Well, I spent the entire 4th of July either outside harvesting lavender, weeding, or inside sorting and bundling the lavender while cooling off in the AC. I did stop from the lavender task long enough to pick onions, herbs, and squash and make the marinated veggies for the grill. Thunderstorms moved through in the early evening; so we didn't drive over to the town's fireworks display but instead watched the Boston Pops on TV and DH helped with the lavender bundling. THEN...on July 5th my hubby, son and I drove to Burnsville for a Lavender festival at a small agritourist organic farm in that area and met up with my niece and 3 of her friends. My niece and her friends are just starting into gardening veggies and herbs organically and they had a lot of questions. We were walking through the lavender labyrinth and I was identifying the different lavender cultivars and talking about the uses for each type as well as growing tips. I suddenly realized that I was surrounded by 20 or 30 very attentive people that I didn't know. Apparently word got out that a free lavender growing seminar was being held in the lavender labyrinth. LOL. I was hounded by tourists the rest of the visit; I had to keep telling folks that I had NO IDEA where things were located on the 24-acre farm as I was a guest on a first-time visit as well.

I'm sorry for requesting the list so soon. I wasn't trying to start anything or cause a problem for the swap. I just remembered that last year it was being posted and updated all along as people were joining. I wasn't trying to only send to a few that had their lists up before everyone else, just so you all know. I am just still very new in knowing what kinds of things others want is all. I thought if I saw something on several lists that it must mean a lot of people might like that type of seed is all. I am making an order because I have to if I want to have anything to send in. I would hate to make an order for things that nobody is wanting. It's no big deal, though. I'll just place an order for things that I want and hopefully others will be putting some of the same items on their own want lists so that I can share the extras. I think I'll go ahead and place the order, then put down what I ordered on my "haves" list so others can add them to their wants if they're at all interested in them. I hope that sounds like a good plan. Again, I apologize. I absolutely did not want to cause any problems. I was just trying to see if I would be able to have anything to send in that others wanted. Blessings, Angela

None. I am resting up for a day at the fair with the grand kids tomorrow. All fireworks are illegal here which means I may get to see a show from my yard if I'm lucky. Or I may take the dog and go drive somewhere and park to watch them. The more illegal they get the more spectacular the displays are. People complain about it every year. Well it stands to reason if you are fined the same for a sparkler as you are for an powerful explosion of course those that do them will go for the big stuff. Duh. There was much less of a problem before they banned safe and sane fireworks.

Artist-FKA: With regard to your questions: 1. MG All Purpose Plant Food for water soluble & Easy Feed from Mills & Orchid fertilizer: I cannot find the ingredients in Easy Feed SOLUBLE fertilizer, so I suspect it has potassium chloride. Lilly Miller's used to have sulfate of potash, then they switched to potassium chloride and it took me a long time before I could find the label on-line. I checked the ingredients for Orchid food, and most of them have potassium chloride. Yes, K in MG-plant food is potassium chloride and that would cause browning of petals. If the label of a fertilizer is hidden, there's a good chance it's the cheap & salty potassium chloride. 2. water soluble for pots: I checked Jack's Blossom Booster NPK 10-30-20 and it has monopotassium phosphate, low-salt index of 8.4 (compared to salt-index of 116 for potassium chloride), but it also has potassium nitrate with salt index of 69.5 (compared to sulfate of potash salt index of 42). 3. To reverse BS: I tested 4 different sulfate of potash and I like Kelp4less best (easiest to dissolve due to higher % of sulfur). Next best is granular brownish Southern Ag. (this dissolve quickly), and hardest to dissolve is Alpha chemicals (10 lb. for $20). Since last summer I found a better way to dissolve potassium fertilizer than using vinegar: I used the microbes (fermenting bacteria) in alfalfa-tea to make potassium available to roots. Bacteria is used in landfill to degrade plastic, and the fermenting bacteria in alfalfa-tea also break up the hard-bonds in potassium fertilizer, making it available to plants. I save those HUGE plastic jugs (laundry detergent or large juice bottle), rinse them well, then store water to ferment alfalfa (takes 2 days). I use 2 TBS of alfalfa meal plus 1 TBS sulfate of potash per gallon of water. The acid (sulfur) given off by the fermenting bacteria will make sulfate of potash available to plants. Fermenting bacteria (from alfalfa tea) also give off vitamin C (essential for plant growth), plus B-vitamins (for plants' health), plus sulfur (for growth). So you can get sulfur (an essential plant nutrient for growth) from: expensive sulfate of potash OR acid given off by decay of organic matter such as alfalfa meal soaked in water. TO REVERSE AND TO PREVENT BLACKSPOT: Since 2012 I grow 140+ own-roots in pots first before transferring into my dense clay. Each year I test different fertilizers (both organic and chemicals), aiming for the best health and most solid roots for zone 5a winter survival. These are what I notice for the past decade: 1) The higher the salt, the worse the health. Salt zaps out potassium, and potassium is essential for health and blooming. Potassium regulates water osmosis. The healthiest roses in pots was the year that I tested ORGANIC Nature's Care soluble fertilizer NPK 10-6-3 with Hydrolyzed feather meal, MEAT and Bone meal, Blood meal, and Sulfate of Potash. Blood meal is high in iron. I supplement that with sulfate of potash to UP potassium level in pots. This fertilizer is the fore-runner in my daughter's 8th-grade science projecting in growing seeds from 6 different soils and fertilizers. 2) The worst health is with any fertilizer containing potassium chloride, it's like dumping salt into your pots. Roses are such water hogs, and salt defeats water osmosis (essential for lush leaves and blooming). 3) Osmocote PLUS NPK 15-7-12 is fast in inducing blooms (even on tiny rose rootings), but not best for health due to the fast release of phosphorus (Ammonium phosphate), and the high salt index of Ammonium nitrate of 104. Tiny rose rootings broke out in blackspots the minute rain hit. Fast release of phosphorus and too slow release of potassium UP diseases. Potassium is essential for disease prevention, and it competes with phosphorus and calcium for absorption. 4) I root roses from cuttings, and I use these tiny rootings test different fertilizers in pots. The best health on tiny rootings was when I tested Tomato Tone (higher potassium than Rose Tone) as granular application on top, plus watering with Nature's Care soluble fertilizer NPK 10-6-3 for nitrogen. Rose Tone is cheap on Amazon at $20 per 18 lb., plus using sulfate of potassium (dissolved by fermenting alfalfa tea) is equivalent to the more expensive Tomato-Tone.