Hi dkgarber,
Here in the Greater Boston Area, conversation about a swap usually starts in March or April. I think we've had about 6 over the course of 4 years. Greater Boston really includes anyone who can get here, wherever "here" happens to be that year. We've met in Concord, Lexington, Newton, the Cape. Apologies to whomever I left out. We've had people from Connecticut, Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard as well as any number of towns around Boston.

Really, someone just says "I'll have it here" and it usually happens.

The one 'I" started and which has continued is a mixture of plants, divisions, larger plants, named varieties and good old garden workhorses and some winter sown plants

There is also an annual swap at Fran's in Billerica. These are almost exclusively winter sown seedling. She holds it the same weekend every year, but I don't rmemeber which one. I'm sure she'll chime in soon.

I don't think I misrepresented anything. It sounds like you already have cabin fever! I was thinking about the swap just the other day, during the third or 4th snowstorm

idabean/Marie

I have cabin fever big time. I've already bought some seeds and started winter sowing. I've drawn out new garden bed plans and am already looking at ways to control the bunny rabbits...

I did extensive gardening last year and planted SO much so this spring I am hoping to see some real fruits of my labor. Its also the first year I am starting things from seed and the first year I am doing annuals. So excited for all the color. I am addicted. Seriously addicted.

You took the words out of my mouth DK! Except that I started winter-sowing last winter, got lots of young plants out there, and just can't wait to see what makes it through the winter, what reseeds, and how it all grows and blooms this coming season. Of couse I'm starting hundreds more seedlings this year too. Maybe I have the same addiction?! :) (Be fore-warned - growing plants from seed will produce many more plants for your gardens and likely make your addiction worse! hehe) You will love growing annuals - they work extremely well to fill in while your perennials are still young.

I also hosted the Boston area Spring swap last year, and it is a great way to share plants and socialize a little with other gardeners. The people here are a very friendly bunch. The swaps are very easy to organize, and everybody pitches in so that it is not that much extra work for the host.

Is it Spring yet??? The unrelenting snow and cold has turned life into drudgery and is making me crabby and miserable.

Yes, I do hold an annual spring sway every year. The date is either the last Saturday and May or the first Saturday in June.

As of yet, being that it is only January, I have not decided which of the 2 dates the swap will be this year.
I will decide on the date over the next 6 weeks.

Calling my swap "almost exclusively wintersown seedlings" though, is not an accurate description at all.
It is far from that.

There may be many, many WS seedlings but there is also a good choice of many, many plant divisions as well.

What ever those that are attending bring, is what is there.

It is open to all who want to attend whether you have seedlings, plant divisions to bring or have nothing at all, new to gardening and looking for seedlings and plants to start off your gardens.

It is very informal, just gardeners getting together, having a good time, "sharing the wealth" of their gardens, seedlings and plant divisions.

Organizing a plant swap can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. It depends on how formal you want it to be vs informal. How detailed or not you want to be etc.

It does take time to organize, keep up with the posts on your thread for the swap, getting directions to people that are coming.

those that attend bring their plants, seedlings and whatever they would like to bring for snacks, drinks, plates, cups, napkins, name tags etc.

It's a great deal of fun and enjoyment for all.

Though I post my swap as Billerica/surrounding areas, anyone is more than welcome to come, no matter where they are from.

Hope that info helps you out and I will be posting info for my swap in about 6 weeks when I decide on the date, either the last Saturday in May or the 1st Saturday in June.

Fran

Hey Idabean - just read this thread more carefully and didn't realize you were the one who organized the first swap in this area. Nice! Which year was that?

PS - your GW email address is NOT working. I have replied from 2 email accounts and they bounce back as undeliverable?? Anyway, I will be sure to dig up peach Irises for the next swap!

If you want to look to the south a little, flwrs4ever and I are planning to hold our first plant swap sometime this spring. She lives in Bristol RI and has a large yard area to use. I'm in Swansea MA only a couple miles from her. We are easy to get to down here in southern New England. I have an email mailing list started so we can advise people who have expressed interest of the details when it's time. If you are interested, you can email me through my GW member page. Hope to hear from you or anyone who might want to participate!
Sue

I think the swap was spring 04, but I'm there's someone out there with a better memory than me. I can hardly say I organized it, other than offering my place and encouraging people to come. Lots of other people, esp. Fran and....PM2 (I think) did most of the "organizing" What a selection of plants came in! And Mayalena made a plum torte that was out of this world. I finally got the recipe last year. That was when I first met DTD, Runktrun, Mayalena, Asarum, Fran, "Adam3" who is now Prairiemoon (do I remember correctly or am I mixed up) Cloud 9, and some other NE forum regulars. Haven't been able to get other Connecticans up here, but then they have an over the top swap every year.

And I think EGO was there, and a couple of people who have dropped off the forum, like Marie_of_Roumania and AsarumGreenPanda, both of whom I miss a lot.

Half the fun of the "greater boston area swap" is seeing the hosts' gardens - I've been to idabean's, terrene's, and lschibley's so far, and learned a lot of possibilities from each.

DTD, you sweet thing! i apologize for undercontributing. :0)
i *think* idabean's swap was 2004 ... anyway, it was a joy to experience her deluxe, marvelous garden (with chickens!) & meet a whole bunch of really smart (latin-spouting!), passionate, generous gardeners. truly a stellar group.

Marie - Nope, you met me at Katy's. I keep planning and planning to come to a MA swap and haven't made it yet. ONE of these days I will though!

I think I am getting cabin fever too....I spent 4 hours chopping ice from the walkway and now feel that I need to go plant something to make me feel a little closer to spring. I am glad I found this site--I am new to the New England area (Chelmsford actually) and have never tried vegetable gardening here but think this year will be the first. I would love to get out to a plant swap and meet other NE gardeners!

Carina, you should definitely check it out, they are a lot of fun. Newbies are welcomed, even with few or no plants to swap. The gardeners with older gardens tend to have lots of extras to share. There are at least 2 swaps in the Boston area and 1 in Connecticut and it sounds like there will be one in RI also this Spring.

Is it Spring yet?? Whine, whine...

I still would like to host one this year. I have been MIA on the board for months. I don't know why. Just crazy with other things.

What a fascinating idea: after being welcomed into that
"over the top" plant swap in Connecticut these past two years, perhaps I need to venture back to my home turf and
drop in on a Massachsetts swap next Spring ! Some folks
have marvelled at my traveling such a distance "just" to
attend a plant swap, but for my part, they are the perfect
regressive antidote to our overly digitized age - part social, part practical, all enjoyable - sort of analagous
to those "barn-raisings" we've all heard about from the past. . .

Carl

whitegarden,
I can't waite to see your garden in person.

Is there any chance there might be another SE MA swap this year as well..hint hint.

I am hoping to host a GW thing again this summer but it is a little early to start throwing out dates and details.

Marie,
I thought you might get a kick out of this photo from your Lexington swap.

Oh, Miss Pretty the chicken isn't in the photo.
m

WG: >I have been MIA on the board for months. I don't know why. Just crazy with other things.

Probably those new wild cats - how did that work out? I've made the feral adoption suggestion to our local cat rescue, and I hope they'll give it a try. For now, they keep all their feral cats in a big fenced-in area, and it's gotten pretty crowded. The ones who don't socialize well end up in cages, and that seems like a terrible alternative to barn life.

Hi diggin,

It is going well, I think. At first there was little sign of them, just one sighting. But recently, there have been cat tracks in and out of the barn and the food is regularly disppearing, activity at the litterbox too. So I am thinking they were exploring for a month or so and are finally back to set up housekeeping. I just wish I saw them more often. The best news is that I am seeing tracks in the areas of my garden with the worst vole problem, so hopefully they will be very busy this spring!

I will try to post a photo of Sasha. It was my one and only sighting since I released them from their cage.

Here she is:

Too bad the rain barrel and a gallon of wiper fluid are in the foreground. She is actually sitting on the ground just outside the hole in the barn door, not on the barrel with the wiper fluid!

Oh wow WG! Only one sighting? Sasha is beautiful though. I thought you were getting 3 males? Maybe brothers? Glad your kitties are getting settled in. How nice that they have a "home", considering they are ferals and can't imagine how they'd be living otherwise.

Runktrun - I'm not sure if that 'hint, hint' was for me. I had a lot of fun having a south shore swap last year and I'm happy to do another one in Plymouth, if folks don't mind meeting in my front yard again. Though if there is anyone else south of Boston that would want to do it, it would be great to see some different gardens.

Lisa

I tend to agree about changing the location in order to see other gardens. Does any one think an "open garden day" might fly here?

Hi terrene,

We were supposed to get three brothers, but they were too clever for the trap so we got one female and one that I now think is a male. It is sort of a crap shoot where feral cats are concerned. They brought two and it looks like one other local cat might have moved into the neighborhood and our barn.

Yes Lisa my hint was directed to you I unfortunately wasn't free to make it last fall but would love to see the tradition of a SE MA swap continue.
Marie
Does any one think an "open garden day" might fly here? I think it is a great idea why don't you pose the question in a thread of it's own?

I think the idea of a SE MA swap is great, too and I appreciate how far our SE friends have been traveling. I hope, however, that we continue to have two swaps- Sp and F- and that one will be "up here" around Boston, AND that our Cape area friends will come this way, despite the drive! Can you see I'm feeling a bit anxious about the group (as fluid as it is) hanging in together? Rationally, my anxiety makes little sense because the reason people come or don't are so varied but even so, sometimes thinking about change is difficult. But I'll be there, no matter what, if I can get there!

I ran this by my husband the other day and he asked "what would that involve?" After explaining, I think he is on board if we can get the convenience store a block away to agree to allowing parking that morning or afternoon. What day did we do last year, Saturday or Sunday?

Spring 08 the swap was on a Saturday morning (June 7th I think?), but the rain date was supposed to be Sunday.

Well, I am all for it and would love to have you all here. I will check with the owner of the convenience store and see which of the two days works best for him.

Thanks! I feel wonderful about having a date so soon, and something concrete (not) to look forward to!
Marie

WG, whereabouts in New England are you located? I'm wondering if we'll also need a Southeast MA swap as well, or if you're close enough that we can skip that this spring. Also wondering about nearby garden-related activities (botanic garden, great nursery, etc) - that doesn't always work out, but it's fun to plan as an option anyway.

I am right at the intersection of the Mass Pike, 495 and route 9 (the town is Southborough) so very convenient to all highways. Close by, there is the Garden in the Woods (Framingham)and Tower Hill Botanical Gardens (Boyleston). Both are awesome!