Seed trade problems

I guess, I would be happy with just that info. The other info's nice but I wouldn't expect it. I mean like most of the seeds I have from trades only have common names. I check them up, there's different plants that have that common name, then no name on who it's from so I can ask. And forget harvest year, hardly anyone puts that one on. When it doesn't come up, I'm wondering if it was my germination method (probably since I'm a newbie) or the seeds were old. So, those basic info would be oh so nice if it was written.. Those should be minimum info on there. More info, fine but need at least that info..

I'm with Icosden - simple basics are great.

I take you guys are mostly trading flowers, then? Cause that date is important with your trading heirloom veggies, which is one my deals.

I like having the year as well - and if the seeds are my own or from a commercial source I lable the packages. When the source is from a trade, I try to remember to write that as well.


One thing I want to mention is that I am not interested in getting 10 seed packages back in return to 10 I send in. I just want others to have an opportunity to grow stuff they might fancy - if I get some seeds back that is great - but I have a small bar fridge filled with seeds that I am unlikely to sow more than a few of each type.

I am very happy to take 12-15 seeds and pass on the remainder - not as a "full trade" - but as a chance for someone else. How do others feel about this?

I do mostly edibles but I have some flowers too. I get the same lack of info on my edibles.. All I'm asking for is the basic info.. Cuz I can't figure out why my seeds didn't come up. Did I get old seeds or was I using instructions for another cultivar or was I just a dork that can't germinate stuff.. The basic info, I think I'd be able to figure that out..

Seandor, I completely agree.. I just label those as a small trade. I usually trade 20-25 seed per trade but in certain cases, I do "small" trades that's 5-10 and I call them small trades. I also do large trades where I just dump some seeds probably around 50+ cuz those are harvested and I have a ton.. I've had people tell me only 5 seeds. Then I do 5-10 seeds.. But small trades are perfectly fine for me. :)

This message was edited Jan 2, 2008 7:59 PM

English Daisy
Bellis perennis
2007
Robynznest

I take this is what you want on the packs

I think that's wonderful and I've done several trades where the trader just wanted me to "pay it forward". I think it's a good thing to mention these kind of things when you're setting up your trade. That way the person who is inquiring clearly understands your needs. Hopefully it will make trading more pleasant for both parties and fewer "ugly" surprises. LOL

Robyn,

I like height and color. If I have 300 milk jugs and 30 flats, I am planting like a crazy person and if I don't have the height right on the tag, I usually guess instead of tracking mud through the house to get to the computer. Last year I put short stuff in the back and tall stuff in front because I sowed o many things I had never seen before (or ever heard of!!!). Now, Hollyhocks are tall, except when they aren't, same with marigolds. Who knew there were 48" marigolds??? :))) and I've never grown English Daisy I have no idea how tall it is! Can you tell I had a lot of mistakes in my flower beds last year? In some places it was so bad I couldn't take a photo -- too embarrassed to post it, anyway!

The color is important to me-- pale pink vs vivid or dark pink. They go in 2 different places here. I'm not saying I'm expecting that, but it would be really nice! If you were in the fresh seed swap in the CG forum, I did require height and color be put on the packs, but those were fresh seeds that presumably everybody either grew themselves or snatched, so they should know the color and the height of the darn things. Even on a mix (getting back to the English Daisies) it would be nice if a person wrote down (pale pink and white mix) or on Hollyhocks: "Mix of Burgundy, pale yellow and white singles." It lets you know whether to pass the seeds along or sow them.

That's my 2c...things that should be required VS things that would be nice to know. Will be inetresting to see what others have to say.

Suzy

VS things?

Robynznest, you have no idea how that would make my day.. I have 5 packets of daisies here that people sent me. Tall, short, double, and one labelled white daisy. I just want a latin name too please.. That would help so much.. Or even your name so I can dmail and ask.. **sigh**

Doccat5, I agree that would be nice to know. I have to say, that even when it's stated, sometimes I ask again just to make sure..

oh, sorry, VS = versus.

In this case, mandatory "as compared to" optional, but nice.

Suzy

Thank you Suzy, that is one of the points I've been trying to make.

Obviously, there are going to be those who do not want to help their fellow gardener along and those who do. People you do what you gotta do. If you don't want to write anything more than what I posted a few minutes ago. That is your choice. Again, you do what you gotta do. However, we are going to try and guide the rest to a new way.

I think it should have a little more on it. I do understand Robbi's point, my God girl it would drive me crazy. But you usually put the right info on your enves, others don't. If I get dazzler I know just what I'm getting. I am tired of getting the ones that say Daisy and nothing else.

BTW if you go to plant files and search those English Daisies Bellis perennis please tell me which ones I was refering to.

lcosden, please go to this thread http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/801720/ and delete your posts. Xeramtheum is not a happy camper.

There is another thing to consider here, not everyone has total internet connection. Or they go to the library to look things up. Not everybody can afford it. We have to think of these people who can't just run into the computer and search plant files. They may be too embarrased to say they can't afford it right now.

Opps doccat5, guess we did kinda hijack Xeramtheum's thread there.. I deleted it there.. I see other did too.. Opps..

I guess I always check the info regardless of what's written so it doesn't matter if the optional info is there or not for me. And the fact that my yard is less than 1/4 of an acre so the info isn't a biggie for me. The other info, I can't find no matter how hard I try is a bit hard for me. If people request that info, I'll put it but otherwise, I'm thinking of what I want on the baggie from other people not about the other info that I would add on..

That's a good point Robynznest.. Never thought about that.. Those people would have trouble getting info on what they got..

This message was edited Jan 2, 2008 8:56 PM

Illoquin - are you mad???? 300 milk jugs AND 30 flats - wow . . . well, I feel totally intimidated now!

And you want MORE seeds? Maybe if we don't give you any more seeds, you won't have to work sooooo hard lol.

LOL Seandor, confess and you get cut off.. LOL.. Guess I don't have that problem.. I don't have much garden space so even if I did that, there's no room in my yard..

I think Illoquin must live in a magic garden that just keeps expanding as she plants new flowers. :-)

Naw, that's a respectable start, she'll be busier than a one armed paper hanger to get them in though. Which is why you do your soil prep in the fall and winter if you can.
Illoquin how much square foot are you planting for? Are those mainly flowers or veggies or both?

Didn't you ever wonder why I like annuals so much? Every year it's a totally different place here because I start from scratch! I got rid of nearly all my perennials about 3 years ago (but naturally with all the seeds, I'm adding some back). I think I bought Autumn Joy Sedum when it was brand new, so these were OLD plants in varieties which have been superceded many times over! :)) And in case you were wondering, I pull everything I don't love, and anything I don't want to wreck my seed strains.

My sister actually comes over and looks over the blooming flowers and tells me what she'll "have" (as cut flower bouquets) ...I'll have some of those and some of those, and oh, I wish these were just a little BLUER, they would look so good in my kitchen. Oh, well, == insert huge sigh over my total ignorance of her kitchen colors. LOL! Then she comes over to pick flowers for a customer who is going out of busines.... uh, hello? Go buy your own flowers, and give flowers to the buying customers, not the ones going out of business! LOL!

Meanwhle, the other sister wanted a cottage-y cutting garden, ala Van Gogh, so I start planting one with some extra seedlings, and I run into a huge 48" square concrete slab in her garden bed. It seems they got a new airconditioner and the guys just left the old leveling slab there (with my sister's ok) and she just covered it all over with mulch and thought I could put in a cutting garden right over it!

30 flats is not that much in terms of coverage, but in terms of planting out, I will have to say it's a nightmare. The jugs of traded seed taught me a lot...not all collected seed is viable seed (or seed at all). I only had 200 germinate, and while I'm willing to accept some blame on some of the jugs, I would still say 80 of them just were bad or old seed.

Doc, All flowers, except for cabbage and tomatoes, parsley, basil and fennel that I grow for the butterfly caterpillars...so if I see a seed pack that says "Cabbage" I am good to go -- don't need the days to maturation, or the name of the variety because the Sulphus don't care!LOL! I have one very long bed, one sort of Island bed and across the back of the house, and along the driveway. And a shade bed. I don't know any of the dimensions, but I always have bare space somewhere (which I am trying to cover up) Yes, I literally missed the month of May lastt year becauseof planting out, but this year I have a different plan...direct sowing! (It might backfire, so I ma not extolling the virtues, just coming up with a plan B that doesn't require transplanting.

Suzy

Suzy, that's fascinating. I do a lot of direct sowing, mainly veggie, but I'm building several new beds just for flowers this year. I like the cottage garden look. And I've been paying attention to a lot of the "experts" as to good choices for both perennials and annuals. I too have a somewhat limited budget most of which is going to heirloom veggies. I've wanted to try that for years and do seed saving. So interesting. :)

Wow Susy, I can't imagine doing annuals every year. I have hard enough time trying to keep my perennials going nevermind trying that with annuals every year. That's sound's insanely difficult (at least for me it is). The only annuals I do are edibles and I find that (okay, I've only been gardening less than a year) half the time the season's not long enough for what I'm planting. I'm still trying to figure out when I start sowing seeds and stuff here.. I'm just blown over that you design a new annual garden layout every year..

LOL, Did I say the word 'design' anywhere? When I was taking the plants into the GC meetings and so forh, I told them about my plan, but all anybody said was, "You're getting rid of all your perennials????". No one told me how hard it wouldbe to lay out all the annuals and I didn't think of it until they all strated sprouting and growing and I thought, d-uh. But it's like child birth...I really can't remember the pain, the time, the sheer enormity of it, just that it was so pretty and bloomed all summer and I still didn't have enough plants for full coverage!

Doccat -- If you want, dmail me your address and I'll get you some seeds that are leftovers from the wishlist swap in this forum. They will be very common ones, with not so great info on them, but I guarantee you will love them. Seriously. There are some realy nice things that people aren't picking up, probably because they have their heart set of the $5.00 ones from T&M or they already have what I'm offering.

Your job, should you decide to accept it, will be to determine the heights, and colors and cull the ugly ones, or cull the common and save the rare, or whatever, so they don't cross pollinate and come up with some cool strains of seeds so you can write the description on the envies :))

No one wants Yellows, golds, oranges and reds, so they will all be those colors. But with your vegetables, it will look like a catalog cover!

Suzy

LOL.. I've got an empty lot that I'm trying to figure out what to plant.. I can't imagine doing this over and over again. But so far the plants I bought last year, I thought was perennials all but died out.. (Thought stonecrop and hostas were perennials, guess not) I'm hopeing that the daylilies that some people sent me from the DL forum survives. Think I'll need to starting over again this year since the only things I know that survived are the boxwoods and two mockoranges I bought. Hopefully things fare better this up coming year.. I thought it'd be easier if I bought perennials to maintain the garden.. So much for that line of though.. Does the annuals grow faster than perennials?? Is that why you do annuals every year??

Your stonecrop and Hostas died? Was this once it got cold, or last year? Mine look dead right now, but they best come back!

It's like all fallen over and brittle. It looks dead to me. But then it's like in the low singe digits here. Is it suppose to come back? I hope so.. That would be nice. We had some heavy snow and sleet here like 2 weeks ago that might have broken the stem since it's so brittle.. And the hosta.. It's like matted down in ice. I hope those come back. I liked those.. Do you know it comes back or are you hopeing that it comes back??

So funny to see people complaining when I haven't even gotten my trade yet!

I think they are suppose to be hardy to like around 40 below, so they best come back! :)

Illoquin, you're a brave gal. I know what it takes to plan to succession sow and plant. That's a lot of work, but I'll be it is beautiful! I like to mix and match. Just starting to really get into the perennials, so I have more experience with annuals and veggies. Those I always interplant in the garden. Veggies without flowers just doesn't cut it! I love gladiolas
so I plant them here and there in the beds or do rows of them. It's quite stunning. I"m thinking some of these tall perennials that self seed would look good that way too.

lcosden, are you a southerner who lives inthe north by any chance? Nealry everything up here dies in the winter, but I noticed on the butterfly forum (mostly texans and deep southerners) that they are astonished when plants die down for the winter. That's the first thing they get rid of in their gardens. Meanwhile, I am laughing my head off (silently)

Annuals have a whole lot going for them!!! Your vacant lot could be sown with self seeding annuals and you could have traffic accidents in the street from people gawking at the gorgeousness of it all. Yes! They grow a heck of a lot faster than perennials. LOL! The only thing is, the most aggressive self seeders will take over form the smaller, more delicate ones, so you have to either do a lot of deadheading in the hot summer or a lot of onyour knees weeding in the cool sping.

Byndeweed Beth -- Is this thread supposed to be about trades we didn't receive? So sorry if I helped in the hijacking!
Suzy

I think it was about complaints about trades. I was just laughing cause I'm still waiting for my Christmas Mayhem seed trade. I'm not complaining though, I'll be happy with whatever I get whenever!

Okay, okay...I'm going to have to 'up my game'....lol... I think I'm usually generous with my seeds, unless I'm sharing something that I have very few of and that happens when you've just started growing a certain plant. I include a hastily written piece of paper with the botanical name, date collected and my user name.....BUT..today I received seeds from dryad57, neatly typed with common name, latin name, description, growing instructions and user name and date collected. Then I also recived seeds today from bartjestuin in packets printed with a color picture of plant on front and growing instructions on back. I should also mention that both individuals were extremely generous with their seeds and I have been properly put to shame. I always mail my seeds by the next day (and quite often the same day as requested), but I will slow down a bit to add a label as nicely done as the ones that I've received. Need I mention that I requested a certain plant and by the next day 3 people had offered it to me...there's no place like Dave's.
Sherry

You're right, Sherry - DG rocks!

I hope you're right, mistygardener.. :)


LOL Susy, I grew up in CA and lived in a condo in DC for the longest time. So never had a yard til we moved to NY.. I always thought the perennials survive the winter with flying colors.. Kinda like the way the boxwoods look right now.. Like I got two type of blueberry plants. One looks like it's going through the winter fine here (looks like the boxwoods) but the other ones looks like brittle twigs, kinda like the mockoranges (I'm assuming the mockorange is going to make it since it survived last winter).. So I guess I'm still learning about gardening up here in the NE.. Can't say that I'm thrilled.. Most things I want don't survive up here without help.. But hey, I promised DH to move to NY if he stay for me in DC when we met. Can't say I don't keep my word.. :)


This message was edited Jan 3, 2008 7:50 PM

Sherry -- I'm pretty much the same way... generous and speedy... but my "labels" are hand written on paper.... i have to do something much nicer and with more info from now on. Thanks to this thread.

and yeah... Daves is the best.

I've gotten lots of trades with hand written labels and I can genuinely say I was very thankful and appreciative of each and every one!
Some of us have arthritis and some of us can't see so good anymore but none of that really matters. What matters is that we took the time to share what we had with eachother and I am in awe of all the kindness and generosity extended on DG.
It's all a matter of perspective:

What Kind of Day Shall I Choose Today?
Today I can complain about my health,
Or I can celebrate being alive.
Today I can moan that it is raining,
Or be joyful at all that grows from the rain.
Today I can regret all I don't have,
Or rejoice in everything I do.
Today I can mourn everything I have lost,
Or eagerly anticipate what's to come.
Today I can complain that I have to work,
Or celebrate having a job to go to.
Today I can resent the mess the kids make,
Or give thanks that I have a family.
Today I can whine about the housework,
Or celebrate having a home.
Today I can cry over those who don't care for me,
Or be happy loving and being loved by those who do.
I choose to have a good day!

i was sent so many seeds when i joined and many said no more than the name--but i was so happy that someone put them in those little envelopes and had picked them to share --and got them in the mail and sent them !! i understand what i am fine with might be frustrating to someone who does more planning- if i sent seeds mine would have the name and that's all! i think i will just say "name only" when i offer them ---as you can tell i plan to have seeds this summer!! now that my garden is "established" ---

ByndeweedBeth, I heard ya about arthritis. I have carpel tunnel in both hands and my hands were in major pain in the last RR I participated in.. Try to label all the packets were torture on my hands.. I managed to get them out.. But people's asking if I'm participating in the next one. Not sure I can do another one so soon when the pain is still fresh in my mind..

planolinda, it's nice to hear that so many people had great experiences starting out here on DG. I have to admit it kinda makes me sad cuz when I started, I had to basically beg before I found people who were willing to share with me. People kept telling me sorry only for trades. Wish I met the nice people early on.. I have to say, I'm grateful to those people that did trade and share with me eventually. Just wish I met them early on..

I use those lil 2x3 craft-type envelopes

i'm going to try and type up all the details on a piece of paper that will fit in that envie.
only problem is, the text will be small, and some may need their glasses to read it.
maybe font 8 will do.

or do, 4x3 and fold it in half....

I have also considered using the seedpackets
http://davesgarden.com/files/seedpackets/

Icosden, I have also run into people like that - "don't have anything I want, so I am not interested" I just never deal with them again - there are too many great people on DG :-) And I am VERY happy to have my favour passed forward :-)