National Seed Swap Day is January 26

Coming this weekend is the annual National Seed Swap Day in metro Washington, D.C. I have attended a few of these events, hosted by Washington Gardener Magazine, over the past few years and have had a wonderful time. It is a way to meet and talk to local gardeners at all levels, hear about trends from speakers, take home some edibles and flower seeds and inspire your garden planning.

I will be bringing some zinnia and marigold seeds that I started saving this fall, although bringing seeds not a requirement. It’s easy to makeyour own seed envelopes using pages from seed catalogs.

Haul from last year's seed swap!

Next step is to make a list of the seeds I really want to find. Last year my goal was to start tomatoes from seed and I was able to get 5 or 6 varieties. You might be completely overwhelmed by the variety of flower, vegetable and herb seeds available so having a list of what types of seeds you want to grow this year will make your experience much better. And, you probably won’t get everything you want, so make priorities. 

How Do I Find a Seed Swap in my Area?
I will be shaking things up this year by attending the University of Maryland Extension’s seed swap, held at the Odenton Library. I am not working right now and this event is FREE! Plus, I am completing my Master Gardener internship and this will give me some continuing education hours.

After a quick Google search, I see there are many swaps all over the country and they are not just on January 26 so look around for a swap in your area. I will report back on my haul next week. 

Share your #seedswapday experience in the comments and on social media!

Find a Listserv of Local People for Gardening Advice and Community

Who do you turn to online when you have a garden problem or question? There are so many resources out there, but how do you know how knowledgeable the site is?

Find a Local Listserv

I like listservs because there are a lot of voices to offer advice.

I had a question this past week about my tomato plants that seem to be growing really slowly this year. This has never happened to me before! The plants look healthy and they have started flowering but they seem to be only about 1/3 the size they should be for late June/early July.

Left Brandywine heirloom, right Jet Set.

My trusty resource is a Yahoo group I belong to, the Washington Gardner. It is described as a “Free, open discussion list for Washington DC area gardeners -- DC, MD, VA, WV, PA, and DE -- to share gardening information specific to our region. Hosted by Washington Gardener magazine. www.WashingtonGardener.com” The group is so helpful and knowledgeable. Even when I don’t have a specific question, I learn so much from reading the posts.

Here’s my question (cumberland68 is me) – and you are never alone when you are having a gardening problem!

Every day Kathy Jentz, the group manager and edit of Washington Gardener magazine posts here “Gardening Tip of the Day.” So she answered my question with her tip yesterday.

 

This is trusted advice, off to Home Depot I go today. I will report back on how the fish fertilizer did.

I also am a member of the SilverSpringGardenClub and takomahort listservs that serve the Mid-Atlantic. Take a look at Yahoo Groups, there is probably a gardening listserv in your area.

Social Media

I really enjoy looking at pictures of gardens from around the world. Social media makes it so easy to share your garden pics right from your smartphone or tablet. Download the app from your app store to your phone, create your account and you are ready to go. I really like using the Hootsuite app to follow Twitter (@advncingtheplot) and I just started posting to Instagram (advncingtheplot). For ideas and inspiration I use Pinterest. It is a good medium for flipping through photos and archiving my garden’s progress.  

Hashtags make finding certain types of posts easy. I like to follow #gardendc, #gardenchat and #growyourown. Make sure you add hashtags to your posts, too.

What are your go-to social media resources for garden advice and inspiration?