Swapping seeds is an old tradition among gardeners, but I recently participated in a gardening swap that took things to a whole new level. It was the Punk Rock Garden Swap organized by Renee, who is also the garden blogger over at Modish—an altogether lovely blog that celebrates handcrafted goods.

I like Renee’s posts because she really celebrates the indie, just-get-out-there-and-make-sure-you-get-your-hands-dirty aspect of gardening. Renee and her friend Taylor at Mercenary Gardens recently developed a theory that gardening is the new punk rock, and I happen to think that it’s pretty much the best theory since Relativity. Here’s what she has to say about it in her own words:

Besides having plans to take over the world, we also both believe that gardening is the new punk rock; and no, I don’t mean the puffed up pop of Green Day, but I mean raw, grimy, sometimes a bit funny, awkward, garagey and altogether authentic underground.  (click here to read the full post)

To that end, Renee organized a swap with a punk rock garden theme. The rules were to send 3 items that fit with the theme and spend less than $5. I had so much fun putting together my swaps, and I pretty much stalked the mailman each day until my packages arrived.

It was like my birthday when the box sent by Illeana of india*romeo showed up on my porch. When I opened it up, the first thing I saw was a red SOLO cup, which happened to be protecting a petite tomato labeled ‘Mystery Tomato’. Apparently Illeana got a little mixed up when she was transplanting her seedlings, so I’ll have to wait and see if I got a ‘Cherokee Purple’ or a ‘Lemon Drop’ cherry tomato. I was delighted someone sent me a seedling that they started and cannot wait to see what it turns out to be!

Illeana also shared three kinds of seed and packaged them up in the most adorable homemade seed packets (see the top photo). She included ‘Dukat’ dill, which will come in so handy, because I’m planning on making a bunch of pickles this summer. She also tucked in packets of ‘Erbette’ chard and ‘Kaleidoscope’ carrots. But my favorite thing in the package was a photo of crocus growing against a mossy picket fence that Illeana took on a walk this spring (it’s peaking out from behind the tomato in the photo above).

I also got a really fabulous box of goodies from K8tron, who sent me a packet of ‘Yellow Pear’ tomato seeds (one of my favorites!), a terracotta plant marker for sage (perfect for my new herb garden) and a very cool glittery beetle magnet.

If you’re interested in swapping, check out Swap-Bot. This site makes it easy to organize your own swap or you can sign up for one. It’s fun, and you never know; you might get your very own mystery tomato in the mail.

Who doesn’t love a good mystery?