Tormato wrote: ↑Thu May 09, 2024 9:16 pm

karrr wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2024 10:11 pm Hi dear Garry!
Woo hoo!! My incredible magic package full of lovely seeds arrived today safe and sound! Giant thanks for pulling it off once more despite the pain and to everyone who participated and all the amazing people who sent in my wishes! Thank you so very much!!

I never realized that so many zinnia varieties existed!! I wonder if it’s too late to plant zinnias or should I wait till next year?

In NJ, I think it's almost a bit too early to plant zinnias. They love the heat. I hear mixed results at starting indoors early, and transplanting out. Some say stunted growth and smaller flowers, others say no problems. And, I know I didn't send anywhere near the amount of varieties to cross my path over the past few years, as it's 100+ varieties (if I'm not having another senior moment).

A typical zinnia takes 65 to 75 days to bloom from sowing, some outside that range.

Awesome! Not too late then! All of the zinnia varieties sound amazing. I love them and so do the bees, butterflies and the birds! Thank you Garry!!

My package arrived a few days ago, took awhile before I could check them out. Lots of new tomatoes to select for next year. New beans and peppers to try, and lots of flowers that I will direct sow. Lots to research. Thank you for all the work. And an extra thank you to the person that sent in the yellow envelope with many of my wish list items. That's a great idea.
Betty

BettyC-5 wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2024 11:42 pm My package arrived a few days ago, took awhile before I could check them out. Lots of new tomatoes to select for next year. New beans and peppers to try, and lots of flowers that I will direct sow. Lots to research. Thank you for all the work. And an extra thank you to the person that sent in the yellow envelope with many of my wish list items. That's a great idea.
Betty

Later in the year, I'll be posting about such envelopes with wish list items.

arrivals...

Well, this is really embarrassing, as I finally got to my basement, that is now starting to warm up. I was in search of my collection of winter squash seeds, which I still can't find.

Christmas cards...

from many people, unopened 'til now, some with seeds that I will be planting. Meanwhile, my tomato starts have been on hold until today, the longest I've ever delayed a start. And, I can't find many of the seeds that I set aside to plant. While winding down the swap, I'll have to go through everything one last time, and get it all in order for the summer inventory. Hopefully this means things will be set for a smooth and orderly next swap. Yeah, I can dream.

I've a bad cold, so what I planned to mail today will have to go out Monday.

And, wrapping up the swap is always the most difficult part, as there can be loose ends. This year has plenty of them, such as packages that never arrived, here, unknown on my end if a package was going to be sent or not, packages with just seeds and postage, no wish list, no T'junction user name or any contact info like email, etc...

On Sunday, I'll list packages to go out (hopefully) on Monday. I'll also list everyone that I still need to mail to. If someone doesn't see their name or T'junction user name, contact me via PM, or respond here.

This huge screw-up due to major rehab of Post Office computer systems, new software and major incompetence has inconvenienced the whole country. I call the Atlanta Distribution System the Place Where Mail Goes To Die. Two months ago it took ten days for the electric bill to get here and it was mailed just 7 miles away.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-e ... rcna146479

GoDawgs wrote: ↑Sat May 18, 2024 5:31 pm This huge screw-up due to major rehab of Post Office computer systems, new software and major incompetence has inconvenienced the whole country. I call the Atlanta Distribution System the Place Where Mail Goes To Die. Two months ago it took ten days for the electric bill to get here and it was mailed just 7 miles away.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-e ... rcna146479

Talking with people in various swaps, the past 3 years, Georgia and Alabama is where packages go into a coma. Several times, things sent out in December didn't get delivered until April or May.

Here, I have a new mailperson (I think), or maybe there is more than one new person delivering the mail. Already this year, I've received 3 packages (not letters) that were for neighbors. I generally get a wrong package about once every two years.

Toby is our mail carrier and that’s been the way since we moved here in 2017. I feel like Toby knows me better than I know him. I need to ask more about Toby. Dawn and Frieda worked at our central post office. Dawn was a year younger than me and I was the same age as her brother Ricky. We all went to the same high school. Frieda was either married to or a common law spouse of my first cousin’s maternal uncle. Her family had a well known restaurant/gathering place in a neighboring town. Her husband had his own business that then sold that to my uncle and Frieda’s husband ended up working with my uncle and cousins. Both Frieda and Dawn have retired. I always felt like they took care of me at the Post Office. Frieda was a big fisherman/fisherperson and we’d swap fish stories. Dawn used to complain about her husband. The new folks at the post office that replaced Dawn and Frieda I don’t know very well. There’s been some turn over.

Mail that gets deposited in our mailbox at our post office gets routed to the big city to the north, even if it’s a piece of local mail. I could get Frieda or Dawn to keep the mail local as sending the mail to Houston to then come back here always seemed idiotic. Houston was the black hole of post offices. Mail would go there and never be seen again.

It was kind of a lost week for me, but, departures...

CAN Fr N
CO Do H
IL Bu B
MI Br K
NE Ge L
NY Od B

Hopefully, now, I can sort through the mess of winding down the swap. I went through all of the paper correspondence and online postings, trying to match every real name with a corresponding forum handle. Soon I can finally post about who's left on the list to get packages out to. When outlining the "rules" of the swap, later in the year, I will mention that it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to mail in, along with the seeds, your T'junction handle, and/or an email address, for possibly needed communication. If doing an online wish list, please still include a note about contact info.

And, after running the swap for 15 years, or so, I figured out how to organize the seed collection better. If I knew that I was going to do this for another 10 or more years, I'd sink the $500+ in materials, and an unknown amount of time to build it. At this time, though, I can only take it one year at a time.

I think I forgot both an email address and my handle. Sorry.

I don't see my package listed among these. My package included a paid return postage label and every seed packet had my handle. WI Ri J.

JayneR13 wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2024 4:39 pm I don't see my package listed among these. My package included a paid return postage label and every seed packet had my handle. WI Ri J.

Your forum handle and real name were easy to match.

Your package should go out on Tuesday. While it's now too late to start tomatoes and peppers (those seeds will still be included), direct sewn seeds should be fine to plant in about a week?

Tormato wrote: ↑Sun May 26, 2024 7:12 am

JayneR13 wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2024 4:39 pm I don't see my package listed among these. My package included a paid return postage label and every seed packet had my handle. WI Ri J.

Your forum handle and real name were easy to match.

Your package should go out on Tuesday. While it's now too late to start tomatoes and peppers (those seeds will still be included), direct sewn seeds should be fine to plant in about a week?

Thank you! I can still direct sow things like greens and radishes that are quick to mature. Tomatoes, peppers, and squashes are usually started indoors and transplanted. There's always next year however, and any dwarf tomaotes can be grown for seed in my hydroponics units.

I greatly appreciate what you do and look forward to your package. It's a gardener's Christmas!

JayneR13 wrote: ↑Sun May 26, 2024 7:39 am

Tormato wrote: ↑Sun May 26, 2024 7:12 am

JayneR13 wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2024 4:39 pm I don't see my package listed among these. My package included a paid return postage label and every seed packet had my handle. WI Ri J.

Your forum handle and real name were easy to match.

Your package should go out on Tuesday. While it's now too late to start tomatoes and peppers (those seeds will still be included), direct sewn seeds should be fine to plant in about a week?

Thank you! I can still direct sow things like greens and radishes that are quick to mature. Tomatoes, peppers, and squashes are usually started indoors and transplanted. There's always next year however, and any dwarf tomaotes can be grown for seed in my hydroponics units.

I greatly appreciate what you do and look forward to your package. It's a gardener's Christmas!

Let's just not make it Christmas in July.

I'll include the earliest maturing things that I have, although I have no idea if I sent them to you in the last swap. Hopefully I'll never have such issues like this again. But, one mistake I made was sending out packages going from south to north, not realizing those in the furthest north can have much shorter growing seasons. Most left on the list to send out package are Wisconsin, Wyoming and Canada. My bad. I'll have to change it to south, then furthest north, and then back to mid-America. Newbies are always going to be first in line no matter where they live, as prior participants should have enough things to start with.

And, one change to the next swap will be a shorter specific variety wish list (total number of tomatoes and peppers). This has always varied between 10 and 25, with my guessing how much I can handle each year. In 2024, I guessed wrong. For the next swap it will be 15.

Also, I will be mailing the specific wish list varieties out to everyone separate and early, using just an envelope and single stamp. Packages will go out at a later date. I will start a separate thread just for this 15 variety wish list. Since micros are ever increasing in demand, and people grow them over the winter, it would be nice for almost all packages (seems that I had a deadline of late November that gets completely ignored ) to arrive here by the end of the year. The other wish list thread will be for types of tomatoes (the categories) and peppers requested, along with all other veggie/fruit/flower seeds.

Tormato wrote: ↑Sun May 26, 2024 9:52 am Also, I will be mailing the specific wish list varieties out to everyone separate and early, using just an envelope and single stamp. Packages will go out at a later date. I will start a separate thread just for this 15 variety wish list.

This is will be a great change!

steve ok wrote: ↑Sun May 26, 2024 11:43 am

Tormato wrote: ↑Sun May 26, 2024 9:52 am Also, I will be mailing the specific wish list varieties out to everyone separate and early, using just an envelope and single stamp. Packages will go out at a later date. I will start a separate thread just for this 15 variety wish list.

This is will be a great change!

It took this year's disaster for me to come up with the solution. I will start the new "15 variety (early mailing) wish list" thread, soon.

Garden and learn, Gary. I can only imagine how much work this is! I'll be happy with whatever I get as long as it's legal. No Jimson weed please! LOL jk But yeah, July is a bit late for planting here. By then it's things that mature in under 60 days, which is still a decent amount. I'll likely plant beans in my garlic bed once I dig my garlic, for example. I'll plant next year's garlic by the end of September because any gardening past mid-October isn't promised. I've usually got my beds cleaned out by then, in fact.

Jayne

departure...

WI Ri J - Since it's too late to start tomatoes and peppers, of those I've only included about 3 dozen micro varieties, that you can grow indoors in the off-season. Time constraints in winding down this year's swap (much too late) is the reason for micros only. Other tomatoes and peppers can be had in the next swap. I've included all kinds of odds and ends, many of which are early, and many of which are unknown, to me, if early.

Tormato wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2024 7:07 am departure...

WI Ri J - Since it's too late to start tomatoes and peppers, of those I've only included about 3 dozen micro varieties, that you can grow indoors in the off-season. Time constraints in winding down this year's swap (much too late) is the reason for micros only. Other tomatoes and peppers can be had in the next swap. I've included all kinds of odds and ends, many of which are early, and many of which are unknown, to me, if early.

That sounds wonderful actually! I grow the micro varieties in my hydroponics units throughout the year so those are most welcome! Many of the varieties I'm growing this year came from previous year's swaps, both tomatoes and peppers. And I'm so looking forward to seeing the odds & ends! So many wonderful things to grow, so little garden space!

The MMMM package just arrived, and once again, I'm overwhelmed! If I grow 30 varieties each year, and if I live to 110, I'll have made a good dent in them...but of course, that doesn't count the packets from last year"s swap that I haven't caught up with! Once again I'll add my thanks and gratitude to the comments of all the others who continue to benefit from your herculean efforts.

package received.

looked briefly inside. looks like lots of different bean seeds, and greens. won't be
too late to plant those. cukes, and squash same thing. will give it a better look later.
ten hour day at work, need to rest a bit.

thanks gary


keith