Any Interest for a Greater Philly swap meet?

We're Really going to have a MEG !
Meet, Eat & Greet. (Should it be Grow?)

Lunch & plant/seed swap set for April 28at a restaurant
near the ChristmasTree Shop in Cherry Hill, NJ.

There should be a good variety at our swap.100's of seeds need to be
directly sowed as well as veggie seeds that can be successively sown.
For those of us who have a tendency to start early this may be a good
way to find a home for those 20 extra seedlings you weren't sure were
going to come up at all & you just can't plant all that did. Which will
help those who's seeds really didn't come up.

If you haven't done so lately please update your Want lists. Aside from the
general swap I plan to have an area with envelopes devoted to surprise seed
for those who come.

Always subject to change but those who said they would be interested
in attending should you want or need to carpool.
HollyAnnS & Ric - Dover PA
Roses_R_Red - Mt Bethel PA
Avpat - Atco
Ninatheretired - Bordentown
Nisi - Bordentown
FlowAJen - Central, NJ
Onewish1 - Denville
Gabigrier - Maple Shade
Jan23 - Salem County
Marie_Kap - Williamstown
I'm in Port Norris just a river away from Cape May County
There are 7 on the "not sure but keep me posted" list.


This message was edited Feb 8, 2012 10:31 AM

This message was edited Feb 12, 2012 2:35 PM

This message was edited Feb 21, 2012 10:09 AM

Lunch, seeds, friends, and Christmas shopping! Wish I could come. :-)

Cris, I know that area really well! There's a fantastic Wegman's right by it :-)

But that's a 2.5-hour drive for me, and I can't say yet if I'd be able to come. I hope enough Philly-area folks can get together!

SSG,
Was down on the military base some years ago so know
where you are & indeed it is quite a ride for you. Is Critterologists
swap meet any closer for you?

Wegman's is quite a trip isn't it?

Cris, I have good friends in Cherry Hill, so I would love the opportunity to see them as well as do some plant swapping :-) But I am definitely going to Critter's swap!

We have a Wegman's here in Frederick now, too! (One disappointment for me is the lack of a kosher deli counter, which apparently means no whitefish salad... and I love love love their whitefish salad! but the Frederick store is amazing.)

I'm not actually ruling out a road trip to Cherry Hill... but it's dubious, as it's about 3 hours for me. Hopefully I'll get to see some of you folks at Holly's spring plant swap in PA!

Cris, Ric and I would come if the date works. I may be working again by then but if at all possible we would be there.

That would be great! You should also post this over on the NE forum. or I can link it for you....

oh Jill.....I'm amazed someone south of here knows what whitefish salad it....LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FlowAJen, I would appreciate if you would do that:)

Maybe if we had the internet when I lived there I would have
held one on Cape Cod ! LOL

Holly, When is your plant swap? I heard mention of it
from Critterologist.

Ric and I have been talking about when we would hold it and we were thinking middle of May. I will be putting up a thread just to talk dates sometime soon.

I'd like to come also, if I can make it. However, I didn't collect any seed last year, but I could come and visit. I'm only 30 miles or so.

Right now, I'm dependent on finding wifi hotspots. I'll be able to communicate better after I get home, but count me in.

Jan, I have a tendency to start early & to over plant.
Comes from a year where almost nothing came up for me.
So I'll have some extra what-evers on hand.

I think it would be great just to meet some of the people on DG
I've gotten advice orseeds from in various (snail mail) swaps over
the years. So the seed swap is only part of the reason for the gathering.

I can visit one of our puppies in cherry hill while I am down there.. I would be up for it

One of the reasons I'm leaning towards the 3rd week of April is
that the last "frost" date is around the 15th. So for those who still
want seeds it won't be too late to plant yet for those of us who start
early we'll have seedlings to share.

It also is after all the holy days for the month no-one is excluded.

I'm definitely interested. Cherry Hill not that far away from Bordentown. (relatively)

We should be home from visiting Houston the week after Easter. Count me in

Would love to make it up there. I have never been to a seed swap, but I don't have anything to trade. I will have to see if I can get that day off just to see some of the people I talk to.

Would love to have you Marie. As I said its not so much
what you have, its bringing your enthusiasm for gardening :)

Oh , I have plenty of that Chris.

Just give me a a time and date so I can put in to have off.

This message was edited Jan 31, 2012 10:07 PM

I'm leaning towards the 21st of April around 1pm.
Flexible on the time as I have to find a restaurant that is
willing to have us at what might be a really busy time.

The good thing about a seed swap is that when we purchase our seeds, we don't necessarily need to sow ALL of the same kind because we can bring 1/2 of the package to the swap and get some different seeds in return!! I use part of the package for indoor sow, part for winter sow and part to bring to a swap and it works out just fine. This is going to be such fun!!

Well it seems to be a small group right now of about 10 but thats
a good start.
Before I contact some local restaurants and see who has a
separate area for us to hold our meet & greet in, I'd like to ask for
suggestions from those who have lunched in the area before and
find out what price range people would be comfortable with.


So suggest away please !

$15 for lunch for me is reasonable

Me too.

Sounds good to me too.

Me, too.

Anyone in South Jersey want to carpool?

This sounds like an awesome amount of fun! Maple Shade is coming to represent!!

Any suggestions of a place to eat? Or the kind of food you
want to chow down on?

How about someplace Not to even consider going to?

We've had some good experiences with The Cheesecake Factory restaurants for lunch when we're out of town. There's one here:

http://locations.thecheesecakefactory.com/nj/cherry-hill-110.html

It might be a problem to have some places allow us the time and room that we need for a swap. Critter does it at a Chinese restaurant where the people have an extra room for such gatherings, I think.

Would it be a little easier if we had the seed swap indoors but swapped plants in the parking lot?

Are we swapping plants, also? If so, I guess Nisi will bring a few tomatoes!!!

For those of you who skip the top & go right to the last post - I've
entered info into my very first post :)

Are we going to list what seeds we have to offer and make some trades in advance on this thread or a new one specifically for have our "haves and wants"?

I have never been to a swap so I did not save seeds last year. I just want to come and meet the nice people I talk to on here and enjoy the day with you. Also to learn what a swap is all about.

Nisi - Your suggestion of having plants outside is good.
Just need to figure a way of directing people to the right
vehicle for pick-up.

Marie Please feel free to just "Show-up" to meet folks.

Roses - There will be a new thread the first week of March
where haves &/or wants can be listed. {Being diplomatic}
I don't want it to get unruly where lists go on for days and
its difficult to keep track of who has/or wants what. So I'm
trying to decide if there should be some guidelines. (each
person list X # of haves & X # of wants) or just to let it flow.

I've never been to a swap myself because they've been too far
for me to drive. So I thought I'd hostess one in my own neck of
the woods. I'd really like some feedback cause I'm groping in
the dark here.

Just check out the former round up threads for ideas.

Usually have a have/want thread as it gets closer, people "save" one spot and keep updating that one post so you don't have to keep searching thru the thread for updates
Everyone usually brings a door prize
Even if you don't have seeds to swap, you can list anything you may want to give away...extra containers, cuttings, decor, plant labels...etc

lol Cris, the first swap or MEG is always the hardest, and then they seem to become a "tradition" or at least something everyone looks forward each Spring and Fall. The more Northern swap began because distances across the Mid-Atlantic can be prohibitive. Thanks to you, people on the shore side of Philly area have a chance to meet up more locally. Maybe next Spring there will be four or five swaps to chose from! Below are links to past more northerly swaps. Good luck as you all work out the details.


2010 swap in Mount Bethel, PA
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1064972/

2011 swap in Mount Bethel, PA
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1162293/
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1172353/
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1170769/

This message was edited Feb 13, 2012 9:28 AM

Thanks for the info & support - it really means a lot to me.
hmm Everyone brings a door prize? How lovely!! Is it done
like a Yankee swap where everyone gets a number & has
the chance to swipe someones gift?

Just a regular door prize, draw a # and #1 gets to pick first and so on....usually no swapping(unless you want to do it that way)