Thank you too!!! This was my first swap of the year and it was fun! Got some excellent side trades too for my new veggie beds! (which we finally got the wood for the other 3 but our drill doesn't work LOL just my luck, gotta get a new one!)
~Michael
heavenlyfarm

My package went out today # 9505521417724289000870

I sent a flat rate bubble mailer, cost 6.00 to send and I enclosed 6.00 for the return mailer.

Thank you very much, Anna, for organizing this trade. I had tons of fun throwing seeds together and ALL of the awesome side trades. Soooo excited to get my envie back, it'll be an early Christmas present. Thanks again to all who participated and I can't wait to grow some new goodies!!!!

I just became aware of the swap 1 day before cut off, but can send tomorrow if I receive your address. Thanks.

My send list:

Vegetables:
Bean, True Blue (X3)
Bean, Early Idaho (X3)
Bean, French Filet (X2)
Bean, Harvester (X3)
Bean, Red Peanut (X3)
Bean, Tenderstar (X1)
Bean, Yardlong (x3)
Celantro (X2)
Garlic Chives (X1)
Lettuce, Buttercrunch (X1)
Lettuce, Kagran Sommer Bibb (X1)
Lettuce, Mixed (X2)
Lettuce, Prizehead (X1)
Lettuce, Winter Density Cos (X3)
Onion, Walla Walla (X1)
Onion, White Bunching (X1)
Parsley, Italian Flat Leaf (X3)
Pepper, Banana (X4)
Pepper, Numex Big Jim (X1)
Pepper, Poblano (X1)
Pepper, Sante Fe (X1)
Pepper, Trinidad Perfume (X3)
Squash, Buttercup (X3)
Swiss Chard, Lucullus (X1)
Tomato, Americansky Sladkiy (X1)
Tomato, Azoychka (X1)
Tomato, Belarus Orange 1 (X1)
Tomato, Black Cherry (X2)
Tomato, Black and Red Boar (X1)
Tomato, Black Pear (X1)
Tomato, Chocolate Cherry (X1)
Tomato, Dr. Carolyn (X1)
Tomato, Glasnost (X1)
Tomato, Green Doctor's Frosted Cherry (X1)

Ornamentals:
Nasturtium (X2)
Wisteria (X1)
Yucca, Red (X2)

Wish List:
Vegetables - Surprise me!

Welcome coolbythecoast! I'll send you my address right away.

becki - I'll let you know when it arrives!

I received three more envelopes today but didn't get a chance to check the names yet. I'll post back with them later tonight or tomorrow.

On second thought, I remember a big bumblebee on the front of one, so that has to be Garret's! I love it! I'm a bit obsessed...I'm always out photographing the bees in the garden and have even named my cat (Bumblebee Tuna) and my little ornament shop after them (not to mention my username).

I believe the other was cnading, and I think the last one was from iDig or Dave's, but I'll double check and post back later if I'm wrong.

Bumblebee...
Glad you liked it! It didn't sting ya now, did it? Haha!
I'll have to remember you like Bumblebee's...

Welcome coolbythecoast Nice list.

bumblebee23 - I don't remember just what I had on my wish list but if any of the beans or peppers from coolbythecoast's pack make it into mine I'd be rather pleased. Especially the Early Idaho bean or Trinidad Perfume pepper. When I sent in my pack I didn't know I wanted those two. :)

If that complicates things then don't bother with it. Thank you again for organizing this!

No problem catanache - I can definitely put some of those aside for you when they come in.

Two more packages came in yesterday from becki25msmolly & sinbadsmom. Just waiting on 5 more packages to come, and since the deadline to send in packages was this weekend, I'm sure everything will be here in the next week or so.

Bumblebee, did you receive my package yet?

Hey,

Just thought I'd stop in and ask what everyones up too in their Fall gardens?? I am actually surprised at how nice its been now again, it keeps changing! I started pruning some plants back that died off and started bringing in the hummingbird feeders! I also started weeding a new hill filled with more crown vetch and sticker bushes but hopefully i can put some wildflowers and butterfly plants on it!! Also, finished the 5th and last raised bed :)

BumbleBee, Hope you don't mind that I posted. Just figured I'd keep some conversation going during these last nice days and while we wait for new seeds! :)
~Michael
heavenlyfarm

Hi, I've been busy with seed swapping but I did make it out to the greenhouses today to harvest some peppers. I need to do a major fall cleanup in my larger greenhouse. Just can't find the motivation..lol maybe tomorrow...take care beautiful weather here in Indiana

Sorry for not responding here guys...for some reason I wasn't getting email updates again. Feel free to post Michael! It's been beautiful here too, so I've been spending all of my time outside winterizing the gardens and slacking off on my seed sorting while I wait for the last packages to arrive. Just need to plant the last of the spring bulbs and garlic and then I'm done for the year. I wish I had greenhouses Becki! Do you get to garden year-round with them?

tamela_star - Sorry for the delay; your package did arrive here.

I've also received packages from coolbythecoast and Sorellina.

Just waiting for one more package and then I can do the final sorting and get the return packages sent out.

yep switching the gardens over to winter mode too. actually feeling rather on top of things atm, usually i am scrambling for the last minute but this year already have the winter garden planted and coming in good with seedlings for early winter harvest. covered up our hoop houses to keep the peppers and some tomatoes pumping out for a while longer =).

i am lucky that we get a lot of extra time to get it together, even at the elevation in the mountains where i am at, northern california has a nice long fall and growing season. still it makes me push the climate a bit, so i have been making new areas and working out somethings to keep my baby lemon trees alive through the winter =)

Woke up to snow covered ground this morning. So very glad I brought in the last of my stevia, parsley, and shallots last night!

Snow already?? This week we went back down into the 40's with a chance of snow tomorrow and Sunday. ......and now I'm done with the weeding...I pruned back my white hibiscus already which refused to give seeds this year...I think it was the bad winter and she did not come up till LATE this year with only a handful of blooms. Also tamed back my pot of Spearmint and harvested leaves from the trimmings which I am attempting to make hot/iced mint tea for the first time!!! Now that's my excitement for the day! :)

I feel like this is the end of the gardens now for sure, I don't foresee any warm days in the future where I will be weeding all day. I'm ready tho, ready to rest, cook, get new seeds, prune and dream for next year!!
~Michael

P.S. Is it too late for Garlic? where is a good place to get it? I thought about it too late I think cuz Burpees stock is out....

Bumblebee must have quiet the seed shuffle going over there! I was curious when Seed Purge Swap might be sent? Just wondering. Hope it's going well for you.

The last of our outdoor garden winterizing is finally done. Our son threw a bale of straw down from the haymow and covered the raised strawberry bed. I'm experimenting with my little unheated Amish greenhouse that hubby bought me this year. I placed in it 30 plastic milk jugs filled with water and spray painted black to act as 'solar batteries.' They soak up heat in the daytime and give it back off at night - wasn't enough to keep tomatoes and peppers going dug up from a late garden. However, broccoli, microgreens, spinach, kale, mizuna, lettuce, Swiss chard, radishes, turnip greens, and turnips are still growing. Hope my experiment works so we can pick these cool weather veggies in December. It gets really cold here in Ohio, so we'll see what happens.

^^^^
almost wish this was facebook, just so i could LIKE that post =)

i have known of other people doing that, with the water bottles. i am going for more of a hot bed straw insulation style, i also have n unheated really simple hoophouse. i just worked that all out and then mulched around the edges of the hoophouse. just been trying to put down huge amounts of deep mulch for all the plants getting through winter.

but other areas of container gardens and such. we just got news of the coming "killing freeze" so i have been running around trying to finish up the last of it, getting it all together. i am making lots of areas with cardboard down, and then tons of wood chips/leaves/straw...then basically submerging the potted plants and baby trees in that. in the hoop house i have that set up with deep mulch, and some area with raised beds and windows on top.

most of the stuff i have is pretty hardy in this climate, but that should help the ones in pots, because the pot make s it colder for the winter....and all the stuff i want to grow to push my climate a bit.

leilahamaya, sounds like you've been working really hard getting ready for cold weather. I read that if you keep the soil in your potted plants damp, roots are less likely to freeze.

Looks like my turnip greens and Mizuna have grown large enough to pick some leaves and add to a tossed salad - yeah!

Definitely quite the seed shuffle going on over here! All packages are in and I've been doing a lot of sorting and wish list searching. In total, more than 2700 seed packs were sent in, and I have about half of them swapped so far. My work is closed today for Veteran's Day, so I'll be spending the afternoon working on the sorting some more. Promise - I hope to have the return packages out within the next two weeks, but am shooting for next week even if possible. I'd like to get them out as soon as possible before it gets too cold here.

Sadly we just got 12 inches of snow dumped on us, so my growing season is officially over! My dinosaur kale still looks okay even while covered in snow, but everything else was luckily harvested in time or brought inside before the storm hit. My living room looks like a plant nursery...I've got baby lemon trees, a fig tree, hibiscus, bay laurel, succulents...it's a bit of a jungle at the moment.

I love the painted jug/solar warmth idea for an unheated greenhouse. Very curious to hear if your cold weather veggies will last to December that way midwestfarmwife. Best of luck!

Here's a depressing view of my deck - apparently I worried about the garden too much and left all of my outdoor furniture out to be snowed on. Oops.

2,700 packs of seeds!!! Wow! That's a lot of seeds. I appreciate you taking your day off to sort the Seed Purge. It is a really fun swap. I like how you let us do side trades, that was really nice. THANK YOU!!!

As far as that snow, growing up in Michigan was enough snow for me. I will keep my 2 -4 days of snow we get here in Tennessee :) I've been outside bagging up leaves for the new garden beds. I ran out of energy and needed water. Next, I need to go plant garlic and onions. I've been saying that for about a week now. I'd better get on that!

Enjoy your seed sorting Bumblebee and thank you for giving me an idea. You should see me running to the mailbox everyday. C'mon, I know you're guilty of it too. It's nice to look forward to something other than bills in that mail. Yay for seed harvest time!!!
Promise :)

Bumblebee, you must have sent that snow down to zone 5. It looks like January instead of November here in Ohio today.
Update on the 'solar jug' idea. Earlier this week the temp. was 40 degrees inside with no sun to help warm it up. The Broccoli Raab and Turnip Greens were drooping, so I picked them and some Mizuna which was holding up well. I got a gallon ziplock bag of greens to add to tossed salad and cook. I'm sending hubby in to check today since I'm afraid I wouldn't like what I see, LOL!

Hi everyone,

Sounds like we had an awesome swap here with that many packets!!! :)
I am surprised with all of you mentioning snow! We had hail and a dusting of Snow the other day but nothing major. Rain Today and Chilly Wind tomorrow....the cold days and the dusting of snow was enough to knock the zinnias, marigolds and cosmos out of the game so I suppose I will have to clean those up some day this week but I am sad the garden is coming to an end!!
I am actually looking forward to cleaning up the annuals and a last run around the gardens to collect seeds!! Now I wait lol I did so many round robins but they are all sent in now and not many trades happening otherwise so this week is seeming to drag on forever! ( plus this 9 days in a row of odd work shifts is not helping me)

Bumblebee, I am hesitant to add any more plants that need to be indoors or houseplants for part of the year but does your fig tree produce for you? I thought about one in a pot that I could bring in every year! (a friend at work has also been debating one too lol)

and midwestfarmwife, I am sorry to hear that! :(

~michael
heavenlyfarm

Since it's been about 2 weeks, I wonder if we could get an update? I'm impatient with anticipation. :) Also, it's snowing and I'm stuck inside avoiding housework.

heavenlyfarm - I don't know what part of PA you're in but I have two figs in the ground that have overwintered with no care at all. Chicago Hardy Fig & Black Mission I think. I planted them on a whim for a friend and always forget to pay attention so I don't know if the figs ripen here.

You could contact the people at http://www.treesofjoy.com/ for advice/suggestions since they're in Bethlehem, PA. And if you're in eastern PA look into the Backyard Fruit Growers group. I went to their grafting workshop last March, nice people. I think they had something about figs at the Feb workshops but I missed going to those. Actually, I think it was the BYFG facebook page that led me to the Trees of Joy site. Good luck!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry - I've been bad with updates. All return envelopes are going out in the mail on Monday, so I'm hoping they start being received by the end of the next week. I had good intentions to get them sent out sooner, but it's taken me quite a bit longer to sort things than I thought it would.

Michael - this is my first year with the fig tree, but it did produce over the summer outside which surprised me since it's just two feet tall and pretty puny. It lost all of its leaves before I brought it indoors, but they are budding out again and it's looking pretty good. I don't think it will produce figs in the house, but I would love it if it surprised me again.

Yay! Thank you for letting us know. :)

And Thank You for all the work you put into this!

awesome possum =)

thanks for spending all that time sorting all the seeds !

Thank you!! I can't wait to see what I got :) No seed mail lately so I can't wait for the return of this swap!! Thank you so much Bumblebee!! (just might have to try a fig next year too)
~Michael
heavenlyfarm

I received my package a few hours ago. Thank YOU all who shared your seeds with me.

Thanks Annie for hosting.

Oh if my knees weren't so bad I would be jumping up and down like a kid. That package is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I might just hug this package to sleep tonight. lol Thank you so much Anna! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You had to have looked at my whole want list.... I'm just shocked. I'm going to melt now. THANK YOU!!!

Thank you to everyone who sent on this and the extras. WOW! So grateful.

Promise :)

still waiting for my seeds, hope they do not get lost in the christmas package rush

Holy fantastic seed swap! I just got my seeds today and what a wonderful assortment I received. Thank you so much Anna, for all your hard work and the fabulous seeds that you sent. And a big thanks to everyone who participated and shared their marvelous seeds. I can check a few more things off my "want" list, thanks to all of you!

Also, don't forget to leave Anna a review on the Rate & Review forum, if you were happy with the swap. The more good feedback she gets, the more participants she will get in years to come. Link below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Anna's Rate & Review Thread

I haven't recieved mine yet as well. Hopefully I'll get mine tomorrow. Can't wait!!

I got my seeds yesterday! :) You should have seen me dance around with joy! Lol My husband just gave me that "you're crazy" look. Thank you so much everyone! And THANK YOU bumblebee for putting all this together for us!

Omg, you people need to stop posting these posts!! ;) lol I am getting anxious to see mine!!! I think after I open this one, I will start planning my new veggie raised beds because mostly all the veggies I wanted, I have or should get a few in this swap!!!

I think some of our mailman(woman) are being mean!! Lol yesterday I was disappointed to not receive this swap or any other group swap but excited when I found a handwritten letter to me! I thought "hmm I didn't do any recent trades but maybe secret santa?"....well I opened it and immediately was outraged!! LOL a handwritten card to get me to join StateFarm!!! JUNK! Lol
~Michael

Michael -- Roflmao. That was a great story. I have to admit that I didn't see that coming. :) Gave me a good laugh! Hopefully you get your pack today.

Glad you guys are receiving your packages and enjoying your new seeds! I did have to ship a few envelopes a day or two late, so I apologize if a couple are delayed. I do have tracking info for almost every package, so if someone doesn't receive theirs by the end of the week, please let me know and I'll check the status. Mail is always a bit slow this time of year, but everyone should definitely be receiving theirs soon if they haven't already.

Thanks to everyone who participated! I had a lot of fun and am ready for spring so I can plant my new seeds!

Michael - your story cracked me up too! Isn't that the worst?

Got my seeds this mornign and I must say I think I am going to have to double the size of my garden this year! Thanks to everyone for shareing and a special thanks to bumblebee for hosting.

I got mine! Wow, it's an early Christmas!! Thanks guys!

Hello Everyone!! :)

So today went much better....I got the arrival of 2 seed trades and this Swap in the mail!! I was so excited and then the UPS guy also decided to be nice and deliver my Pet Supplies(Gifts) for my animals!!

Honestly, I spent the morning cleaning and giving all the birdies and gerbil, their new Christmas toys and rearranging the cages!
I just sat down and opened this swap with my sister and made a guessing game out of it to see if I could guess Varieties or the kind of seed!! Lol Tons of Fun and WOW, so many wonderful seeds!!! I am actually thrilled with all the new veggie seeds(I plan on starting to plan my new veggie beds now for next year:)) and the best flower seeds I could ask for! Seriously, I got so many wants I have been craving for a long time!! :)

Thanks to Bumblebee and everyone who participated!! I am drooling over the potential of my new garden next year!!! I can't wait :)

~Michael
heavenlyfarm

got my seeds yesterday and, thanks so much for all your hard work, so glad mine did not get lost in the christmas mail rush. I have not run across one seed that I would trade back off. Thanks for doing a wonderful job hosting.

Received mine yesterday as well. Thank you! Had a lot of fun looking through the pack. I was impressed by how many of the random ones fit me, I'll be using almost all of these. Nice mind reading there. :) Thanks again!

My package came in today!! I am looking forward to planting them in the spring!! Thank you for trading!

My package arrived yesterday. I am thrilled with everything I received! I looked through them several times yesterday, sorting vegetables in one bag, annuals in another, and perennials in a 3rd one. Thank you so much to everyone who sent side trades for me and a special thank you to Bumblebee for all her hard work organizing and mailing them back. I couldn't be more pleased and am very excited to plant them in the spring.

my package arrived!
the bad news: it was damaged, and had "arrived damaged" stamped on it by the post office.
the good news =) nothing seems to be missing! i think it got torn open but somehow it all made it here. cause there was a lot of seeds in there, and it looks good.

and thank you all, especially bumblebee =) this was a good swap. one of the better ones i have been in =) as far as variety. i got some stuff i really wanted, some things to google that i havent yet heard of, and a lot of things i didnt even know how much i wanted them =)still sorting them out but so far i have found a few that made me say YES ! out loud! and a lot of other good ones....

you all rock socks =)

Oh no Leila! I'm sorry - I usually go severely overboard with shipping tape. I really hope nothing is missing, and am very glad to hear that it was still full!

Also glad to hear more packages have arrived! Please let me know if you haven't received yours yet. There are six swappers that I haven't seen post yet and I'll check out their tracking info when I get home tonight. I think a few are from other countries so that might explain a delay, but I had a swapper from another site receive hers in The Netherlands in six days. International first class mail is apparently pretty speedy at the moment.

I got mine on Saturday or Monday. And it was loaded!!! Haha! Thanks a bunch. Sorry I didn't post something sooner. Our internet has been awful! Had someone come out yesterday to fix it. Now our speed is worse - but it works.

It's been a bunch of fun in this swap - Thanks Bumblebee!

Garret,

I have to comment on your super neat printing on the seed packs you sent me. Most guys aren't neat when it comes to printing and writing.

It's going to be hard to decide what to plant this spring with such an awesome selection!

it was all good bumblebeee. i guess the way it was ripped worked out ok even still. it was like a long tear in the middle ???!! but then all the seeds were stuffed in together tight enough that i think they all held together. luck of the draw, there was a larger ziplock sort of blocking the hole =)

thanks again for doing this. i already planted up a bunch of stuff today =)

Oh my!!! Christmas came early over here. What an awesome bunch of goodies. Soi many great things to plant. Thank you for doing this great swap...sooo much time to sort and pack. Thank you bumblebee. Thanks to everyone that was involved. All the great side trades. thank you..