamawk and Carolyn Crooper to get their package s in.

Don't forget folks, remidn me on her e and send me some dmails to remmebr all them bulbs in the fridge. Some of them bulbs huge and weigh a ton. Cuz sur e as ya don't I wil forget them and they wil be the last thign I pack befor e sealign packages.

Well back to slop pile s for me for a bit. hehehehehhee : )

>>just cuz you put a don't wanton yoru list,

Star... really I dont want or need any extra seeds that what is promised to me.

Sent everything that you would have given me to that gals who's house burned down.

When I get my seeds from the swap... I will have about 260 seed varieties... I dont have room for all of them.

It is a heat wave here - 26'F. At least it has been cold enough to have snow instead of wintery mix.

I was using an old knife to make the holds in the bottles and a utility knife/scissor combo to cut them in two. It got a bit tiresome, so I dug out a soldering iron to burn the holes. It is so much faster that way. I make sure I clean the iron off with steel wool, don't want to get a lecture if the bf needs to solder something. One advantage of being single is being able to turn your kitchen into a potting shed and find creative uses for tools without comment.

Do you put drainage material in the bottoms of the soda bottles? I was too lazy to find and wash frozen rocks so I used crushed walnut/almond shells. I was going to put them in the compost bin anyway. It also will save a bit of potting soil.

I was making some more covers for my roses yesterday evening. I was delayed this year, waiting for them to drop all of their leaves before covering like the books and experts say (except for the most tender ones which I covered anyway).I think they have dropped all the leaves they are going to drop. I used up the big bale of peat moss, so I an finishing up with crumpled newspaper. Not exactly by the book, but the best that I can do, for now. My rose bed faces south, but gets hit with lots of wind in the winter.

I checked my irises, no frost heaving, yet. I put rocks on a couple of the little ones that weren't securely rooted, yet. I never did that before, seems odd, but trying it as the experts say. (I did make sure the leaves were still poking up and the rocks were on the north side of the baby irises)

Time to get dinner in the oven before starting this evening's tray of bottles. I am using mostly soda bottles in trays. I saw a bird sitting on a tray trying to put it's beak in a bottle this morning. I checked for slugs, none, guess the bird was thirsty or something. I put a few mothballs around under the trays in the back yard and around the roses in the front yard to deter the mice/chipmunks/rodents. I don't want to build them winter homes.

I thought walnuts and walnut trees produced some chemicle that was harmful to other plants. I wouldn't think the shells would be good in pots would it?

Ella it's fine with me if you include my don't wants I'll just pass them along to people who can't afford seeds so feel free to toss all you want to. How about we try to remind you on Sunday to pack the bulbs? Oh, and don't worry about what Mechelle promised me I can manage without hers if she doesn't get them to you in time. I think I'll make her a afghan to cheer her up and keep me warm while I make it.

Tcs.. No worries. I got a box for soul the fir e person too. : ) I haven't forgotten her. I do need to get her addy though.

Ok, forget who it wa s off hand. You sent a big baggy with "? Spide r lilie s on it" I knwo it ain't no spide r lilies, but coudl it possibly be cleome seeds? Looks alot like cleome pods.

Thos e that sent extra baggies, sur e do appreciate it, they been comign in handy for liek the folsk that sent 500 seeds in one baggy for me to ddivid e up into smalle r amoutn s so lot s of folks cna share them. Been a big help. : )

I also have a surpris e bulb. Was a very expensive one, not gonan say what it is, wil let whoever gets it be surprised. At the end I always count up exactly how many seed packets go out to evrybody. It justa weir d quirk I do as part of my enjoyment doign this.

To try and win it what ya have to do is gues s about how many seed packets total I wil be sending out to everybody. The person closest to the total will win this bulb. So think very carefully. You only get one post and you can post only up to three guess in that post. I will tell you this last year was around 10,000 seed envies. You cna plac e your guess, up until the time I coem back from the post office. Have fun piggies. heheheheheh : )

Do not us e BLACK WALNUT shells. They are bad for yoru plants, trees and shrubs. It is the black walnut that bad.. bad.. bad..

Don't worry folks, ther e plenty of seed s for evrybody. seandor, bles s her heart sent in a bunch of seed s for folks too. Not enough seed s is definatey not aproblem. LOL

This message was edited Jan 5, 2010 6:31 PM

Still sitting here. Bella the cat is sitting on my feet, purring, I hate to move. I put her basket and pillow (with hand knit wool cover) under the desk, by the heat vent, but she likes my feet better.

The Strawberry Fields gomphrena is beautiful, especially in the dried hydrangea tree. I would love to try to grow some if you have extra seeds. I have been keeping a list of Beatles inspired plants. I think it would be a fun garden sometime, when I have room for another full garden. In the meantime, I can squeeze plants into my existing gardens and containers.

Two other good free programs are Comodo firewall and WinPatrol. Firefox has anti spyware add on programs like NoScript which are helpful. The bf likes AdAware, another free program. I don't use it. It missed things that Spyware Doctor (not free) found. You can scan for viruses online on Norton's and McCaffee's (spelled wrong) web sites also. Have you defragged your hard drive? Norton Utilities and Windows both have disk utilities (I use another program).

I had one of the first Macs. It was more expensive to upgrade the Mac than buy a new PC. I switched to PC and never looked back! Linux users reportedly have less troubles with viruses, and linux is free. The bf jokingly calls Microsoft "microsloft" and "the evil empire". AutoCAD and my fiberarts programs run on windows, so I am locked in , for now.

I am getting hungry and Tiffany has to go out for a walk. Be back later!

So, which have been the most numerous/popular seeds in this swap? I don't mean count 'em up, but what does it seem you've been seeing an awful lot of? Marigolds? Datura?

I don't think I sent more than half a dozen packs of anything extra, because it seemed most people had managed to oink what they wanted from me.

I can tuck odds & ends into the goodie bags for our upcoming DG seed swap, so please don't worry about finding anything for my garden other than what I oinked... and if I only got half of what I oinked, I would be a happy and overwhelmed piggie! :-)

Many thanks to those who shared so generously for this year's swap! And many thanks also to any newbies who were worried because they didn't have much to share... probably all of you sent something that's going to be somebody else's very favorite seed.

Ella, I should've thought to include some extra baggies... could probably have squashed stuff around in that little box to fit them in... wish I could have been of more help this year, but we were sorta finding our feet with parenthood and also taking time to just be together and enjoy our family. Sunshine Girl is going to be a Big Help this summer in the garden, don't you think? LOL, she'll be a bigger help when she's 6... or 14... but I have a shovel she should be able to handle by the time she's 3!

Star.... Spider Lily http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2109/
I always call them "Surprise Lilies" as you get the "surprise" of the bloom in Aug long after the foliage dies.

I always saw them as bulbs... so if they are seed/pod-like... maybe they are Cleome.
Dont think they came from me, as the only packet I had just said "Cleome" on it, no other info.

>>Norton Utilities and Windows both have disk utilities

I loved Norton's utilities System Works it's one reason i hung onto Nortons for so long. I now use Glary Utilities and have been very happy with it - does a lot of neat things and it's free.

>>Linux users reportedly have less troubles with viruses, and linux is free.

I always wanted to set up my PC with a dual boot, one being Linux... but just never got around to it. It is a very 'unbloated' OS.

I learned the hard way about Black Walnuts and juglone toxicity! There are several growing nearby. I have only been able to grow hostas and ditch lilies by my north patio! (I am experimenting with a few other plants there) I should have mentioned that. I don't dare compost the leaves. I gather black walnuts and dry the hulls to use as a brown dye for fabrics/yarns. I am using the shells from purchased whole mixed nuts. Those are English Walnuts. Here is a quote from

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/info_walnut_toxicity.htm

Black walnut and butternut produce the largest quantity of juglone and can cause toxic reactions with a number of other plant species that grow in their vicinity. Other juglone-producing species including English walnut, pecan, shellbark/shagbark/bitternut hickory, produce such small quantities of juglone that toxic reactions in other plants are rarely observed.

Love my Mac, love my mac, but then, I'm a graphic designer, one of the few professions/groups of programs that actually prefer Macs.

Critter, we all got a ton of seeds from you last year... everyone has their busy years. And Yes, she'll be a great help ;-) Though I must say, my 8 year old is less help now than when she was a toddler... but less demanding too, so maybe better for the gardening overall.

Critter.... Nope actually th eperon who sent marigold s in wa s a good thing. Think it runnign next to next on Columbines and Daturas in the front runenr s and then 4 o'clocks and Shasta Daisies.

I tell ya the humerm s love Columbine s though and the neat thign with most of thes e is that they are F1 generatiosn so folsk cna fidn a fe w surprise s coem out of them. I had two seedling s from my Oragami's that cros s breed and have the deepest dark purple that almost a purple black oragami with a tiyn whit e edge on it. Ther e is no pruple Oragami on the market nor one liek this so I holdign the seedlings for evaluation and to mayeb see abotu registering.

That somethign folsk shoudl look for cu alot fo thes e seed s have coem from gardens and have cros s breed and so ya coudl have a totally ne w plant that somethign else and might be worthy of intro duction.

Dang... I think my pute r got leBug sympathy paisn going on. Now just had a pop up thingy that says I nee dot go to norton and finish registering. grrrrrr.

Get her some Gourd seeds or watermelons to
plant all by herself and maybe you can develope a green thumb girl.
Radishes, carrotts, something Fun---Strawberries.
Little girls love strawberries unless they eat so many they get a rash.
There is something out there for her. Marigolds.....

The bf set up a dual boot computer for himself, although he usually uses his windows laptop. If I end up with enough parts after finishing setting up my backup spare, I may try it. I downloaded ubunto linux and burned it to a cd. I tried the set up, but canceled when it asked me to set up partitions because I didn't know how big to make them. I got some books out of the library and made notes. Getting up the nerve to try again. I really like the idea of open source software.

I hate configuring computers, takes me more than 3 hrs! Most of the time is spent rummaging thru crates of parts, finding the software and downloading drivers.

GardenQuilts wrote-
"Other juglone-producing species including English walnut, pecan, shellbark/shagbark/bitternut hickory, produce such small quantities of juglone that toxic reactions in other plants are rarely observed."

I have shagbark hickory trees in my front yard. The shells fall everywhere, including in my raised beds. I can tell you that they do indeed affect my ability to grow plants in those raised beds. I have alot of plants that just can't live there. And some great growers just won't grow big in those beeds, but will in other beds I have. I am still working on what will thrive there. Foxgloves did wonderful there, as does catmint, columbine, blue flax, and evening primrose. Others I had to move.
Unfortunately this is right up by the front of my property where I want big showy plants, I'm still looking for that stunning traffic stopper that can live there.

Thanks for your warnings. To be safe, I will ditch the Walnut and Pecan hulls. I was saving the intact Walnut half shells for a friend to do crafts with her kids. (They make ornaments and fairy houses with them.) I only used nuts for three soda bottles, so far. One was apple seeds, two clematis (clematis is on the immune list). I have some stones from under the eaves soaking in bleach/water to use for drainage. I will use the nuts for plants on the immune lists, just in case.

I am glad that the walnut trees are on the north side of the building, over 60' away from my southern garden. They are messy trees and the nuts attract rodents. I am really vigilant about removing all nuts, leaves,twigs. Squirrels even "plant" the darn things. A couple of years ago, it sounded like someone playing billiards in the wall! Squirrels with nuts. Luckily I had bf with cigar and neighbor with air pistol. (The squirrels smelled smoke, ran out, fixed hole, no more noise!). I hate cigarette/cigar/pipe smoke, but hate indoor rodents more.

I am glad to hear that foxgloves grow well around your hickory trees. I have hostas and orange ditch lilies by the walnuts. Orange trumpet vines are also climbing up the trees. I tried transplanting some pachysandra and tiger lilies last summer. They are fine, so far. I am going to add some orange zinnias and black hollyhocks from seed in the spring (assuming the seeds germinate). I decided that my patio garden will be a tiger garden-orange flowers and hosta foilage.

Maybe you can get clematis growing on your trees to "stop traffic." The genus is listed on several "immune to juglone" lists including the link above.

One of DG's senior members wrote a very informative article on living and gardening with and around a walnut tree - Darius - http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1186/ . There's a great list in there of which plants might do better than others beneath or near a walnut tree.

I strongly recommend checking out her other articles here - http://davesgarden.com/members/Darius/ .