That's a great idea! Of course you are going to offer up seeds of some of those yellow and stripey tomatoes, right?

GGG- count me in please. I will for sure have lemon cucumbers and perennial false sunflower seeds and several herbs to share.
-Nan

I'm game too. I'll have some interesting heirloom vegetables and melons.

I usually buy plants for my potager, so I can get a jump on the growing season. I don't really have a place to start seeds.

Haziemoon

Haziemoon, you need to do row covers! Have you tried that. Make your own miniature greenhouses out of hoops and sheets of plastic (held on with clips). You could really get some veggies going in there from seed, and have lots to plant out early!!

GGG

GGG,
I'd love to get in on a swap, but I haven't done much seed-saving at all in my gardening career. I've gotten a book, and am starting to learn about it. When would this happen, at the end of the growing season, right? Oh, that's right, you're in GA, where you garden practically year-round. :-) Okay, so I mean, would the swap be in the fall? I'd like to try to save some seed and participate.

Mountainsong, in the Heart of NY

Hi GGG! I'm new to the forum, but not new to swaps. Being a fellow Hotlantaner, I've got lots of upcoming seeds. I'd also be happy to share any of my seed purchases for the next crops.

Well, I'd say we should do the swap the end of Oct? How is that. Have the seeds sent to me be between Oct. 15th and Oct. 31 and I will send yours out to you before thanksgiving. That way those who WS in cold climates can do so in a timely fashion.

Is that OK for everyone? I'm not sure about Californians? Our crops should be in and seeds dry and ready to package by that time here.

GGG

Thought I'd share that I realized the answers to my seed-saving questions would be right here on the Gardenweb, so I headed over to the Seed Saving forum. Fascinating! I won't call it a "new" hobby, just a new extension to my lifelong love of gardening...

October sounds fine to me GGG.
-Nan

The only seeds I'd have to share are green onions....
I have a million of them! so I could contribute those.

Haziemoon

I'm so excited to have begun my first organized seed-saving, from plants I've grown. So far, I've: collected some columbine seeds (pre-existing plants from previous owner, maybe not too vigorous), cilantro (coriander), heirloom tomatoes: Glacier (an early variety) and Rose de Berne (a more mild, pink tomato), with projected saving of Big Rainbow, Italian Beef, and Green Zebra tomatoes upcoming. With me still quite earthbound, DH climbed up to our 12' sunflower and "reserved" two blooms that are going to seed (clipped brown bags around, so hopefully they'll dry and keep the birds at bay); will hopefully do more later. This is the strongest-stemmed, tallest, most beautiful and most vigourous sunflower I've ever had grow in my yard; it was a volunteer, so although I can't quite say just quite what it is, I'm happy to look forward to saving some of it's seeds!

What seeds are y'all saving out there?

Mountainsong, happily hording in the heart of NY state

Me too! I have two kinds of radish I let go to seed, will have some beans, and arugala (sorry spelling bad!!!!), chives too, saved some 8 ball zucchini not sure they will grow, the seeds look real flat, may try to get more later from them, after they dry I will try and germinate them...the flowers I plan on using for the Cottage garden swap....

Leasa

OK, how about we do the seed trade in January. Does that sound good for everyone? I think January would be good for me, after the holidays and all.
Everyone will need to have their seeds sent in by January 15th, to my PO Box.
You will need to have your email unblocked (not your address showing, just the GW form showing that allows me to email you). That means you will need to be a person who has registered with GW. I will email only those on this list. There is no need to email me with "youve've got mail" etc. I will see you if you post here.
How about we have a maximum number of seed packets? I only ask this so that I don't end up having to send your own packages back to you!! Lets say a maximum of 25 packets of seed per person. There is no minimum. PLEASE send a mixture of different types of seed.. (2-3 pks of each is OK, but again, small number of participants means we don't need too many repeat kinds of packages...). Please package each type of seed seperately in a small envelope or seed baggie (bead baggies are awesome for this, as are coin envelopes or homemade seed packages).
Label each package with the "Common Name" of your plant. Please try to take the time to do a search on DG to find the botanical name for flowers. So many have the same common name.
If you can, please write the color of flower/fruit/vegetable, how tall it grows (or if it's dwarf etc.). Germination data would be a bonus, but we can also discuss that on this forum if need be. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO PUT YOUR GW NAME ON YOUR SEED PACKAGES!! I can make sure you don't get your own packages back if you GW name is on each seed package.

Send everything in a BUBBLE ENVELOPE. Inside the envelope please place a sticker (this saves me from taping everything), two stamps, a note with your "wants" list, or colors you like, any pereferences you have and make sure sure sure you have your GW NAME on this note. Please do not use your email address, just your GW handle. Thank you a kabillion. This will be such a time saver!

I will return all envelopes by February 15th at the latest (probably much sooner. I will aim for Jan. 30th..) At this time I ask that we trade only in the USA, especially since nobody from overseas or Canada has requested to be opted in.

Let me know here if this all sounds good to you?

GGG

Those outside the US can't opt in without applying and paying for a license; same for export to another country (based on other country regulations). and regs to and from canada just got stiffer. oh well...

WASHINGTON , Aug. 28, 2006 --The U.S. Department of AgricultureÂs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced, in an interim rule, that it has removed inspection exemptions for Canadian grown fruits and vegetables imported from Canada . These inspections apply to both commercial shipments and commodities imported by individuals for personal use.

The interim rule also removes the exemption from user fees for all commercial vessels, trucks, railroad cars and aircraft, as well as international passengers entering the United States from Canada .

These inspections and fees are necessary to prevent the introduction of plant pests into the United States via conventional pathways or through bioterrorism.

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA import regulations

I don't think this will be a problem. Since nobody has again mentioned the swap on this forum, it is in jeopardy of being cancelled anyway.
If I don't get responses from people by Sept. 15, I will assume they are not reading the forum, and not interested in the swap, which, as mentioned above the last post, is only open to US folks anyway so I have no idea why the above poster even bothered.

GGG

OK, swap is off. No potager seed swap, nobody is interested.
GGG

Heavy sigh. GGG, I usually disappear from the forums for the month of September; most teachers will tell you that their first month of classes is--ahem! quite challenging!

I am so sorry I didn't see your posts about the seed swap. I have been faithfully saving for the past month or so. Originally you had suggested October, so tonight I logged on, and found out that you had cancelled it. Although I don't have a lot, I do have seeds from all my heirloom tomatoes: Green Zebra, Rainbow, Glacier, Italian Beef, and Rose de Berne. I had hoped to save from a few more vegetable varieties, as well.

I checked the forum back in August, and it was really dead... what happened??! It was my new favorite forum; maybe all the gardeners were just so busy out in their little pieces of heaven, that they just stayed off their computers??

Well, for what it's worth, even if I swapped with just a few people, I'd be thrilled if something did come together.

Thanks for the thought and effort that went into just the preliminary plans.

Mountainsong, in the heart of New York State

Mountainsong, I gave up on this forum in Sept when nobody was posting. You'll notice all other posts end the end of Sept. I figured nobody was much interested. If there is no action on a forum for a week or two, I just stop using that particular forum. It's boring to check all the time when there are no new posts.
To that end, I didn't bother to save any vegetable seeds. I ordered a lot through Heirloomseeds.com and ripped out the summer garden, planted the winter gardens full of greens, root crops and garlic.

Sorry!

GGG

I'm curious about seed swapping.

Do the seeds have to be heirloom or can I just collect seeds at the end of a growing season?

If the process isn't too complicated, I'd be interested in participating next year.

boballi

The problem with a small potager, is too many seeds. I plant a total of 4 tomatoes, 3 varieties. Which is 8 seeds! So I always have extra seeds! Same with peppers and melons.