I personally don't think buying seeds for someone else is necessary. Nor is it expected. If you want to, I guess that is fine. I look through other's lists and some are getting 3 things and others are not getting any (from me). But as I see it, others that have things that I don't have, and will have some for them (the person I din't have any for) and perhaps none for someone else. If someone has a short want list they might not get much of anything since we can't fill their wants if they don't want anything. The host will have to fill in the gaps for them with extras seeds, and hope there is something in there that might please this person. If the person with a short list is not sure what they want, perhaps they can be vague and say I like blue flowers that like the shade. Or any flowers, I am new and I have no clue what will grow here yet. Then maybe someone can toss in something that fits that requirement. Personally, I am tossing my extra veggie seeds in the extras baggie. So, if someone that asks for any veggie or any tomato, Fran can fill in with my extra veggies in a fair way. I have no way of knowing if one person needs more seeds and another has an overflowing amount already. But really, I think this should be fun, and as Fran said it is not a one for one thing, just share what you have, and it will all be ok. (really) For example: I once participated in the give to a newbie thing as a newbie gardener. I really did not receive much of anything I could use (mostly flowers). But is was still fun. I kept what I could use and SASE'ed what I did not need. So the seeds found nice homes, even if not mine. All is good. Surprises are fun. Giving is good for the heart, and sole. I hope my interpretation of this Swap is not not way off. Yes I should try starting seeds inside in early spring. I found out out that natural beginnings seeds starter mix is a very good all natural mix from gardens alive. My rutabagas did very well in this mix. I had always thought of starting seeds inside as a northern thing to do. But I guess it is not. We are trying to beat heat and the northerners are trying to beat the frost. I have some soup peas in damp paper towels now to try to give them a early go for it this spring. Last spring direct sowed peas took 3 weeks to come up. So by the time they matured, it was too hot. I'm learning. My garden is on the side of the house were veggies get shade after 2 pm. First year I made the mistake of thinking full sun, I will plant on west of the house. UG. Learned that, that is too much sun for Texas! So this year all will hopefully be better due to: water ditches starting some things under pop bottle cloches Sprouting peas inside living mulch verses dead mulch cover crops over winter reorienting garden beds so sorghum and sunflowers can help shade off the rest of the garden. avoiding overly thirsty crops smaller tomato varieties trying beany things along ground But anyway, time to go to the dentist. I have to realize I am not the only one having garden woes. It is just that since I am a new gardener, all years have been extreme weather years. I have nothing to compare it to. Hope every has some fun with this SWAP. Mary

Not only can the HOA fine an owner if short term rentals are prohibited, but the city may as well. In our resort area, a short term rental permit is required and the city tightly controls short term rentals. Code enforcement is good. In addition, if the covenants of subdivision disallow short term rentals, the city will not issue a permit. Our current small subdivision does not allow short term rentals and, in 11 years, I only know of one homeowner (a builder) that violated the covenants when he couldn't sell the newly built house during the bust. We turned a blind eye and didn't complain given the circumstances. It turned out not to be a problem. The nightly rental was very high, which kept the usage down, and the house sold at the end of the season. However, although our little subdivision does not allow short terms, they are allowed in neighboring areas, so we do get some short term rentals nearby and have had a few noise issues. The subdivision where we have bought a lot to build does not allow short term rentals and is, for the most part, geographically protected from surrounding neighborhoods that do by green space. The few lots that do back up to another neighborhood were priced lower and still slower to sell. At the annual meeting of the HOA last year, a realtor proxy moved to amend the covenants to remove the short term rental restrictions. The motion was withdrawn when it became abundantly clear that all owners present bought, at least in part, because of the restriction. In resort areas, most folks (or their realtors) already know that you really need to read your subdivision documents closely for this issue. In fact whether short term rentals are allowed is often disclosed in the listing. Some second homeowners may want to rent out their home to defray the cost of ownership, while others want to be away from the bother. With this new phenomenon in other good-time cities, I would expect that a wise buyer there would also check the subdivision documents carefully and also check in with the city.

Cc I'm going to post my Florida, dahlia garden in dahlia forum. Please check out my pics !!? - I've learned the hard way! being a heavy smoker ( I always smoke extra when gardening Bc I work hard, I'm determined to get work done, plus, I'm outside!!) ive noticed over my 8 yrs gardening, I've given many transplants - nursery bought plants & home grown seeds what looks to be the tobacco mosiac virus! It doesn't take much @ all to give it to my plants! Unless I quit smoking - or smoke far away from my plants, change my clothes, wash, disinfect my hands and arms, I doubt it's going to stop ! I've been more aware of this virus since & notice MANY plants when I head out to buy from stores (lowes, Walmart, Home Depot) & even nurseries will also have plants being sold w/TMV - I'm sure this is from workers handling the plants after/ and or during smoking! I used to work @ dolins & we would take smoke breaks while unloading the trucks but I didn't know this back then :( I've noticed some of my dahlias are lighter in color than they should be :( I also notice the virus' signs can have slight variations depending on each plant- even ones of the same cultivar. Please check out my dahlia pics when I post them to let me know what u think ! Bc I'm in Florida & have nematodes I won't be sharing tubers but throwing them out every other year or so. And I don't share my plants. It spreads easily & so fast that I figure until I quit smoking I'm just going to have gardens full of plants with tobacco mosiac! But this is the heavy price I pay for being a smoker ! ( along w/cancer & some other miserable probs!!)

asclepiad IMO, that is too small. I prefer not to use anything smaller than 2mm. Mix in the photo above is approx. 4-6mm, and the smaller one I mentioned is approx. 2-4mm. I could add some peat to the smaller mix, but I very seldom do. Adding anything smaller to the bigger mix doesn't seem to be worth it since it would just fall in-between all other particles and settle at the bottom (or even get washed out), or create layers of fine particles and bigger ones. I had a list of (mostly) cacti that prefer limestone, but can't find it anywhere (just found it, link below)...it was not that extensive anyway. Spanishfly grows cacti, and they are all limestone-lovers. Here is something from Succulent plant page: ..."Some lime-hating succulents e.g. Echevieria and some South American cacti e.g. Echinopsis, Gymnocalycium grow naturally in peaty soils and should not be grown in compost with added lime. On the other hand, some North-American cacti, e.g. white-spined Escobarias, Ariocarpus fissuratus, Lophophora williamsii, seem to prefer limestone soils and a handful of ground dolomite of lime may be added to the potting mix"... ETA: here is the list I mentioned...FOUND IT :)