Pass the Parcel seed swap

Dear Ivory,
it is very interesting this project of yours of walking/hiking through Europe.
I would like to do something similar but : by bike and hotel combination, so it will have to wait until my three children can stand on a bike properly (few years)!!!
By the time you are finished with the tour I may even have some cuttings to give you...!!!
It will be nice to hear of your news as you go along...

 

When do recon seed box to arrive as maybe fuchsia cuttings from me by Spring.

 

Dear Ivory I wish you well on your venture and will follow it with interest when the time comes for you to put down your roots again I have no doubt we will be here to help you stock up, you will have lots of opportunity to see wonderful gardens on your travels so you can post us pictures ,I admire your courage and wish you all the luck in the world for a safe and enlightening sabatical.:thumb:

 

Chen a bit late but could this idea be done virtually, we could have a co-ordinator everyone posts a list of seeds they have spare to a co-ordinator who then publishes an up to date list weekly/monthly and who has offered these seeds then anyone who wishes a packet contact the person direct the cost the price of an envelope,or a forum I am on we send all spare seeds and pollen to a seed/pollen bank a list is published the seed banker dispatches the seeds to anyone who requires them ,a small fee is charged for postage and packaging.The pit falls I see in the present method of distribution it could be cost prohibitive if the box of seeds ends up shoe box or suitcase size the cost of postage would be a lot more costly than the envisaged £2 (I know what it costs to send a few seeds abroad in a small padded envelope).If the box goes missing the whole thing fails.If someone in the chain is slow to respond for any reason (off line or ill etc) again it will cause problems.

 

Who will be the coordinator-was that you volunteering Walnut?:wink:

What a good idea!


On the other hand there isn`t anything to stop more than one parcel being sent-as long as you have the address of the person after you. I have had loads of seeds but given them away before this idea started so it would be nice to just post them to the next person as and when.

The parcel is now currently en route to Ivory in Germany

 

I thank you a lot Walnut! I don't know about courage, sometimes I think I would do anything rather than facing another whole move, lol.:D

Waiting patiently for the parcel Lollipop! I will keep some seeds to send to YOU.

 

Ivory - very best wishes for your tour, it sounds wonderful. We will miss you.

Walnut - I think the seed box is a very good idea, but you have a good point - there are difficulties. I also think that there would be a lot of work for a single central organiser.

An alternative suggestion is to have a special seed swap thread. And for people to go out into their gardens and collect seeds from say 5 or 10 different plants and put a list of those in a post. Then let other people contact them if they wanted something. I personally would be very happy to collect some seeds and to buy a book of second class stamps, and to sent out seeds until the book of stamps was exhausted. That way your costs are limited and no one need feel that they have been taken advantage of. If you start making even a small charge there is a danger of doubling the postage costs as you have to post both the payment and the seeds themselves. There is a limited number of seeds that can be put in a box, but almost no limit to what can be posted on this board. As we have the facility of editing our own posts, we can delete the items that are "sold out" and add additional ones if we want.

Additionally it might encourage some people like myself, who have too many seeds and plants and consequently wouldn't want to receive the box, but who would be very willing to send some seeds out. And, who knows, one or more people might like to post unusual seeds that won't appeal to most, but could be of great interest to a few. An additional possible advantage of posting a list, is that you might only collect the seed if someone asks for it. I have many different kinds of plant in my garden, and would be happy to send seed of any of them, but I don't have any incentive to collect seed from them all - just in case.

I think it would need a concerted effort with several people doing it at the same time. We already have the facility for an individual to do it now, but there is not much incentive if you think you are the only one. You may or may not want to request that all receivers of seeds should offer something - it could be a way of increasing the seeds on offer.

 

Hi, PeterS and Walnut, you guys got a lot of valid points there, maybe something we could adopt in futhure.

For the moment I think Claire (lollipop73) is doing a good job to keep everyone informed about the list and tracking of the parcel. As long as the person who post and receive parcel keep us informated it should be ok. It is like test water let us see if it work out ok. Maybe one day when the cycle is finished I will recieve the final parcel and tell everyone what is inside - can't wait.

Just a thought for people who want to get involved in futher swap, since Christmas is aproaching, we could think about Christmas swap - we can do our format - maybe like peterS suggested, list our seeds and people can shop around for what they like etc. Something for people to think about.

 

I am happy to edit the list, but I had trouble with people sending me their addresses.

Maybe I should just let people know I am not a nutter ( possibly Charlie Manson told people that aswell so........., but I am far too obsessed with being out in my own garden to bother with stalking people LOL).



This will work if everyone remembers that you can trust a gardener. I hate to let my seeds go to waste, even when I give them to people I know in real life, I know they will probably put them on a shelf and forget about them, but WE won`t do that will we. I certainly haven`t.

If everyone on the list sends their address only to the person above them then that will at least help.

Come on guys and gals, give it a go. It will work.

PS Ivory, I do love you you know.

 

New addition
chengjing
lollipop73
Init sister
youngdaisydee
intermiplants
Ivory
kalmia_latifolia
Little Miss Road Rage
sweetpea101
willow13
walnut
takemore02withit
Scotkat
Stingo
Clematis
pamsdish
Moyra

 

sounds good to me, I have PM'ed you with address. Keep up good work, claire.

I am off for holiday far east for a couple of weeks, will try get some unusual seeds hopefully. see you guys later.

 

The packet is safely here. I apologize that myown seed collection will not look so neat andorderly as what is already in it,but I am sure you will be able to work over this disappointment :D

The packet will be on its way again on monday or tuesday!

 

Could i tag along please ???? i have loads of rare bean seeds ect done a few of these now and its great fun ,

 

Of course you may tag along, the more the merrier will the dance be
chengjing
lollipop73
Init sister-Shobna, I have accidentally deleted your PM with your address, please resend-thank you
Ivory
kalmia_latifolia
Little Miss Road Rage
sweetpea101
willow13
walnut
takemore02withit
Scotkat
Stingo
Clematis
pamsdish
Moyra
Flowerof shona


Please all remember to send your address to the person above you

 

Hi All,

First, thank you to those of you who have pm`d me about the seed swop-some great ideas that I thought we should all see if we like or not, cos whilst I will keep up the list I ain`t runnin` the show.

There was a suggestion that a few parcels on the go might be an option. What do you reckon?

What if someone is away on hols, or just too busy when it`s their turn? What do we do? I reckon we just pm the person in front of us the info and pass on the address they have so they in effect just "miss a turn"?

What about fresher goods-ie cuttings and stuff? I don`t know how long they would safely last in transit or indeed if it is advisable. What do you think?