Fun and Frugal

Thanks, Rebecca, for this email below–

Saturday  May 16, 2009 10:00 am – 12:00 noon at Cleveland State Community College

Calling all gardeners…  This spring we will be having another Cleveland State plant exchange.  Employees, students, volunteers, and friends of the college are all invited to participate.  Participants will bring plants from their own garden to exchange for plants from other people’s gardens.

Divisions:  There are two methods for preparing your plants for the exchange.

1.  Dig and divide them the day before or day of the exchange.  Take care not to damage the roots of the plant while digging them.  Once dug, a garden fork, ditch shovel, and spade are all great tools for dividing.  Please make sure there is enough soil left with the root ball to protect the roots from drying out.  Wrapping the roots with damp newspaper is a great way to provide additional moisture.

2.  Or, participants can dig their plants earlier and put them in containers.  If you choose to do this, remember to water them well until the exchange (which shouldn’t be difficult this week).

Identifying the plants:  Please label your plants with as much information as you can provide.  For example, name (botanical and/or common), growing conditions (sun, shade, etc.), height, color, bloom time (spring, summer, fall), and anything else you may find helpful to share.  If you know that the plant is invasive please share that information as well or just don’t bring that plant.

Seed: If you collected seed last year or have some leftover from spring planting please bring that along to exchange as well.  Please have all the seed pre-sorted and labeled.

Check-in:  Check in begins 30 minutes before the exchange.  It is a good idea to bring a plant flat, a box, or plastic grocery sacks to use to collect plants during the exchange.  You will receive tickets for the plants you bring.  The tickets may be used to pay for the plants you select at the exchange.  Please have a spot at home prepared for your new plants so you can plant them as soon as possible.

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