Iceland sounds exciting too. anywhere but home. ;-)
we have a lil snow. I'd rather have snow than the COLD.
though when you get too much snow, you run out of places to put it.
CLOSED: Fall Piggy Swap #9
We had snow and cold yesterday. Today is a little better.....
Winter's come early this year!
Hmmmm....Tuink, I'm thinking I should spend the holidays at your place while you're in Iceland, LOL!
LOL Neal...
Its my dream to visit the Netherlands, only in spring when the bulb crops are blooming is when it plays out in my dream :-)
OH Geez Tuink! I didn't make your list either. I guess I better go back oink some huh?
I didn't make the list either.... While she has an unbelievable selection... I've already got more than i need.
Maybe next year I'll be a piggy. This year i scaled back, because last year i was a pig.
I was only a "modest piggy" this time!!LOL
Well, here is the deal . . . . the seeds have only so much viability. I was soooo piggy last year that I still have oodles of seeds to germinate and to share. Once I work my way through these I will be a piggy again.
I figured out what I want to do with the basement/cellar. I already have a rack with lights to start seeds.
BUT recently I discovered an old book on growing plants in a greenhouse. Well, I can't possibly afford a greenhouse, besides the yard is not big enough, and I might be in violation of restrictive covenants - I live in a historical district.
So, I thought - I bet I could have the equivalent of a "cool" greenhouse in the basement. It is naturally damp. I could basically set up a 10 foot x 10 foot indoor system with lights and racks. I would grow plants all year around so I could have cut flowers all year!
What do you think? I could just add 6 foot rack with lights every year - in just three years I could have it all set up. I could set a little heater on a timer to heat the area to 65 degrees during the day and allow the area to cool down to 45-50 degrees at night. I could have the lights on timers to run 16 hours a day. What do you think it would cost? Maybe an extra $100 a month to run the lights and heater?
Sounds like a great idea to me - although I am a newbie....and so very UNknowlegable ..(is that a word??) ... but Lily_love from the MS forum uses her basement as a greenhouse for the winter - but it is all windows on one side so I am sure that helps as far as light (and she is much further south so probably wouldn't spend as much on heat.
They just arrested a guy here in Arkansas that was running a multi million dollar marijuana operation out of a cinderblock building with no lights...... so if he can do that, I would think you could grow flowers.... ^_^
By the way, unless your electricity is a lot higher than ours here, I wouldn't think it would add an extra 100 - but then I don't know exactly how many lights or what wattage you are referring to.....
So glad to see that I was only a "modest" piggy as well...... I have a feeling my husband won't think so when he sees all these seeds and wonders WHAT on earth we are supposed to do with all of them!!
Genna
I have to tell you folks that I get jealous hearing about basements. I spent a large part of my childhood up north (Ohio and NJ) so became quite spoiled having basements. They just don't seem to exist down here in south central Texas.
Tonya
Not here in Arkansas either ..... or very rarely. I think it might have something to do with the water tables ....but not sure - that is what I was told at one time - but then our well is over 100' deep so that really doesn't make much sense.... ^_^
I would have loved to have had a least a partial basement, and my boss has a basement in his house so I have heard. My sister in law has a partial in hers because of the hill that her house was built on. She doesn't have any moisture problems, but I know some people who have had.
Odd - guess up North it gets so cold that they need a place to get below the wind ?? ^_^
Genna
Holy cow Tuink I had no idea. I think I requested about 1/2 dozen single packets but my
"various peppers, basils, MGs & petunias" must have added up to a king's ramsom of seeds. I've got a feeling I've not lightened my seed bags near as much as I thought I did. LOL!
For you gals with no office programs on your PC I used to just use WordPad to make my labels before I got Excel. It really did the job just fine by copy/pasting the info over and over (like Terese's document) then just cutting them apart.
I love having a basement..... where you do put all your stuff when you dont have one??
I've never had a finished basement, like a family room... mostly a shop for DH and storage.
though now that my boys are bigger... there is the weight machine, DDR machines, Pool table, pingpong table... and i do NOT have a big basement.
at least i have room for my freezer and washer and drier.
DH enlarged his shop and i lost my lil sewing area...
OH and i do NOT have room for lights for plants. That would be nice.
>>just fine by copy/pasting the info over and over
yes, that is what i do to. Type once, then copy/paste many times over.
then next year, all i have to do is change the "Harvest" date.
Basements are interesting ....my girls go down there to find bugs. Now mind you we live in a fairly new house - only 20 years old and 1/2 of the basement is finished. Doesn't matter, bugs and spiders still come in. The girls love the house centipedes....we call them "Bob". Anyway, while living in Oklahoma, no one I knew had a basement. Maybe it has to do with the type of soil. Our clay up here in Ohio could probably support anything. Hee hee. I have parts of my yard that I can't dig in and get so frustrated. I'm going to turn to the lasagna style you all have talked about. Expand my borders!!
"OH and i do NOT have room for lights for plants. " Ha! It's all about priorities girl. I have room for plants and lights but I do NOT have room for weight machines, DDR machines, Pool tables, pingpong tables or DH's shop equipment. LOL!
As for storage, we most certainly cannot put any cars in the garage! We also have two rented storage containers at another location. I am still trying to convince DH that it is ok to put things in storage in the attic. I think he's afraid we'll never get rid of extra stuff that way! Interestingly enough, most of the "stuff" we have stored is his! He has great success at selling things on e-bay, but even that takes time.
I'd rather be gardening!
Oh, a basement would be heaven! When we moved down here, we were told that they all got water in them, etc. Since then we've decided that it was just the builder's way of avoiding digging a basement in our hard clay! If we ever move, a basement is definitely high priority. Even all the closets in a nice modern house don't store stuff the way a basement would! (Especially messy stuff...)
chele -- i gotcha one better... we've been getting snakes... they are just garter snakes... last year, Alex, my youngest [but he likes snakes] found a whole family... mama and 5 babies... this year, DH found one lil one...i think it was trying to get int from the cold. Still have not found out how they are getting in.... our house was built 2001.
and when we built, we put an extension on the garage instead of the family room... so i have close to a 4 car.... DH was trying to figure how to get one of the kids cars in the garage for the winter [we currently have 2 stored for the winter] and i told DH if we all had Smart cars... we could fit about a dozen.
But I love my big garage.
oh snakes - my girls would love those too......we have a "healthy" respect for such things. They even name our garden spiders, they are pets you know. Hee hee. My grandpa taught me as a young girl to leave all the big mouse eating snakes alone - he had a farm. Speaking of which, I can't get rid of my voles - even with the neighborhood cat visiting. Maybe I could find a snake come spring........ :-) Terese, I don't think garter snakes eat meat do they? You could ship them to me. Ha!
Garter snakes are more into eating worms and such than voles... voles are a little big for them, I think. You need a corn snake, black racer, etc. for voles! :-)
I've essentially set up a growing area like that in my basement, but I just do seedlings and cuttings on the light shelves... cut flowers is an interesting idea! There's a heat mat co-op going on now that might interest you... in a larger basement especially it's probably more efficient than running a heater.
Everybody has room for lights... put a piece of plywood over one of DH's less used pieces of shop equipment, and suspend a couple lights over it! LOL
I don't have a garage at all, much to my DH's dismay. Nor do I have a basement. There is a cellar (small probably put in for storing preserves) under the old cabin, but no electricity. We use the old cabin and a storage container, to store things in. Some things go in the bee barn, like DH's beloved '65 Mustang, and Santa's Sleigh.
I do have the greenhouse around the pool. I'm counting my blessings there! : ) I don't know if I am the only one who has to take the umbrella into the greenhouse, but when I open the door, it Rains on me. : |
I know it's just condensation and the vibration of opening the doors making the water drops fall. You learn to expect it.
When I lived in OK, we didn't have a cellar, but our neighbors had a storm cellar, for hunkering down and waiting out those tornadoes. The old farm had a cellar. Hmmm. Things change.
Growing up in Santa Ana we didn't have one but our neighbor had a huge one. She lived in the old school house, and we lived in the principals house. Pity they tore down those beautiful old Spanish style buildings. A lot of history lost.
I didn't make Tuinks list either, but she made mine! : ).
gen2026 unknowledgeable is a word, but ignorant is a better word choice. Ignorance can be cured with the help of our knowledgeable friends. It's not wrong, but it rolls of the tongue better. The prefix UN means NOT in latin. People coin new words all the time, cobbling bits and pieces of other words together. Tuink and I were just talking about that . . .
My seeds will be packed and sent by midweek. Will keep you all posted. I'll hit up Tuink next year for some of her seed, just so I can make her list. LOL! : ) Oink, OINK!
Got to quit oinking off. Still have to finish decorating Santa's sleigh.
WIB,
SW
. . . . uh . . . given the choice between an unfinished basement in a 100 year old house and a greenhouse plus a pool . . . . gues which I am choosing! ^_^
chele -- i have a local coyote that takes care of some of the voles, and rabbits [i hate seeing it... but it's nature]
seandor... that would be tough.... pool with green house or basement... but i guess when you toss in the part about 100 yr old home... I always wanted a pool.
OK well... i did a bit of updating of my lists this morning ....
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=5785206
if no one wants Mex hats or BES -- which i have the most of... oh yes.... Husker Red Digitalis ...
I"m gonna box everything up over the weekend.
I will send DM's confirming what you've all asked for, just so you do get what you've asked for.
Ya don't see me. I studying, more like I pulling my hair out trying to find diagrams of fruiting structures of fungi. grrrr. The maillady was honking on her horm like crazy. Got Seandors box today. : )
Just wanted to let ya all know. Once I get allthe boxes here wil be takign pics to share with ya all. : ) I promise to try and keep thumbs and feet out of the pics too. ; )
Back to cramming. Rather cram this paper in th etrash though. Wanna play with the seeds ; ( LOL
I didn't, but I appreciate the pool anyway. I wouldn't have the greenhouse if not for the pool, so I'm counting my blessings. : ))
I'd rather not have fibromyalgia, but the Dr. said swimming would be good for me. My Darling Husband built me the pool and placed the Greenhouse over it to keep out the critters, dust, and wind. In the summer I do laps in the pool, and in the winter around it. : )
So I guess that every cloud (fibromyalgia) has a silver lining (greenhouse).
tcs1366, you've been so kind to me, did I already oink you for some of your Mex hats, BES or the Husker Red Digitalis?
Considered yourself oinked!! : 0
I'm particularly fond of Gopher snakes for controlling the rodents my cats don't eat. I HATE rodents in my house and greenhouse. They may not live in your area, but Garter snakes are nice too!
This lil piggy better get back to work now!
Oinking off for now!
WIB!
SW
I think builders are just making excuses to not dig basements. I've heard the excuse that the ground is rock but then they put in a pool in the same hard ground. I use to live in a house from 1897 that was on a water field. The ground around the basement was fill for five feet and the other three feet was above ground. French drains and a sump pump took care of keeping the basement dry.
Too True. I live on decomposed and solid granite. They didn't have to bring out the dynamite to make that hole in the ground for the pool. Now the hand dug well was another story. They did use dynamite to get that puppy deeper. My FIL remembers having to go down that well and dig it out, after they blasted when he was a kid.
WIB,
SW
I just added to my list :) Dmail me please if you see something you want :)
I've got everything packed in their baggies, ready to go into a box... have to find one.
I've Dmailed some of you to verify lists.... some i just went thru old Dmails.
Here is what i did if a person only asked for ONE seed pack. It's stapled to an index card.
will be easy to identify.
big bag of extras going to Star.
Box will be sealed Monday Morning.
and last minute "wants" -- Dmail me.
Terese
Pyromomma, do you still have :
Gallardia mixed
Globe amaranth Strawberry Fields
Any Agastche
mixed Columbine
Phlox drummondi pink
red long headed cone flower (you don't want to know what my sis in law thought that looked like - and to think I will be growing a whole bed of them!)
Thanks so much. I dmailed you also.
I had to look LeBug....
And so I just D-mailed you too ;-)
Getting the last of mine together this weekend too. I'll be dropping them in the mail Monday, so if there are any last minute requests let me know :-)
Oh, no, you are all talking about making pretty labels. I didn't know we did that for the swap. Sorry ladies/gents, you won't be receiving any pretty labels from me. :o(
I guess I could have made those instead of doing my Christmas cards.
We have a nice big basement, only partly finished. Well, we put up the drywall and painted it, painted the floor with garage paint so it sort of looks like it is tiled. Then I batted my eyes and asked if I couldn't have a shelf for my plant lights and storage for plant stuff underneath.
Not a great picture, but here it is.
Don't worry toofew, mine are all just hand written and plain too. Our mental pictures of all those blooms we'll see next year as we look through our goodies will sustain :-)
I do that when bulbs arrive too, handle the bulbs and envision the blooms they'll provide. Yesterday I got a box of clearance bulbs from Brent&Becky's and of course had to look at each one. Suddenly I started itching and burning and had to jump in the shower ASAP! I remember having that happen once before when I handled some new bulbs. All things I've handled with no problem before, so it must be something the bulbs have been treated with. Between that and all the little scratches from the fake greenery of Yule-tide decorations I look a fright, LOL.
Gemini. Most all those bulbs are treated with a fungicide to keep them from rotting and some are treated to keep things like tiny mites and other critters out and off the bulbs
Wear goves for sure, and if your havign such problems you might consider wearing one of them tiny masks too, so while handling any residue powder that gets disturbed into the air yoru not breathing.
I don't make fancy labels either. Don't have the knowledge or the stuff to do it.
toofew .... dont worry about the labels.... some folks do them up really nice... though i have to admit, a few of the ones i got in trade last year .... I got a hand scribbled name, that was barely legible. A few of mine, like my daylilies... is a lil slip of paper, it may have even been ripped, not cut... and it say, Stella D-Oro Daylilies. [or however they are spelled]
Pretty straight forward, and Neal -i think that is where they are going... will know what they are.
The big thing to me, with labels, besides the name (both common and botanical if possible, as that can really help clear up confusion with some of them), is to include your DG name on the packet. That way, if anybody has questions about the seed, they can check with you. I made little slips ("seeds from a trade, shared by critterologist") to put with my passalong packets.
It's also helpful to put the date if known... on my passalong seeds, some are labeled with my best guess as to age.
where is that article about "seed trading etiquette" that was a very helpful article.
Now that i've been trading for some time, less than 2 yrs... but it's all a learning experience...
I do put the Scientific & Commons names, my DG userID, annual or perennial, hardy to what zone, sun requirements.
some have more info than others... though i try to be consistent.
But ya figure... if the 'receiver' at least has the scientific name... they can look up all the other info.