WOW Lea, Thank you for the great help : ) I don't think I'll need to get any extra leaves from anyone, we get so many here. I only have one maple half in my yard, the rest are oaks and pines. I'm going to have a hard time keeping pine needles out of the leaves, so I'm not worried about the acid from the oaks. There is no way I can fight acid soil here besides adding lime practically every year. 8>O
That's a great point about putting a tarp over to keep weed seeds out. I was thinking about putting a tarp to help keep it hot but I never thought about weed seeds. Extra thanks for that! : )
Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #16
Your welcome Meredith :) Good luck with your pile it's really not that complicated pretty simple really, I keep my bread sacks and put scraps in them then put them in the freezer until I get enough to add them to my pile, my dad uses the coffee bags so I just let them dry out each day then empty them in the bread sacks with the scraps when I do dishes in the evening, I just collect my grounds and put them in the plastic coffee cans cause I use them on my beds plus the compost pile. He doesn't drink my coffee he says it's too strong lol
Nope it dont say on th ebag. I just go out and start sprinkling pellets everywhere making sure I dont get too close to plants stems and then water in good for a coupel of days. Looks really funny, but it works. Soem folks work em in the ground, but I don't.
Have any of your ordered from Value seeds B4?? Or Cheap seeds??
Yep, just got my order the other day. Bad thign is ya need to write down the growing instructions as ya purchase each package cuz once they sellout of them packages the directions aren't available anymore and they dont come on the packages.
ahhh-their seeds were so cheap at value seeds that I was wondering...
Starlight/Fairy, I think if you look at the history page, or one of those, you can get that info. I get it all the time. In fact, there are still seeds in there available that don't show up in the seed list. If there is something I am looking for specifically I will go there and sometimes get it.
Yes Stacy, I have been buying from them for about 3 years and have an order in now for 25 packages and I think my bill was around $20 including shipping. Shipping is $1.99 no matter how many you buy.
I think what the deal is , is that at the end of the season they repackage and sell cheaper. Now someone said they were Thompson and Morgan? Don't know about that, but I buy from them first for a lot of my seed and then finish off with the catalogs.
Jeanette
Lea, your so awesome. After I posted I was wondering to myself "I wonder if anyone has ideas on what to do with the kitchen scraps until they can go in the compost pile?" I didn't even have to ask because you already answered my question! : ) I just dumped some coffee grinds down the disposal because I had no where to put them. I was thinking about ordering one of those counter top compost buckets that are supposed to keep the smell down but they are a bit pricey so I like your ideas much better! : ) Now I just have to get that big plastic container I threw in the recycling bin and use that. Thank you : )
It takes a while to get enough scraps around here with just dad and I, whenever I run out of room in the freezer that's when I do my compost pile lol Well sometimes I take the bags out to thaw and they are up high where the critters can't get them here and I foget them for a couple of days but what the heck they are suppose to rot anyway lol I usually end up with about four bags full depending :)
There is a thread somewhere about the discussion of T&M being Value Seeds, I think they sell their overflow, I've ordered from them for about three years and haven't had any problem with their seeds, but then I don't expect every one to germinate anyway, that's how I end up with so many seedlings lol Seems like when they were talking about it it was sometime in 2006, I tried to do a search on the seed trading forum, that's where I think it was but didn't have any luck, I'm not very good at that though lol
I am looking at about 20 packets for like $20-that is one heck of a deal!!
Good composting ideas, Lea! I've been using plastic cat litter containers to collect kitchen compost. They hold about 4-5 gallons, have a flip top lid that snaps shut (so I don't have to smell it or get the gnats buzzing around), and have a handle to carry it. A friend of mine with a small lot uses them for the composting process since she doesn't have room for a compost pile and doesn't live in a neighborhood that would appreciate such a thing. She has a few of them lined up outside with holes drilled in the bottom. I believe for rotation she pours one into another as it reduces in volume. At one end of the line is fresh compost, and by the time it gets to the last one its about ready to use. She has 14 cats, so having the containers was no problem,LOL.
I can't get those kitty litter containers open after I shut them, my neighbor gets them open for me when I get home with them I go thru quite a few of them too with three cats, I have litter boxes in every flower bed and the house has three, I have carpel tunnel (sp?) in both wrists, I put some compost tea in one of them this summer and it's still in there cause I can't get the lid open lol But that's a great idea too gemini! I'll have to figure out something with those for this winter, I had a lot of scraps back up last winter not being able to get out as much to do the comost pile. I had one that had compost in the bottom and it had leaked last winter when it rained so it had a lot of water in it, I used the compost in that one to plant a morning glory in, when I finally got it open, to see if it would grow and it's beautiful!
14 cats, I'm going nuts with three LOL I can just see me trying to dig holes with 14 cats trying to fill them up as fast as I dig them or do their duty in them to fertilize them for me LOL
I love reading all the compost tips. I started my first pile last winter and "hid" it from view behind the gas tank. It's way too unhandy and way too small so this fall it's getting moved to a bigger, better location.
Now tell me my friends. Is this a dahlia and if so how/where do I find the seeds? I'm drooling over these things. Lusting is maybe a better word.
This message was edited Oct 9, 2008 1:56 PM
Another from the same plant. Aren't they gorgeous?
Sorry, can't help myself. One more.
Love your dahlias La! I grew them for the first time this year, Suzy brought me some bulbs when she came and another friend of mine that I trade with in NY sent me two, I couldn't believe how pretty they were, I love the ones like in your first picture, I think the pods form after the flower dies, I've grown the shorter ones and you just wait for them to turn brown like any other pod, I think the seeds are flat, but I'm wondering for sure too, I'm hoping to get some seeds off of few of mine. I just hope I get some before a frost kills them I may have dead headed them too much, we do wait until frost to dig them up don't we? I have this beautiful pink pointy one that got a bout 5" arou nd that is georgous! And a double red that gets that big too. I have one that just did start blooming, not sure why it took so long but it's violet and white and pointy, very pretty!
I have a question about lily of the valley seeds, should I take the seeds out of the pod before they dry? I didn't get very many forgot about them being there lol Since it takes a while for them to germinate, t hink I read on here they take three years? I would think maybe just leave them in the pod like when they fall on the ground? I've never collected these before :)
Gosh Lea I don't know about the LOV. I think I'll take my dahlia pictures over to the dahlia forum and see what they say. These are plants in a neighbor's yard and I'd sure like to have them in mine!
(spelling)
This message was edited Oct 9, 2008 1:57 PM
La, if you know that neighbor pretty good I bet if you ooo and aw enough she will give you a tubler, the lady in NY started hers in the spring last year from seed and sent me a huge, how do I say this lol There were all kinds of tublers on it anyway, I plan on sharing with a couple of neighbors there were a bunch on it, the whole thing of tublers were as big around as a socker ball, I couldn't believe she sent me the whole thing!
La, I start my short ones from seed, but i have never heard of, or seen seeds for the larger ones. My short ones I start for containers come up just as fast as tubers and have just as big a plant. They make tubers over the summer.
La, I would be very interested if you do find seeds for the big ones. And where did you find them?
Fairy, I googled cheap seeds and looked at a few of the websites and did not find anything better.
Jeanette
I grew some dahlias from seed this year and they weren't big like the ones you see for sale at garden centers. After the flower fades they look like they turn into a bud again. At first glance they look like buds - until they start to turn a little brown. I pulled one off and sorted through it and the seeds are mixed in between the old petals and they are flat and black, in a long skinny teardrop shape. Hope I helped. : )
Speaking of growing dahlias from seed, my new T&M catalog came in the other day, and I was looking at the dahlia seeds. One they have looked interesting called Giant Hybrids Double Mix - here's a link http://www.tmseeds.com/product/1498.html
I got seeds from Dianeseeds last year, they were called double extreme. All the plants were under 18" tall. The flowers were about 3" across. To give an idea of what you are looking at. : )
You know Meredith, I did too see those dahlia seeds. I had forgotten that. T&M always has so many neat things that by the time I get to the end of the flowers I have a whole list, not only in my head but on their form. Then, of course I have to start editing.
Jeanette
LeBug,
will you be careful with those Lilly of the Valley berries? They're quite poisonous!
LaLa,
I've sown quite some Dahlia seeds and they're really easy. Indeed the seedheads look like buds. You can harvest them when they're totally dry and crispy. It struck me that the taller the plants and flowers are, the less seed you get from them. But this may be coincidence.....
I keep my compost in a coffee container-the platic one with the snap lid-that way I can leave it on the counter and dump it about once a week:)
Jnette, it sounds like you do the same thing as me! I have this giant list at the end of the catalog, and then I have to start taking them off. : ) I have such a hard time narrowing down that sometimes I end up not ordering at all!
I was a little hasty in sending my post.
I meant to say that I went to my recycle bin and grabbed the old coffee container to keep kitchen scraps in. It sounds like the same one you have Fairy.
This message was edited Oct 10, 2008 7:28 AM
I like it cuz I forget if it isn't right in front of my face!!LOL I also poor cans of beer in my compost-the hops help with the fermentation:)
Good suggestion Fairy. Funny how you stop doing things and then all of a sudden it comes up again.
Sure sounds familiar Meredith. I've already ordered a long list from Value Seeds, and then wished I had added a couple others. So, I guess I will have to start my second one with them. I normally do 2 or 3, or 4, or----- They are so cheap that I don't feel I have to cut with them. Problem is that I do order things that I end up not planting.
Jeanette
Gorgeous Dahlias, La! That 3rd one is so striking!
I started a bunch from seed, but its been so dry they look pathetic. Alas, there is always next year.
Lea, I hate the new cat litter pales! I have the same problem with them. They used to have the flip top lids that you can open with 1 hand and it drops shut after depositing compost. I'm still using those, but noticed the lid hinges are wearing out :-(
I took my pictures to the dahlia forum and was told I needed to start with a tuber. I was also told that it would be totally acceptable to ask for a tuber as "payment" for the garden-sitting I've done the past few weeks.
I decided that was probably a more sound idea than the marauding chipmunk story I concocted.
Hey has anybody heard from Suzy?
Gemini, put some duck tape on them for hinges, duck tape fixes everything! lol
I haven't heard from Suzy :( I don't think I want to yet, I still have all kinds of seeds to clean yet lol I've been too darn busy! Plus I have to wait for Patch to take a cat nap to clean them she snorts in my seeds when she's checking them out, she stays right there with me, what do you do when you have a kitten in the house lol I just bring her in at night now and she stays outside thru the day, I think she's working me to stay in all of the time lol Momma cat and Stump gets jealous and hisses at her lol I think they really do get jealous lol
L-J ... I just dropped Suzy an Email, if and when i hear something... I'll post back.
Terese
LOL Lea! I was just wondering about her all-around well being. I'm in no hurry for swappage either.
Thanks Therese.
;-)
LOL I'm meeting myself coming and going here lately and we finally got a great rain but it's too wet to plant still so thought I would get some seeds, no, my son and DIL came into some money so I've been running them around trying to find furniture lol I can't win lol Patch got a flea, I guess, on her last night and spilled my macedonia red seeds everywhere running around like crazy, thank goodness they were big enough to find LOL
Poor Suzy after al it took for the last Piggy Swap don't blame her for hiding. Poor thing, keeping all of us straight not only here but stuff for the humerm swap too. I would have been brain dead about half way through. LOL
If anybody has petunia seeds. I looking for a mess of them all colors and types.
I did hear back from Suzy this morning.
She is currently working on a huge project that is taking up A LOT of her time, and does not think she will be able to manage the swap again this winter.
any volunteers ??? *wink*
AW we'll miss Suzy! Not me I can't keep my own life straight lol And I can just see the kittens loving all of those seed packets! I'll probably have all three in by then lol
Star, I have a pretty antique like pink petunia only enough seeds for one trade that you are welcome to and I have some beautiful red ones, purple ones and I'm trying to collect the lavendar ones from Tuink but they are being so difficult but I'm determined lol I'll put them down for you for when I get finished cleaning seeds, you aren't in any big hurry for them are you :) Was that you doing all of the planting for the town square? Are you doing it again this year? My memory is shot lol
I figured she proabbly had somethign going on. What if we do a fall winter one now and then maybe by the end of January she wil be ready to maybe do the spring one.
She may not have to gather or do here winte sowing yet and gather any seeds, so maybe we can throw some extra aside for her and give her a surprise box for all she did for us last year.
We coudl start one now and maybe have it end the begining of December and have evrybody stuff mailed out by December 15th if not before just before Christmas. We could call it the Winter/Holiday Swap.
If nobody else wants to do it. I could, cuz December 1st I pretty much free for the year then . If Suzy didn't mind maybe we could copy her orginal post and just put a couple of the changes in it, since she had evrything wrote just right. Ain't know way that I cna remmeber stuff off the top off my head liek she did though. I swear that woman must have had a photogenic mind. She was good and then some.
Tcs. I just realized that you have a wink at the end of yoru post. Was the wink that you wanted to be the hostess?
Nope LeBug I not the town square person, I the person with the acedemically challenged kids and the At risk ones. Nope not in any hurry, but wanted to ask whiel I was thinking about it incase somebody had some or mayeb they had plants and wouldn't collect thinking nobody wanted any. Appreciate it! Thanks : )
Star -- i dont think she'd mind if you used her original post.
I think she has seed to gather ... but i dont think she mentioned needing any seeds [i'll go back and re-read the email.] she also commented on the seeds from Weezer being the most time consuming .... so maybe there wont be as much work as she took on last year.