Not to worry - I don't think there was anyone confused by the title of your OP, Joe. The obvious choice, if there are only two plants involved that present little in the way of an imposition, is to entrust them to the care of a neighbor, co-worker, family member, friend ....... don't trust any herbivores though - no matter how convincing they might be ...... and please provide fool-proof watering instructions based on the plant's needs during the recent past. If that's not an option, ask & I'll share how to build a greenhouse with a kid's wading pool that will get you through - a LOT more effort than simply asking for help, though. I even entrust my wife with supplying water to my plants while I'm away. ;-) Al

I had been planning to do that, Karen, and just never have time to do it. I just sent a very short email with a link to this thread to over a dozen people who have been to past swaps who I havenÂt seen around here lately. I have a jumble of different lists by now, and trying to figure out whoÂs who from their email addresses gets kind of confusing, so IÂm sure I missed some of them, but I got some of them at least! Also, since I didnÂt do the Spring Swap, I donÂt have a list for that one, and didnÂt have some of those addresses if they hadnÂt been to a past swap, but I tried to find as many as I could. WeÂll just have to hope anybody whoÂs interested will be checking in to see if weÂre planning another swap! This is the list of people I have down so far as planning to come. I have addresses for most of these people, so if you need an address, email me and IÂll send it to you if I have it. catladysgarden skybird jclepine amester bloomingamaryllis conace55 greenbean08 azura cheshirekatttt ginnytrcka Ginnytrcka, you may want to contact Nancy in co and Kareng grow to see if theyÂd be interested in car pooling. I have some more pictures of things IÂm bringing to post on the Picture thread, but just donÂt have time to do it right now! Have to get up way, way too early tomorrow morning to leave again! Who else wants to come this time? Skybird Well, while I was typing this I just got an email from mailer daemon saying BillieLadybug's address is no good. She must have changed it! Anybody else have an address for her?

I have a weekend house that I just started my seeds in. I've been doing this for 5 years now. I leave on Sunday eve and return on Friday eve. I start my seeds in Jiffy peat pellets and line them up in plastic trays with covers. I put about an inch of water in the bottom of the tray, cover them, put them in a very sunny window (gets about 7-8 hours of sun) and leave. I usually start about 50 of these pellets and maybe one or 2 of them will get some rot from too much water and/or dry out, but that happens over the course of a month. If you just need to leave them for a single 5 day period, add some water and cover them (I've even used clear plastic wrap pulled tightly over them). Works like a dream.

Vacations are when a programmable thermostat is great. You can set it for various days and times. If I left on Sunday and came home Sat I'd tell it to keep it about 84 during the week, day and night. Say 84 on the weekend, except you can choose wake,leave, return, sleep. I'd choose 84 then if you think you will return at say 7pm set it to "return" at 3:00 at 72 degrees. It will be nice and cool when you walk in! We have done this for vacations before. You can get them fancy and not so fancy. It is great to have anyway if you are all out of the house all day. You set it for sleep, then maybe change it for just before you wake, then in the summer set it higher until shortly before you are scheduled to return. In the winter we sleep with it pretty cold, then it turns on an is nice when we wake up.