Spring Plant Swap 2014 in Lucketts, VA

Gita, I got a hold of a wholesale price list, this year Mix F-15 is $31.06. Canadian peat is at a premium of late.

Ric: What is the deadline for our decisions on the Pro-Mix?

I would say the 10th of Feb. for the seed swap.I'll probably have more info on what is available by then and post it on my thread.

Ok, that's great to have a bit of time to figure out my needs! Thank you for doing this!

Ric--bugging you again....

If I can get the Faffard Planting Mix F-15 (what does that mean??) for $18.99
would something you are getting be better? All the different types of Mix?
Are there different content--additives--texture?

G.

Switching topics for a moment from potting mix to gardening gloves... I don't really like gloves, but I have to wear them now to protect my left hand. The only glove I've been able to stand wearing are the Atlas 370 garden gloves... these are the ones I've offered at discount prices before, with the nitrile-coated fingers/palms. The backs of the gloves and the wrists are stretchy, breathable, quick-drying material. You can put them in the washer & dryer or wash while wearing by rubbing hands together under running water.

I haven't seen them locally under $6. I'm ordering some through a group buy hosted by my friend Sandy (ILoveJesus99) Price is $2.20 plus shipping to me, which I anticipate will be no more than $1 per pair and probably much less, so altogether the price will be no more than $3.25. I'll have the exact price after they ship.

You can get any available size or color. XS only comes in purple, and XL only comes in black.

You can also get the thermal version, a soft knit material with a cottony feel that has similarly coated fingers & palms. They are wonderful for planting bulbs in chilly fall weather! They come in sizes S, M, L, or XL (no XS).

The manufacturer's unisex sizing chart is here: http://www.showagloves.com/assets/files/Globus%20Hand%20Size%20Chart.pdf I have "average" women's hands, I think, and I take a Medium.

If you're interested, Dmail me and tell me number of pairs, which size, and color preference.

edited to add, this group buy is closing Feb. 8, so let me know asap! I'll have them for you at the spring swap (sooner if you live nearby), and you can pay me when you pick them up unless you want a whole bunch of them.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2014 11:34 PM

This message was edited Jan 28, 2014 12:07 AM

I buy a dozen every so often, and currently I don't need any. But I wanted to chime in that these are great gloves. They last a long time, even with tough use, and they machine wash well (I usually use cold and don't put them in the dryer, but sometimes I forget and use warm and sometimes I do dry them). There's always a big stack by the washing machine. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever had a throw a pair away -- I just assumed I would because I'm so rough on them. I use them every time I work in the yard without fail because I have messed up my fingernails and I don't want them to get any worse. The gloves fit really snugly -- you soon forget you are wearing gloves.

I use size medium as well. My husband loves them too -- his are black -- I can't remember if he got large or extra large. http://www.palmflex.com/atlas-370-garden-club-gloves-in-6-assorted-colors-dozen.html and http://www.palmflex.com/atlas-370-palmtech-gloves-black.html I think ours were about $3.50 a pair, everything included; Critter's price is really good.

I don't have the thermal ones, but even in 32 degree weather the regular ones are warm enough for me. I prefer them thin to thick. But Critter, do you have the link to these? I'm curious....

[Critter -- your link didn't work - I think you need to delete the period from the end of it.]

Fixed the link, I think. Thanks

You should be able to find all the gloves on the showa site:
http://www.showabestgloves.com/

The thermal ones are described here: http://www.showabestgloves.com/showa-451-thermo?gi=14gg2p9cbenp73vunhlvsk0ur3#.Uuc6_bROnIU

Those look like really excellent gloves, and even though I have a handful of different pairs (of different types -- leather, bamboo, etc), I thought "Oooh, I want some of those!!". However, when I put my hand up to the sizing chart thingie... well... my hand isn't big enough to fit ANY of the sizes, it falls waaayyyy left of the "small" marked on the chart. Sadly, I'll have to pass on this generous offer, thank you Critter. (nothing worse than trying to garden with floppy clown-fingers!)

Speedie, Not too sure about that hand sizing thingie. When I put my hand up to it I was waaayyyy left of the "Small" mark, too. I get these gloves all the time and wear a Medium glove. Laid on a ruler my hand is 4 inches across and that includes the thumb, 3 1/2 not including the thumb measured just above the thumb joint, and 7 1/2 inches long from the bend in the wrist to the tip of my longest finger.
These are the best gloves I have ever used and I wear them all the time.

I got 3 pairs of these goat skin leather gloves at Target a few weeks ago:
http://www.target.com/p/smith-hawken-153-gardening-glove-green/-/A-14602484#prodSlot=medium_1_1

THREE dollars a pair. If there had been 10 more pairs, I would have gotten all of them. They fit my small hands like.... well, you know. ;)

I'll bring a pair for the door prize table, if I am able to make the swap. If I'm unable to make it to the swap, I'll send them along anyway with someone.

yeah, don't hold your hand up to that chart, even if you print it out... look at the measurements in the little chart at the top

Greetings to all - First off, thank you Coleup for always thinking of me and going out of your way to make sure I am updated on any worthy news.....really appreciate knowing about the Spring Swap and will surely do my best to get there.

Other than tending my giant collection of houseplants, gardening has been put on the back burner for some time now with both John and myself.......Being almost a year later since starting to plan for opening a Resale Store of our own, it is finally coming to fruition. We signed a year's lease on a property in our small town at a busy shopping center. Our space is not very large, but who knows.....it may turn out doing well enough for us to move to larger quarters in the future.

I have a man with a true addiction on his hands......He caught the estate auction bug bad and some weeks attends three auctions......He has kept me busy at home cleaning and doing minor repairs on some of the pieces he purchases. I have been really scarce in these parts.....Dave's Garden that is.....and miss being in regular contact with many of you. Please know though that a day doesn't pass without me thinking of several of you. I cannot walk by many places in my home and not be reminded of house plants given to me by many of you.

I am thrilled too that Aspenhill is once again hosting the swap.....what a grand place she lives. What a wonderfully sweet and caring woman she is. So glad she found us here at Dave's and learned to love this group as much as many of us love it.

I haven't given it too much thought at the present but am sure that I will be selling at least few different houseplants in my store. I still have the windows of our local pharmacy displayed with eight or ten plants at any given time.....it still thrills me to sell a plant that I had a part in potting and growing.

Thankfully haven't lost too many houseplants this winter. It takes a lot of time keeping them watered and I have a lot of maintenance to do on some of them later on. What will happen outdoors gardening wise this spring and summer remains to be seen.....I do know that even if we don't have the time to devote to obtaining new things, we will have a some super lovely shows once warm weather arrives due to past gardening efforts.

Will close with hoping that all readers are doing well and are really excited about the swap on May 31. I really hope that we will be able to attend and renew our friendships with so many of you folks that I love and admire. For now.....be good all and take good care.

Ruby

Hi Ruby, good to hear from you! It'd be so good to see you at Aspen's!

Ruby- hugs and handskes from me and Mark to you both!!

Hi Ruby! We'll see you @ Aspen's too. And we'll be doing those weekly trips to Central Va probably starting in April.. Missed you, gal. Judy
Now Bobbin tells me we're not going down til May. Owell............

This message was edited Mar 30, 2014 3:57 PM

Thanks Terry, for your notes leading us here. Nobody wanted to bug you, I'm sure!

I'm going to bump this thread back up to the top, just to stir the pot a bit!

Sally---

I am trying to entice Tammy--from HD--a wonderful, knowledgeable gardener
and a wonderful human beaing--to come with me to Terri's Swap.
She wants to--I told her to request off. Also told her to join DG so she can follow up
all the up-coming Threads re the Swap.

Just FYI--in case you will have more than Robin (also coleup--riding with you--
I will follow you in my car with tammy. Tammy and I have identical Subarus.
She can drive back.

Please keep this in mind.....space wise-- in your car.

Thanks, Gita

Gita, I remember us spotting the traveling jungle -- that would be your car -- as we were in all that heavy traffic going to Jan's house well before we realized that was you driving. How neat you may be bringing another garden friend.

Great idea to bump this thread.

I know it wasn't talked about on this thread, but we stopped at Great Falls yesterday and got our senior park pass. Didn't even need to get out of the car.

Lucketts is covered in white again. Sure looking forward to the swap.

Pat--
On my trip to Jan's house---I was hugging the bumper of Paul's car--as he had the directions...
I am a fierce follower when driving--and i also think of the leader--sometimes cutting off
traffic with MY car--so the leader can get back in the lane where I am. And--vice verse.
It is truly a cooperative effort to lead and to follow someone on a trip.

I always think I will NOT have all that much to share--and then end up with a full car...

Mind you--I seldom bring anything home from swaps...I just try to get rid of what I have.
IF I had a bigger garden--I would LOVE to grow something new--but that is not
a possibility most of the time.

Then--I must tell you--that i am NOT INTO this plant or that--or some "must haves'--
I have plenty that just come up and some that i grow from seed. My garden is seldom "bare'.....

I do not BUY plants on-line and I DO NOT like these big Group Buys...as one can easily get carried away and then never have time to plant what they acquired. Not naming names here...
And--it can be made very tempting to participate. Have to use my digression here.

Normally--I can safely say that i am NOT a "GROUPIE".....

Come on SPRING!!! Gita

I can't figure out the "quote" feature codes (how DO you do that?), so I'll just "quote" manually what ecnalg said:
"Lucketts is covered in white again. Sure looking forward to the swap"

I sure hope this snow we've been experiencing in Lucketts is a distant memory come May 31st! I'm looking forward to sprucing up around here and having everyone over. I can honestly say that it was one of the happiest days of my life when I hosted in 2011.

Woohoo!!!!!

Thanks Holly - I always wondered how that was done.

I'm looking forward to our divvy-up party next week at SSG's -- lots of plants to sort out from all those North Creek flats, plus I'll have the ADR plants there also. Any plants that can't be picked up then we'll try to get in the right hands asap... holding until spring swap will be a last resort, in part because of the extra care required to up-pot plugs and bare root plants.

I've been doing a little pruning, and I'm sticking cuttings as I go. I just stuck a bunch of Moutauk Daisy pieces, and Martina took charge of a couple dozen crooked willow cuttings. I even potted some little branches pruned for the lower trunk of my new Japanese Snowbell... you never know what will root! I've had reasonable luck with butterfly bush prunings in the past but only when they are starting to show a little green on their buds.

Aspen, thanks so much for hosting this! I'm planning to come.

Yay Muddy!

Great Muddy, I added you to the list of people planning to come at the top of the thread.

so glad you'll be there, Muddy! :-)

Aspen, not sure if you need to know or not but I'm planning on bringing my wife as well.

Terri--

I will be bringing a woman I work with at HD also. -her name is Tammy
She is an avid gardener---a very down-to-Earth person
and an amazingly hard-working person.

She may not have much to bring--and i told her that's OK.
Just come and meet this bunch....Have a good time...
Tying to get her to join DG--she is not sure about having the extra $20.

If that is all it takes....I will pay for her membership....

How would that work???? She does not have a DG "user name"--?????

We will be riding down with Sally and Robin. G.

Sounds great Seq and Gita. The more the merrier. Seq, what is your wife's name so I can add it to the list?

Her name is Darcy.

I won't be bringing any plants to 'swap' so to speak. I just want to come to meet everyone and have a good time. I hope that's ok.

Seq, I usually don't have much to offer at swaps, either, partly because I'm a new gardener and also because I'm very good at killing plants. I usually go home with my car full of plants but I'm determined to exercise more self control this year. :)

Haha...thanks. I am more interested in building up my collection and tending to that rather than trying to grow and tend things to swap with others. Pretty selfish, I know but I figure once I've got all my things established and looking nice, then I'll be bored and start making plants to swap. I used to garden when I was a child/teen at my parents' house but had a long hiatus during college and when living on my own. I got back into it spring of '10 so I'm relatively new too.

Sequoia: A lot of the plants that we swap are plants that are growing fast and so we literally have extras -- better to swap them than toss them. (And then sometimes we do offer special plants when we can.) And we don't really swap, per se; most of us just make available whatever extras we have. But I'm with you - I may not do much if any swapping at Aspenhill's swap because (as it happens) my plate has been rather full this spring.

Yeah I'll take free plants if someone just wants to get rid of them, but I don't have any plants to 'swap' in return...LOL I never turn down pretty free plants!

DG also has a $5 subscription option (2 months, more than long enough to keep up with swap chatter and explore a few of the forums).

MAD FOR GLADS?

Check out the ADR group buy thread. Due to a shipping mishap, we have some additional ten-packs of gladiolus corms available for $1 each. That's half off the wholesale cost, translating to 80% or more off retail. !