CLOSED: Free Seeds for recent DG Subscribers (October 2011)

I agree with all of that, especially:

>> I've just learned to plant the things I'm not sure about in a different area until I figure it out.

And when they may cross-pollinate something you wanted to save known seeds from, plant the mystery seeds in pots and move those pots off to some pollen-ghetto while they are flowering. Maybe bag them with floating row covers or a fine net to keep bees out.

I think Corey must have got caught in an avalanche of seeds, haven't heard from him in weeks. You okay, Rick??

Al

I saw him post in one of the group trade forums yesterday or day before on his methods to remove chaff from seed. ;)

He sounded well!

BTW - Al I just started some of your scarlet runner beans in a pot inside. The critters outside didn't let me grow any of them this season, so I'm hoping they will enjoy being in my lizard's room/sun room. :D

A.

Your lizard has a room to him/herself? Wow!

I've grown scarlet runner beans on my inside windowsill, but it didn't make many flowers just lots of vines. Was kind of pretty though and fun to watch.

I've still got a few packs floating around, think I gave some to Corey.

Al

Yes, Ev - Rita has a room to herself. When we moved a prerequisite was a room with an east facing window for the iguana. Bonus is that it also has a south facing window and I've moved some more plants in there and intend to start seeds in there this year.

When my mom passed I brought her parrot here with me. The bird is now passed too, but the iguana likes to climb on this one very heavy tall bird cage so I kept it in the room for her. I placed one of my potted plants in there that was failing - it failed - and now the pot inside the bird cage has the scarlet runner beans in it - I was thinking it would be very cool if the bird cage got all vined up. Maybe Rita will like the plants all over it. She hasn't been using it much lately. I will let you all know how this particular experiment goes. ;)

A.

Yeah, I started looking for some seeds that i had made labels for, and found i still hadn't split them up. Got that done over Winter shutdown instead of making mailers to go out.

Also need to bundle up the remianing "etc and unknown onesie pkts" and send them out to volunteers who will label them "Annual", "tender perennial", "hardy perennial" and like that. However, I found a half-gallon or so of onesie pkts some of which I can ID and sort into categories, and others that need someone knowledgeable to classify them, for the "etc" box.

I'm actually ready now to pick and pack several dozen mailers, I just have to get over wanting to know what I'm doing, and remember that people would rather have SOME seeds now than very well-chosen ones later. That should be my first NB priority.

I just have to find the time. During the Christmas break I "cheated" and spent some time spreading coffee grounds and chopping juniper bushes and roots so I could make two new raised beds. Decidied not to WS this year - like I need another time sink.

Corey

It's good to hear from you and to know you took some time to do some things for yourself. I'm ready to start helping id seed. I practiced with the two wildflower mixes I still had. I found a couple more web sites for seed id. LOL. I told you I loved looking things up, I just had to come up with something. Have a great night.

Thanks, Robyn. Also thank you for being SO PATIENT about waiting for your seeds! Two months, isn't it?

Trust me, I've kept myself busy trading and hitting ebay and stores. There is no such thing as too many seeds. I'll just keep digging up the grass. LOL

Glad you are well. No worries here, any wintersowing i planned is put off till we get some winter! It was 52° here on saturday! Syracuse is breaking winter weather records in the opposite direction for once. I guess i don't mind, but a white christmas would have been nice.

Umm, who donated these? I moved those bags so I could label & split them, then found them again, but lost who-sent-what!

Tweedia coerulea or Oxypetalum coeruleum
Scabiosa atropurpurea 'Ace of Spades'
Nicotiana langsdorfii
Nicotiana 'Hot Chocolate'
Spanish Poppy Papavar atlanticum
Cal. Poppy
etc.

(Sorry!)

I think I cured my O Seed D, at least as it applies to this swap.

I set up a "factory line" of 30 lunch bags standing up and open, then distributed annual seeds so each got a good mix of 10 annuals.

Then each bag got two "I dunno" packets! That took care of 60 of them.

Then the contents of each brown paper lunch bag was transferred to a sandwich baggy.

Next I'll make 15 baggies of "tender perennial picks", maybe 5 or so.
Then 15 baggies of "hardy perennial picks".

Then I can start each person's baggie with a basic 'some of everything', and subtarct if necessary, and THEN start the more difficult part of looking for things they specifically want. I think a huge number of mailers will go out in relatively few weeks now.

Corey

Sounds like a very good plan.

I think it saves everyone work, compared to asking people to add info to singleton pkts, then filing them away, then finding them, then putting them in outgoing mailers.

The revealation came when I looked at something nice and was trying to decide "annual? perennial? vine? shrub?"

Then I tossed it into a brown paper bag along with 9 other pkts ... done and done! Now the person deciding whether to grow it out or trade it on can look it up. They will still be asssured plenty of annuals, perennials, or whatever they requested, PLUS two "interestingt" or "uncommon" pkts.

I think it is also the best way to handle seed that might be several (or many) years old. I won't put them into the FIRST 10-12 pkts, but there may be some older seeds among pkts #15-whatever.

I like your new system...sounds much easier!

Good job, Corey! I knew that your logical mind would figure out a way to be efficient.

O seed d!!!! Lol!!!!!
No worries here! All my winter sowing plans are out the window. We haven't had a freeze yet! Lots of crazy weather from mild to wild but nothing consistent.
Can't say i mind 50° in january....it's just.....Odd....

I had started winter sowing, but the dog got to the containers and destroyed them. Now I'm starting all over. The news said we might get some winter in the next week.

Thanks, sunnyg! I wnated to put your name on the pkts.

And your labels were GREAT, with descriptions and growing info and anything anyone could ask for.

Corey


This message was edited Jan 17, 2012 6:41 PM

Corey - I've done you a favor and put some of my seed "packet" into the round robin. The rest were north american native plants I will add some to my own collection. I'll send more seed to you in the spring when I'm finished planting and make sure they have the proper labels. I know we went back and forth for a while, but until you've got your own system worked out, it doesn't seem like anything I could do would help much. ;)

Keep up the good work. Slap on the back, pat on the head.

xox
A.

>> put some of my seed "packet" into the round robin.

Sounds good to me. I think they are discerning gardeners and will take what they know they can grow. (One reason that I now put "New Bee Seeds" on any label I print is that, if seeds get traded on or given away, the ultimate recipient will know where they came from ... and maybe save some of those seeds or other seeds, and send them back to the Stash.

>> I'll send more seed to you in the spring

Can you grow things out so that you can collect seeds in the spring? I thoguht that "7b" meant freezing and snowy months.

This zone/all zones were supposed to be updated by the USDA. I would have been in Zone 8.

We "typically" experience first hard frost by November 15. We typically have snow in January and not necessarily much accumulation before that.

We have the occasional 80 degree day in February, and average-normal temps between 40 - 70 degrees March, April, May. Spring flowers don't typically produce enough fast enough to collect anything before May, but June, July would be the first opportunity I would have to collect.

Those tend to be annuals, but I have a lot from this season that are popular for first-timers. :)

Does anyone have any parsley or cilantro seed they would like to share with me? I might be able to share something with you, depending on what you want, lol! I don't have tons of seeds, but would love to share something if I have it. We won't see any seeds here for a couple of months in any of the stores, as our spring is still about 4 months away, but I want to grow some inside in my kitchen window for cooking and such.

Skel - I'm sure I have some cilantro - prolly parsley too but the seed maybe a couple of seasons old. Let me check and I'll dmail you...

A.

Oh, Sandi, it was YOU that wanted the cilantro and parsley. (I thought that it was Amanda...so much for my memory!!) I will look for you.

In case anyone is interested Thompson & Morgan is having a seed sale. http://www.tmseeds.com/category/Shop_Garden_Seed_On_Sale

Corey ~ The box that will be coming in the mail, for the most part, will have no seeds over 3 years old. Most of them are marked as to the year. Some are unknown, so not a high priority. I have been working on the box(es) in earnest, for the last couple of days. "Most" will have growing instructions. In any case I can separate them into categories as to growing conditions.

Hopefully you will be hearing from me soon regarding them. I am sorry it has taken me so long.

Evelyn

Thank you, Evelyn!

When I file them, I put them away in categories "Annual", "Perennial" or "Crops, excpet for special categories where we havbbe big bags for "trees & Shrubs", "Vines", "Hollyhock" "Hibiscus" Lillies" and a few others.

YEA ...... thanks to Corey I have found you all again! Whew. I hate being lost!!! ^_^

If anyone has any French Hollyhock seeds (the ones that get about 3' tall and have blooms about the size of a silver dollar), I would love to have some. I use to have the purple and loved them. (I'm partial to purple. ^_^ )

Good to see you all again!

Are you still doing your seed give away? I live in the southern side of zone 8, near the gulf of Mexico...so close you can smell it. I need some salt tolerant flowers, fruits, and veggies that like it hot, or, can be grown in the winter down here. We do sometimes get frost, but it is rare. What cha got?

Oh, I am also really interested in different color versions of veggies. For example: purple, black, or white carrots; yellow, purple or green cauliflower; interesting color or patterns of beans; white beets etc.

This message was edited Feb 10, 2012 9:55 AM

Hi Albeachrealtor

It is still active, and I'm getting close to sending out the next dozen or two batches.

>> I need some salt tolerant flowers, fruits, and veggies that like it hot, or, can be grown in the winter down here. We do sometimes get frost, but it is rare. What cha got?

I don't know off the top of my head what does or doesn't fit those conditions, but if you research the names, I'll look to see if we have them. The most information that is likely to be already marked on pkts is the hardiness zone for perennials, which I don't think is a concern for you.

If I see "tolerates heat" on the label, I can pick that out for you. How about tomatoes and peppers?

For unusual colors of vegetables, I won;t have time to check every pkt in the "Crops" tub, but I'll look through as many as I have time for (I have some other chores I'm months behind on, to get done first).

If your winter is actually cool, many Brassicas might work. I don't know about their salt tolerance. I have a good collection of Bok Choy (like Chese cabbage but thick stems and open heads) I could share.

If you page down to the bottom of this post - - - > http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=8830793

you'll see a list of what we had multiple packs of when I compiled that list. I try to edit it when we run out of something, so anything you see in that list SHOULD still be available.

@ RickCorey_WA I am so excited...I will leave it up to you what you send, but my husband said he prefers edibles rather than flowers. We also arent big fans of brassicas. I am strawbale gardening this year for the first time and am excited about it. I will take what you will send me, but I prefer the unique and unusual. :)

Currently in my garden I have started seeds for:
many different types of beans
hot and sweet peppers
3 types of tomatoes (I could use another in-det type or two)
cilantro, basil, dill, rosemary (I would like thyme, sage, marjoram, saffron)
zucchini black beauty
early butternut
pickling cukes
pumpkins
beets detroit dark red (I would love a golden or white beet)
garlic
strawberries
a blackberry and a raspberry
a blueberry (another one would be great)

I would love a vanilla bean plant

How does the paypal thing work? I have an account but normally I am receiving money. Do you send me an invoice or do I need to do something. Let me know Thanks again!

Welcome to Dave's Garden!


I'll check, but I don't think we have any of these except maybe thyme or sage.
>> thyme, sage, marjoram, saffron
>> golden or white beet

I'll look through the "crop" tub and look for unusuall things. But I don't think I'll find 10-15 really unusual edibles ... could you use more squiash, pumpkin or cukes? Sunflowers?

Tomatoes we have, thanks to Lycodad and to a lesser extent from my own stash. I hear they can be grown in strawbales.

I'll have to fill in with some flowers or ordinary edibles.

In PayPal, there is a button for "Send Cash", and that will lead to a request for MY PayPal ID. I sent that by Dmail.

Corey

If you need some herbs for him. I have some Amethyst sage seed which has beautiful purple leaves.

I need to go through my seed stash and see what I have that I can contribute.

How is the strainer working out?

Last summer I grew lettuce leaf basil, it was my favorite for pesto and I let it go to seed so Ii could harvest them for this year's planting. . While visiting, my daughter, deadheaded them all while talking on her cell phone and pacing back and forth on the deck. Needless to say, I was the one that taught her to pinch back to keep the plants bushy and to deadhead. By the time I noticed what she was doing it was too late. Yesterday while in Ace Hardware (in Cocoa Beach, FL) I noticed that they have their seed display up and purchased another packet. The brand is Ferry-Morse and the packet sells for $1.79. 250 mg

Corey, are still needing some help? I'm still here and willing and able. Let me know

>> Corey, are still needing some help?

Thnak you, but I decided to simplify by promoting the unknown seeds and sending a few out with each mailer. I made up 30 bags of "mixed annuals" and "mixed fairly hardy perennials", and now I can start off some people's mailers with one or both of those generic bags.

It is even getting SOMEWHAT to be the case that I know where to find most of the things in stock.

I have 12 mailers to be mailed right now, but work has been too busy for me to get to the PO at lunchtime.

Is it worth standing in line to add the confirmation/tracking stickers? It adds 80 cents to the $1.95-$2.35 basic cost, and I wonder how much reliabuility it adds. If they shred or lose a mailer, does it matter WHERE they lost it?

I have never had a problem with either a mailer I sent out or one I recieved. There's always going to be a problem once in a while and I agree, if it's gone or shredded what it the number going to do?

Corey, I've sent hundreds of small packages and the tracking fee is just not worth the extra time, effort, or expense. If you can keep the total weight below 13 ounces, it will go for a lot cheaper as "first class" rather than priority or parcel post. I always weigh mine before sending to make sure. If you want to confirm when sent just keep the postal receipt, all the information needed is right on there.

Al