Why don't we do some "mixed seed trades"

here is my spot where these seeds will go.. spot 1 that needs seeds, I have not put soil in there yet, but will at the end of the month and get it ready. this bed is about 40 feet long, the front of the bed has daylilies, iris, tulips, daffs, varigated grasses, ditch lillies, and some poppies that look like they germinated. Towards the end is where the seeds will go. We have about 5 areas that need flowers. I ordered some more seeds yesterday, and I have about 8 flats of seedlings to fill pots and bare spaces.

spot two, already has seeds in there from a couple of weeks ago, and some have sprouted, I think they might be marigolds.. don't know for sure

here's a long view of the first bed.. my angel broke her wing and I have to glue that on..

Do you guys see something in this photo? A teapot shaped around the tree on the ground made of flagston, we had to think of something because the tree roots were above ground and what we had done was just put sand and gravel on and around the roots, then put the flagstone over that.. That way the roots would have room to expand/grow, the round part is set in concrete though.

wow! I love the flagstone patio Gourd! We are deciding between decking or flagstone, seems flagstone would be less upkeep and I love the look of it. right now we just have base rock and weeds :) yours is gorgeous, thanks for sharing!

Thank you oneanjl... we also did want a deck but decided to make a step up on one of the patio areas. if you go down to the bottom of this page, and click on the words
Landscaping.com (lots of people have flagstone work there and good ideas) then click on photos and hit view all, there you will see some of the photos i posted at the beginning of the flagstone work. I drew some lizards on carboards and traced them onto the big sheets of flagstone, the men cut them out for me, also, have some pots, peach, pear, chii and other indian pots that were cut out for me.. be sure to think about that before the work starts, it doesn't take them long to cut it if you know what you want and have it ready, otherwise, the work will go too fast and you will miss out on some easy designs that could cost lots of $$, if you just be ready for them..lol.

Here is a chili they put going into the garden area

Gourd, I want that for mine please, just take it up and ship it out. That won't be too much trouble!!!lol

I have the envelope ready and have put in two packets of seeds. In one packet I have some mixed ornamental gourds from the grocery store that I saved seed from and in the other the contents of a tube of purchased wildflower seeds from Wal-mart. I have not really saved seed before so do not have much, but will share what I do have.

This message was edited Feb 24, 2008 7:52 PM

A - Your flagstone patio and decking is fabulous! WOW! Seriously it's beautiful! The flowers will be honored to bloom in your garden areas! And I hope you get lots of butterflies and hummers!

This thread will be closed soon, so anyone lurking out there and thinking about joining ... I would encourage you to jump on in here! The more the merrier ... and the bigger the selection of possibilities!

This is true, come on out from the shadows and join in!!!

Thank you Becky, and everyone.. it has been one long year for us..

I am so ready for spring. Then this coming month I'll start the MGs.. so far I think they will all go in pots under an awning..

Lookie here ... these are flu's for fireplaces, DH just buried them half way and finished this weekend.. these are going to be the Herb planters.. one on each side of the rock benches... got this idea from the Herb forum last year.. I love them, but they are sooo heavy, they will stay there for ever..lol

ignore the buckets, in about another year, we should have most things pretty well completed. That entrance there, dh knocked a hole in the wall coming from the other side of the fence from the house and we made raised veggie beds, then we had a step put in. The chili is on the other side coming into this section. Can you guys see my onions?

That is so perfect for where you live. I love it. I want to live there I'm tired of pine trees

Thank you.. we have a couple of what they call summer pines here, and I love it when the wind hits the tops, it feels like if we are in a forest. they are about 40 or 50 feet tall, we only have 5 of them lining part of the property and they really serve us as a wind break. I love pine trees ... send em on down..

Well, how time consuming can it be to dump some extra seeds in a baggie? We have to go by the post office later today anyway, so I think I can count this as a non-detour on my way to doin' sumpin' I'm s'posed to be doin' - lol If it's not too late, may I join?

I don't have large spots in my garden looking for random sowings, but a favorite thing DH and I love to do is walk on trails through local meadows and woods. I can think of oodles of sunny meadows where a scattering and a furrowing done sequentially about 4 weeks before last frost, date of last frost and maybe 2 weeks after last frost would create excellent bird, butterfly, you-name-it food. And! I'll get a very good idea which ones can best survive deer munchings. Plus, my craving for meadow flowers is monstrous.

After this swap, what would y'all think about doing mixed swaps like this by color? We could do black, crimson, scarlet, purple, blue, yellow, white, green - did I leave any out? And then there's short stuff, tall stuff - what else? I would definitely love to do something like this after I have seed to harvest later this summer.

Waving to old friends, thank you to Lorraine and Weez, and hello to one's I've not met before -

karen

ps - Gourd I have your seeds ready - have a couple more details to tend to before letting you have them, which I'm extremely anxious to do since other todo's are hung up on my finally mailing off all these envies - y'all aren't the only certifiable ones around here - lol

Hi Karen,
Welcome... it is going to be a nice swap with lots of surprises.

At the end of the season Swap sounds good to me.. I've ordered several other seeds that are not here yet.. but, hopefully I'll have time to start them inside.. alot of mine are perennials so I'm hoping they bloom this year too.

I know what you mean about getting busy, that seems to be the word around here too. Lots of preparations for Spring here. You would think we have a farm or something. I've started several cups of herbs and all have germinated but the parsley, I don't know why.. even the catnip germinated with about 10 types of basils. I'm just waiting for the day I can sit down and have some iced tea somewhere in this yard. lol

Hey blue, come on in. I guess great mind work together!! I thought about the color thing. Would we do it monocramatic or a few diff colors?
I love the idea. Even could be a pattern if we could find one. Talked to a girl the other day that was doing a godfish one. Maybe someone on here is creative.
If we do it, did you want to handle it? I will, but would be happy gor you too. This is one that is no trouble. Just get the seeds, mix them all up, send out the packs

Thanks, A. and Lorraine - my baggy of seeds (a little under 2 cups from my garden - 1/2 cup of 10 kinds of flowers and ~1 1/2 cups of an 11th kind) is ready & will send it out in the morning - hopefully along with the rest of envies that I need to get out of the way yesterday, too.

Lorraine, along the lines of Checkhov's Cherry Orchard, can't you just imagine sowing these seeds in an old orchard? There's a very old, abandoned apple orchard along one of our walks on a sloping hill over a river where Salvia lyrata already grows wild, and mint by a creek nearby. If this works, we'll have a setting for a 19th century novel.

Who says you're not creative? This is a great idea you've come up with - I hope we do this again. As for doing this by color - I'd also love for you to lead it, because I have an awful tendency to complicate things beyond commonsense simplicity - there's probably a zillion variations percolating in our unconsciousness right now.

A few years ago, you could buy an artist's kit called something like Monet's seeds. It had little *paint* cups inside filled with seeds - each color had separate cups for low, medium and tall. How'd you like to do something like that? Speaking for myself, next February would be perfect timing for it - seeds that were stored in paper bags will have gotten nice and crispy and will easily fall out of their pods.

Gourd, I have a 1978 edition of Park's Success with Seeds which suggests soaking parsley seed for 24 hours in warm water and then germinating it in the dark, which takes about 14 - 21 days. It can be sown outdoors in early fall in warm climates or 2 weeks before frost farther north. Indoors, it recommends sowing 8 weeks before last Spring frost and keeping the medium around 70 - 75*F.

Personally, I either sow the seed 2 weeks before frost, or buy a pot with a clump of seedlings which I float in water until the roots easily float apart and plant immediately. Some years I've lugged a wash basin up the hill, filled it with water from the hose, and "floated" roots apart of daylilies - works for all kinds of plants.

A. - I feel the same way about pines - there is nothing like a deep pine woods towering over you in August - replete with the swoop & hoot of an owl. Congratulations on making such romantic courtyards of stone - looks like the hub-bub of our mixed surprise seeds will make just the right counterpoint.

Karen,
What a great idea to float plants, I would of never thought of it!! And boy, could I use it too, I've purchased two containers of Lemon Thyme and there seems to be a couple of plant in each one, so I'm going to try that. I'm going to look for mints now, I have a perfect container to retain the roots on some.

Thanks for the tip on parsley, it was under lights with all the rest, no wonder it did not germinate, I'll go take it out and get it some darkness..

Today, even though it was windy here, I sat in a portable rocker outside near the door, it was so nice, but I was ready to run in if I had to..lol

I can picture your apple orchard... how wonderful.

A.

cups and cups of seeds?! Uh oh, my contribution is going to be wimpy looking! sorry all! hope I sent a big enough envelope :o)

Me too! I sent about twice what is in a regular pack of seeds. I feel bad now :(

Germinating Parsley is why I now grow - Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/839/

Looks, smells, and mostly tastes like parsley. It takes the place of parsley till my crop of parsley gets big enough to use for anything. I've enclosed some of the seeds along in the "Mixed Seeds Trade." Oh the fact that it germinates fast it a joy too; good to start seeds in the cold weather. Just don't ever try to transplant it! It resents it.

~* Robin

PS: Did you order any of the seeds Antoinette??

This message was edited Feb 25, 2008 10:10 PM

Robin,

Sure did, ordered 8 kinds and at least Ounce size of each and some 1/4 lbs.. CA poppy, coreopsis radiata Mix, dwarf red plains coreopsis, golden wave coreopsis, plains coreopsis, scarlet flax, Texas Blluebonnet 1/4 lb of this, Blue Flax.. you enabler ...lol.. thank you for the wildseed farms. I had also ordered from another company lots of different coneflower seeds. I sure hope they all get here in a week or so.

Good to know about Chervil. I've not tried it.

Hey Guys, I sent in a couple of cups also, so there will be plenty... except my burrow must be slower than usual.. maybe they will get there tomorrow.

lorraine, will you be updating the list to let us know when you receive our seeds? Just curious....

Yes, she said in one of the posts above that she would update it when they arrived in case anyone worried about them getting there.

Thanks Gourd, can you send me the link on how to do those leaf stepping stones that you have. I've looked all over and cant find it! lol!

Don't worry about how much you send. I've got 2 or 3 cups and some are going to send more and some less. This is our "figure" out thread!!!
Blue is right, we out to come up with some other things to do. It would be a lot of fun to do something diff every couple months. Come on now, get to thinkin'
You know if you recognize the seeds, you could pick out some of them to go somewhere else. You know, sit in the middle of the floor about 4 hours separating seeds . I can see it now .
Blue, I love thinking about the orchard, that will be so cool. Maybe a couple of those wooden chairs sitting out there so you can go and sit and while away the hours. (yeah, I know, no one has time to While, lol

I like the idea of a color trade... that sounds like fun! maybe a red/white and blue trade for 4th of july?

Oooh, that would be fun!

See, there you go, wouldn't have thought of that!! I love it, how bout the rest of you?

oneanjil,

go to this forum, Hypertufa and Concrete forum, there are sooo many recipes there and you will see the rest of the leaves too.. I'll post photos tomorrow.. I should be asleep right now..lol.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/hypertufa/all/

I have to warn you, if you go to this forum or the Trash to Treasure forum, we may never see or hear from you agian..lol.. they are addicting.

lol! I've been to the trash and treasure forum, had to leave cause I have lots of trash here that I want to get RID of, and they got me thinking maybe I should continue to store it for some other project...and...and... so I banned myself from visiting that forum til my yards cleaned up :).
I have the garbage men coming out next week to haul away all my stored treasure/trash LOL!
will check on the concrete forum though, we have lots of concrete stuff to do


I really think a red/white and blue seed trading would be fun. Even if its only a few of us.
we can keep the flowers small (6-12 inches) and maybe plant them in pots or planters? I have a bunch of planters in the front yard that will need some summer flowers .......anyone else game?
should we start a new thread? I think if we do the seed trading now, we can get the seeds sown in time for 4th of july blooms?

I'm in for the red white and blue trade! We need to get going soon though. I think making it a container garden would be a good idea. I don't have too much room to spare ; )

Does this sound ok. You would package blue seeds in one pack, red in one and white in another. Should each color be mixed , as in blue being a blue mix and so on.

Do you want the seed to come here again, or would you rather we take turns doing them. Should we dump all the blue ones together, all the red and all the white, then fix everyones bags?
If we're going to stay with the same format, Mixed seed. Or do you want to just mix ALL the seeds together and then make up one bag for each member? That might be the best surprise.
Just let me know how you'd like to do it and if you want me too, I'll get it posted. I really am serious about if one of you would like to do this one, my feelings are not going to be hurt. We all want to have a good time.
If we do containers, remember our before and after. I want to get some old rusted thing.

I love the old rusted thing idea too! Ive got plenty of old rusted stuff laying in my yard, just might use that wheelbarrow with the flat tire that DH still hasnt repaired!

Why dont we make it a swap? that way you dont have to do as much work? we can do a secret buddy, etc...
each person sends seeds that are red/white/and blue to their buddy....
or however you all want to do it is fine with me, I just thought it would be a fun before and after pix. We would need to do it soon, so they can bloom in time...

my take on this is : send them all to Lorraine, colors in separate packs, she can mix them there with the other reds or with the color they belong and send us a mix back I don't even care if they are all mixed together. This fall, I'm sure I'll collect some and keep some separate just to have.

We will get more of a variety back to us that way. I will only have red and blue when my seeds arrive (and only one type of red, and two types of blues). I've gotten either sowed almost all my seeds or given it away.

We left two rusty wheelbarrows behind in CA when we moved, one was one of those old cement bucket types very heavy, and a smaller one.. they looked great with different flowers in there. I've got to find some old ones again. I've got two concrete box looking flower containers that I can use too.

I likeGourd idea because that way those that don't have many of one color and someone else has a lot, we'll be sire that everyone gets plenty. We can mix all the red all the blue, and all the white. Then take from each mix and send it back.
If you'd rather do a swap, let me know. I just know on a one on one you may get lots of one color, etc, etc. The other way, I can make sure everyone gets same amount. There will be plenty of each color that way. Like, I have lots of blue and white, but not many red and I'm sure it's the other way with others.
Those of you who are in this trade gets to decide, so let's hear it.
We do need to get it going, so we can at least get them planted by May or before?

Do you all realize we are nuts!!!! Oh well, we could be out doing lots of other things, I've forgotten what those things are, but I know they are out there.

Someone come up with a new name for the July 4. Maybe another in Sep. or Oct.

The Independent Garden

A Patriotic Garden

A Flagging Tribute

Hooray for the USA

Hooray for the Red, White & Blue

I will not participate in the Red, White & Blue trade because I already purchased the 'Verbena Patriotic Collection' from Park's Seeds. http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=90074&PrevMainPage=textsearchresults&scChannel=Text%20Search&SearchText=Verbena%20Patriotic&OfferCode=V1H

~* Robin

Hey, I like all those. Sorry you won't be with us in the July one. You are one of the crazies. At least you can come on the thread and chat. Also send a picture.

Forgot, does the pkg. you got say what's in there. Just would like to know some so I can thinking of what I have.
I have a blue mix, but there's not enough

Got seeds from Weedsfree , Gourd, and Lavenderforever.

We are going to have so many seeds. Yah hoo.