PLANT SWAP IN MOUNT BETHEL PA SPRING 2009

I just realized that my title has 2009 in it and I'll try to find a way to fix it. SHOULD BE 2010



Since I had such wonderful time with all you lovely people, I would like to host a plant swap to be held either the weekend before or the weekend after Memorial Day.

We should know by then what has survived the winter and our seed sowing.

Stormy is preparing to send a group blast to members in PA, NJ, and NY who live a reasonable distance away. I think that if we reinforced her blast with individual welcoming d mails it might encourage more people to join the swap and the MAG discussions.
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Holly's went well with everyone asked to bring a covered dish, blanket, umbrella or tent, chairs and tables. We would also be responsible for the burger, hot dog and chicken grilling.
Should be very do-able.
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Looking forward to another good time.

Regards,

Teri



This message was edited Feb 7, 2010 2:27 PM

This message was edited Mar 7, 2011 10:39 AM

I missed the last one and would love to make it to this one! If I can't convince the bf to drive me, I hope to be able to hitch a ride with another member.

Someone will definitely pick you up, Lori. I think that the weekend after Memorial Day would give our plants more of a chance to become recognizable. What does everyone else in zone 6a think?

After Memorial Day may be best. You should be safely past late frosts. Several people told me to wait until after Memorial Day to put any plants outside.

I am putting both dates on my calendar just in case

I, too, would vote for the week after Memorial Day Weekend. I always try to get the rest of the veggie garden completed by Memorial Weekend (tomatoes, peppers and eggplants) and can then turn my attention to the perennials. By then they are usually far enough along to determine what needs to be divided or thinned to make more space. I can tell now that I will have tons of digitalis as they self seeded like crazy in my one veggie garden! They are not exotic ones but do get really nice. I have some good strong ones that will need to be thinned if this bitter cold doesn't do them in ( which it normally should not!)

GardenQuilts, my same offer stands as it did this time to pick you up!! Please don't eat in any unusual restaurants the night before, though!!! Hope you are feeling better by now!!

Jessica

Thanks, gardadore. I promise to eat in my own kitchen prior to the event. Dining in the Poconos, especially in DWG, can be hazardous to your health! Since I filter my water, I am not immune to whatever microbes are causing the frequent "boil water advisories" in town. After the first advisory, I started distilling drinking water as well.

I am feeling much better, only 4 days left on this awful medicine. Then I get to go back to the lab with new samples including tap water and give them more blood. I acquired both bacteria and a protozoans. (I looked them up in my old Microbiology textbook.) Yippeee!

By May I will know where I will be living/moving. I will either have excess garden space or plants and seedlings in search of good homes. Or both. I am wintersowing more seeds in soda bottles until I run out of soil. (Plastic trays of soda bottles will be easier to move than plastic bags of dirt, at least that is what the bf will be told if he complains. I think he'll be too busy complaining about the books and bolts of fabric.) The potential landlords that I have met were thrilled that I was a gardener. I dread packing and moving, but am looking forward to living in a nicer place, hopefully with nicer neighbors who pick up after their dogs.

Saw your thread, got excited when I read that you might consider having your swap the weekend after Memorial Day! We're traveling every weekend through Memorial Day so thought maybe I'd be able to make the trip. Yikes, got quick directions and it's a six hour trip! You never know though, I might be able to combine it with another excursion and make a weekend of it :) I'll keep watching just in case!

Hey RCN you will be pretty far north you could just continue on up to your daughters homes and take a few pic of the new growth to post for us. LOL
R_R_R Glad to hear you are hosting Ric and I will plan on being there.

Roses will be out of touch this week while babysitting. If you know of anyone who you think might like to attend, please send me their name for inclusion on the mailing list. Please be sure to check that the person is a subscribing member of DG. Anyone is welcome to bring along non DG friends who may be interested in plant swapping. This is a great way to introduce prospective members to the DG community.

I also think the weekend after Memorial Day is better for the swap. There shouldn't be any conflicts on that date with the swaps going on in the southern MA states. I'm assuming that we would do it on Saturday. Does that gel with everyone?

Many thanks to our dear Teri and Rob for welcoming us back to their lovely home, so shortly after our last wonderful visit. Let's do our best to talk the swap up with any DG members in our locale whom you encounter in the forums. If you come across such a person, please extend them an invitation and forward their name to me for the mailings. FYI last spring Holly had almost 40 people at her swap. Many of the Md & Va & DE folks came up for that. I doubt that many of them will be willing to make a trip this far north.

This message was edited Feb 1, 2010 10:53 AM

Stormy, That means we may have to have 2 swaps, Oh yeah. Could be a good thing! Plus we got so many Nor'easters at Terri's, we're blurring the lines. I realize not everyone can visit with us at every location, but to meet kindred spirits in gardening, without ties to work or family can be so refreshing. We can't go wrong. Ric

At Teri's swap we did talk about contacting some of the New York people living closer to us. Technically New York is a "Mid-Atlantic" state so should be included where possible even though they seem to veer towards the Northeast Forum! Maybe we can post info about the May swap in their forum so that people on the border can consider coming! What do you think?
Jessica

Holly, I AM planning a trip to my daughter's this summer but not until the end of June - more on that later :)

Stormyla - please put me on your mailing list. I would like to attend this swap - I am having relatives in from out of state though. Not sure when that will happen yet - I know a lot will have to do with my brothers work schedule.....

I d-mailed a few that might be interested .. let you if I get any takers

Count me in, depending on mom's condition.

I hope your mom's condition improves, or at least stabilizes, Jan23.

Jessica, I know that Teri is planning on putting a post on the NE forum once we firm up the date. New Yorkers are certainly welcome. Part of the problem with communicating with everyone in the forum is finding them. When I do a search for DG members in my area, it does not bring up Holly, Doc, Carolyn or Lady. A 65 mile radius is the limit for me and includes a lot of Md & De folks.

I'm going to write to admin and see if there is another way to get a suscriber list. If there isn't, to get a complete list may entail asking everyone to sort from their zip code and copy and paste those names to send to me in an email or dmail.

Carolyn, I'll be thrilled to see you at our swap!! Holly told me that it took her & Ric less than two hours to get to Roses' house. It took me about and hour and 50 minutes.

Thanks to everyone who are already contacting members. The more folks who come, the greater the plant diversity and the more friends we will make! I am planning on doing regular mailings right up until the swap date.

I understand the problem. I noticed we had a limited access when I tried to find people in the area for the last swap at Teri's. Wish it could be bumped up to at least a 100 mile radius if they don't want to make the whole membership list available.

Jessica, We will find a way to get in touch with these folks. Maybe Teri can post in her links for these folks to send me a dmail so I can add them to the update mailing list. Please, in your conversations, be sure to stress to anyone who may be a young gardener or new to DG, that it is not necessary to have plants to bring to the swap. Some folks feel strange coming empty handed, so encourage them to bring a food item and something for the gift table.

As this swap will be outside with more room, we could also start a separate thread for exploring any bulk purchases of supplies that we might like to share.

When we hosted our Spring Swap last year I posted an invite and link to the swap thread in the Northeast Forum. There is a lot of cross over between the MA and NE. I believe that R_R_R thought she could host a pretty good size group, not sure quite how many people she was thinking about.

Stormy,

I would be happy to take orders for Palmflex which has the Atlas 370 gloves for 12/39.99 (free shipping). I get these for my Herb Club and everybody loves them. At a cost of $3.33 per pair it is a real bargain! Just a thought. I usually have a dozen for myself because I can make 3 pairs a day filthy and they are machine washable (not for the dryer)! Can't deal with the details of this until after April 1 but don't mind if you post an interest thread in any event! Their shipping is usually pretty fast.
Jessica

Hi! Looks like I will have acess to a computer for a few hours a day. Since the whole plant swap will be outdoors, I would think that we could accomodate LOTS of people. Holly's went well with everyone asked to bring a covered dish, blanket, umbrella or tent, chairs and tables. We would also be responsible for the burger, hot dog and chicken grilling.
Should be very doable.

It would be so great to meet everyone in person....... I thought about everbody on the 23rd for the seed swap and wished I could have participated as well......

Did I see somewhere, where I could possibly bring a non DG friend? I have a friend I work with and she is not a DG subscriber, but a fellow gardener.....

Yes, Carolyn, that would be fine. Hopefully you will be talking her into becoming a DG member!

I suppose I could lure her in by buying her a $5 membership.....Once she had a taste of DG, there would be no looking back....

This message was edited Feb 1, 2010 5:37 PM

Now that's good thinking, Carolyn!

If the swap is going to be outside, could we bring our well behaved dogs along? (With leashes and pooper scoopers in tow, of course). If not, that is alright.

I'm adding this to the Events thread for the Saturday after Memorial Day (June 5)... please let me know if that's not right. The plant swap for the lower MA (at Becky's) might be as late as May 29 (Becky is trying to finalize the date now).

:-)

Oh, and GQ, while I can't speak for Roses... I would be hesitant about letting people bring dogs to a swap (and I love dogs!), just because everybody has a different idea of what "well behaved" means, plus dogs can behave quite differently outside of their normal routine, and I can't offer the additional security (for the dog) of a fenced yard. I'm not criticizing anybody's dog here, just saying that a "no pets please" policy is probably the easiest thing. And nobody ever likes to come out and say that dogs aren't welcome, because people get more defensive about their pets than about their kids, LOL.

This message was edited Apr 1, 2010 4:49 PM

Critter,

As far as we're concerned we will be hosting the Saturday after Memorial Day weekend. I appreciate your comments about all the reasons why the dogs might not be a good idea at the swap.

It's not to soon to start contacting anyone who might be interested. Should be a fun day or a fun weekend.

you never know if someone is dog-a-phobic .. I wouldn't want anyone to be uncomfortable

Teri, Should I bring the cake? Ric

Some people come only for the cake. Yes!! Bring the cake. I hope that you're both feeling better.

I would not complain about that cake!!!!

Anyone know how I can change the 2009 and 2010 in the title of the thread?

You have to have an administrator do it. Ric

or start a new one

Let's move to this thread to continue:




http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1085037/



This message was edited Apr 2, 2010 12:24 PM

That is wild!