NarnianGarden wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2020 11:42 pm Yep, the customs regulations have become stricter... I better not risk sending stuff which may get confiscated.. and the stuff arriving to my end may end up confiscated as well ..

It's OK that you not send anything in. If you are looking for a few varieties let me know. I'll probably not risk trying to send 60 varieties enclosed in a Christmas card, but I will risk about 10.

I have a friend who lives in Victoria, Australia, who I routinely mail seeds to. I even put small lots garden seeds on the outside of the envelope, and after all these years, they still get to him every time. No greeting cads anymore, for years now. My point is, they arent that picky in their customs.

Tormato wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 1:13 pm

PlainJane wrote: ↑Fri Aug 28, 2020 7:57 pm How about if I just want to donate seeds to the swap?

That would be great.

But, I'm going to ask if there is just one variety of veggie or fruit seed that you might be looking for?

[mention]Tormato[/mention], I can probably think of something but really have too many seeds.

Sounds fun. I have quite a few unusual varieties and would also love to add to my collection. Would I send in seeds with the bubble mailer? How many packs and how many seeds per pack should one send?

Tormato wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:01 pm

NarnianGarden wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2020 11:42 pm Yep, the customs regulations have become stricter... I better not risk sending stuff which may get confiscated.. and the stuff arriving to my end may end up confiscated as well ..

It's OK that you not send anything in. If you are looking for a few varieties let me know. I'll probably not risk trying to send 60 varieties enclosed in a Christmas card, but I will risk about 10.

Thanks, I'll do that...

OhioGardener wrote: ↑Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:18 am Sounds fun. I have quite a few unusual varieties and would also love to add to my collection. Would I send in seeds with the bubble mailer? How many packs and how many seeds per pack should one send?

I'll answer this after I charge the batteries, the computer's and mine.

Ginger2778 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 5:24 pm I have a friend who lives in Victoria, Australia, who I routinely mail seeds to. I even put small lots garden seeds on the outside of the envelope, and after all these years, they still get to him every time. No greeting cads anymore, for years now. My point is, they arent that picky in their customs.

Lucky him. Still waiting on the envelop that had tundra et al in it here.

OhioGardener wrote: ↑Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:18 am Sounds fun. I have quite a few unusual varieties and would also love to add to my collection. Would I send in seeds with the bubble mailer? How many packs and how many seeds per pack should one send?

Yes, you send seed packs in with the bubble mailer. A minimum of 5 seeds per pack.

As for a number of packs, this swap goes smoothly with 10 packs of each variety. Even more smoothly is when participants send in 50 packs of a rare variety. This would be the "Nifty Fifty" part of the swap. I do require that anyone who would want to send in 50 packs of one variety to PM me first to see whether that variety has already been common in past swaps.

And, I'm also accepting "bulk" packs of seeds, large amounts in a single pack. I never know if I have enough time to repack all of them into many small packs for the current year, but I should be able to pack them all for the following year.

Whwoz wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:33 pm

Ginger2778 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 5:24 pm I have a friend who lives in Victoria, Australia, who I routinely mail seeds to. I even put small lots garden seeds on the outside of the envelope, and after all these years, they still get to him every time. No greeting cads anymore, for years now. My point is, they arent that picky in their customs.

Lucky him. Still waiting on the envelop that had tundra et al in it here.

That is sad. They were never returned to me.

I've posted about the swap at Tomatoville and Houzz/Gardenweb. Does anyone recommend any other sites that are worth joining and posting at. I've tried, but have never been accepted to join any of the private Facebook groups.

Tormato wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 4:42 pm I've posted about the swap at Tomatoville and Houzz/Gardenweb. Does anyone recommend any other sites that are worth joining and posting at. I've tried, but have never been accepted to join any of the private Facebook groups.

You might try the Homegrown Goodness forum, Gardenstew, Dave's Garden (if you have a membership), Not Just Tomatoes, The Organic Gardening Community, Helpful Gardener (see the menu), garden.org's forum, and even Keeping a Family Cow (they have an active gardening forum). You might also try mentioning it on the Garden Shed live chat on gardening.stackexchange.com if you're feeling very adventurous. Maybe even The Open Source Plant Breeding forum. I'm not sure if TomatoMania still exists, but that might be an option.

Maybe you could get Ozark from TV to spread the word on Dave's Garden. He might still be on there. You could message him on Dave's garden instead of TV if discussing DG is out of the question on TV. His username on DG is just Ozark, if I recall correctly.

I'd like to participate in the seed swap! I don't have many seeds, but I should have enough to put together 10 packs of 3 varieties, so 30 packs. Would that be enough to participate, or do I need a sponsor? I think if I got 30 packs back, that'd be way more than I'd have room for.

@Tormato - Thank you for hosting this! This will be my first seed swap.

Bobby

bobrarian wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:07 pm I'd like to participate in the seed swap! I don't have many seeds, but I should have enough to put together 10 packs of 3 varieties, so 30 packs. Would that be enough to participate, or do I need a sponsor? I think if I got 30 packs back, that'd be way more than I'd have room for.

@Tormato - Thank you for hosting this! This will be my first seed swap.

Bobby

Do you need a sponsor? Like much of how the swap works, the answer is never clear. Or, the answer in the form of an overstuffed ravioli of a bubble mailer is the answer to a question not asked. The swap is mostly a mystery.

So, ask yourself what specific varieties would you like (your wish list), and/or what specific types of tomatoes would you like (the categories). Then ask yourself how many can I plant? Then take that number and multiply by 3 to 5 times, as seeds are generally viable for 3 to 5 years.

I hope this asks or answers any questions.

If anyone knows how to run the gauntlet at Houzz/Gardenweb, I'm trying to find the little tab in order to post a new thread in Growing Tomatoes, Round Robin Exchange, and Seed Exchange. I can't find it on any of those pages.

[mention]Tormato[/mention]
I configure my Houzz sidebar so they show up there. There's an edit link by 'Your Topics'.

Here are some useful links:
https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/tomato
https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/roundrobin
https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/the-seed-exchange
https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/tomato-exchange
https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/v ... e-exchange
https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/cornucop

Here's the one I used to have a hard time finding! (But it's not applicable to the swap.):
https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/cooking

To start a post, use the input box in the banner.

The large dark banner at the top "Hi ______,what are you working on?" I thought that would take me to some house project forum, from where I couldn't escape.

[mention]Tormato[/mention] If you are logged in and already at the Growing Tomatoes page, you should be able to start a new discussion on that board by clicking in the Start a discussion Space.


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Then that takes you to another input screen -

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Since you are already at the Growing Tomatoes Group, it should show up there. I'll admit I have not posted anything new for a long time so can't say for sure that it works well. I would ignore that space on the 2nd screen up at the top for Houzz "search discussions". Confusing.

Are hybrid seeds (for a fee) part of the this year's MMMM?

agee wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2020 4:21 pm Are hybrid seeds (for a fee) part of the this year's MMMM?

agge, I don't know if the Mystery Donor is sending in seeds or not, however I will be sending in hybrid seeds not for a fee of:

Goliath
Big Beef
Better Boy
Jet Star
Beefmaster
Steak Sandwich

I am not posting this in the Spoiler Alert because I don't want to read that thread. Feel free to put some of these on your Wish List.

Hybrids will be a minor part of the swap, leftovers from past MMMMs and anything new coming in. There won't be a fee, and there never will be a fee, just a "suggested donation". No suggested donation this year, as the leftover hybrids are aging. Past suggested donations were only a partial reimbursement to one who purchased about $200 worth of seeds.

After the swap is over, about January 2nd, perhaps we can discuss a group buy and split up of some hybrids (like Sun Orange?). Those reading this who might participate can start coming up with varieties. In past MMMMs, many people liked how they could get samples (5 to 10 seeds) of 7 hybrid varieties for the suggested donation of $5. And, some liked the 7 varieties for $0. If we don't do it early next year, we can think about doing it in the 2021 MMMM.