Hi all, I've seen a lot of tomato and pepper swaps, and "edibles" swaps here on GW, but I think it will be fun for me to host one focusing on Greens & Salads for St Pats!! I've done a salad swap on GW before, a few years back. Rules: Newbies welcome, but if your email address is blocked, you won't be able to participate in this. Your seeds must arrive by St. Patricks Day (March 17). I won't hold up the swap for late seeds. They must be in a bubble mailer big enough to hold all your seeds, with a little extra room to spare. Please enclose a return address label and also enough return postage to get your seeds back to you... Whatever it costs to send it in, please include that much in the way of stamps so I can send it back. If your package winds up more than .15 short on postage I won't be able to send it back to ya, cause I live on a tight budget! No more than 3 packs of the same kind of seeds, please. Minimum 5 packs, maximum 20 seed packs per person. Seeds should be no older than 2007 unless kept in a refrigerated seed bank. Heirlooms and hybrids are both OK. If hybrid, they need to be commercial, not saved seed because otherwise they may not grow. The seeds should be for things you might use in a salad or its dressing, such as lettuces (NOT Iceberg though please). Purple cabbage, mesclun or "baby greens" mix, arugula, watercress, radishes, salad-dressing herbs like oregano, sage, parsley and marjoram, green onions, garlic and chives also are all good. Also welcome are cooking greens, including Asian greens like tat soi and choi sum, spinach, broccoli raab, kale, turnip greens and mustards, goosefoot, asparagus, etc. In this swap, MILD salad peppers (no hots!) are welcome too, as are cherry tomatoes (no big tomatoes, we want salad-specific bite sized ones.) Edible annual flowers that can be used in a salad like borage, salad burnet, fennel, violet, pansy, calendula, etc are welcome too. (No perennials such as roses!) Please include a list of what you are sending, so I can hopefully avoid sending you too many seeds that are identical to what you sent in. Include a wishlist of the 3 things you'd most like to get. Send packets with at least 10 seeds per pack, more is better but 10 is ok. Seeds must be clearly labeled (variety name, year packaged, and your GW ID so I don't send you your own seeds.) Growing info such as sun/shade is good too, but not required. If we don't get at least 12 participants signed up here by March 7, this swap will not "make". But I think we can get 12! :) Let's all March into some Green fun together with this swap! Post here if you'd like to join and make sure your email is not blocked. :) Thanks, grovespirit

Boy have I been a non-existent hostess this month! Work has been really crazy. Corporate keeps coming up with these extra team building type projects for everyone that are really cutting into actual work time! I'm not sure when they expect us to get our actual work done... Thanks to everyone for the Birthday wishes! It was a good day. Went to the Orchid Show at the Botanical Garden, then out for pizza at a delicious brick oven pizza place. Happy Belated Birthday and thank you to Dee/Faintheart! My B-day Sis sent me a cute little garden tile for my birthday. Hope you had a good day also. I was dreading my b-day a little this year also....I'm watching the years tick away and I'm not liking it too much! Deb/Debbya thanks again for the wonderful box you sent this month! I love the windsock, it's going to look so cute blowing in the wind! And the Candy was of course a big hit, always is. Did you make the soaps? They smell divine! Thanks also for the birthday packets of seeds. I'm going to be busy, busy, busy planting them this weekend. It's a great selection. Jeanne/Sandlapper, thank you for the birthday seeds also! It was really good to hear from you. I'm starting a lot from seed this year so that was perfect timing. :-) ------------------------------------- Now for Garden Circle news.... We've unfortunately had someone have to leave the circle this month due to personal reasons. The people affected will receive an e-mail from me tonight with the information for your new pal. And as a reminder, if you did not hear from your pal in some way, shape, or form this month please let me know as soon as possible!

Hello All; I received two packages yesterday but did not get the chance to play with either until today. Jan sent a bunch of gladiola bulbs in really exotic colors. I love glads but did not used to plant them because they are not hardy here and need to be dug up in the fall which I do, but they never survive the winter. I know that is my fault but it is still frustrating. But I digress, my new beau loves gladioulas and has been bugging me to plant them. What I want to know is did he contact you Jan? Well they went in the ground today and I can't wait for them to bloom. Then there was the gel notebook, really neat and unusual and also a wonderful windchime. I am embarassed to say that I believe there were more things in both of these packages but I opened them late last night and put the food stuff away and can't remember all that was in them. I think there was some chocolate and coffee things but my mind is like scrambled eggs today. Ellie sent some neat plants, gardening gloves and once again, who knows what else. I planted everything today and I am very excited about the obedient plant. I do not have one and thought I should so it was a great addition to my gardens. Then the Artemisia (which I cannot even pronounce) is going to be wonderful when I put my flowers together in vases this year. Both sent wonderful notes which is the greatest part of this and I wish we were all closer so we could get together. For those of you who have not yet had their "birthday month", it is a great thing. The boxes come when they feel like it and they have all kinds of things from all over the country. It is funny how excited I get about these thoughtful gifts. Thank you all for the wonderful month. I wish I was a May person to have this happen every year. I sent Jan's info to everyone, if there is anyone who did not get it, let me know. I hope you have half as much fun as I did Jan, and thank you for your gifts. Likewise Ellie, I appreciate you sharing your plants and I really needed more gloves (the color is the latest fashion, isn't it? ) Thanks to all. diene

I made two fabric postcards this past weekend as a special thank you to a friend. They are quick and fun to make. There are no hard and fast rules as long as you end up with the size required by the post office. Here's the link: http://www.debrichardson.blogspot.com/2005/09/how-to-make-fabric-postcard-debr-style.html Here is a link that might be useful: fabric postcard tutorial