lessons learned today

thank you Quiltbea for the card stock idea. I did my drawings of my garden in my notebook which is looking rough taking it to the garden and writing every step I make. I have plenty of business card stock left that I can use instead.

I love your pen and ink sketches QB , if I tried to write things like that now a days it would look like a spider had crawled out the ink pot and had an epileptic fit over the pages. Plus I'd never be able to decypher it ever again once it was written.

Last year what I did was pretty basic, so I didn't feel the need to keep track in too much detail. This year I bought a bunch of different tomatoes and three different pepper plants, so I decided to actually keep track on paper (or in digital form) of what was planted where. I used a printed-out grid to write it down while I was outside, then came in and transferred to a spreadsheet that I customized to look the way I wanted it to. Paper gets lost in my house (oh, and like plantoid, considering my handwriting I'd never be able to decipher it after a couple days had gone by).

This was a fun thread.

I use my digital camera with the auto date turned on, as well as the plastic utensil markers to keep track of things. Every time I plant a square, I stick the written on fork in, put the seed packet down on the square and snap a photo.

And the way I know what to plant is by reading what you guys are planting.

CC

Hi Cape coddess
Although I try to write everything down, I really get behind, but over the course of the year I have learned to recognize the varieties I have planted.
I have 4 tomato varieties and they are all different like night and day and so it is very easy to pick up what I failed to when I was labelling.

I have fallen back to my camera, as it tells the most, as soon as I transfer pics from the camera to my puter it is all nicely dated and sometimes timed.
SO I HAVE evidence...

This year for the first time I used a garden planning program. It is a lot more detailed than my old scrawls in the back of the livestock notebook. But I never take it outside with me. And I have no idea how to show succession through the year. and welllllll ummmm,,,,,, :scratch: but it is useful for planning the following year for rotations.

This year the program got me to list varieties and that was kind of cool. I think I should do that more. I learned that those wonderful sounding Sprint peas are not wonderful in my garden..... the tall varieties were up earlier and grew faster, bloomed sooner and produced earlier and more. Now my usual method of just observation would of told me some of that..... but not the name of the variety.

Turan, where did you find the garden planning program?

Territorial seeds http://gardenplanner.territorialseed.com/

Thank you, Turan. I buy seeds/garlic from Territorial, but never noticed the garden planner. Wonder of wonders. Another reason to contact like-minded gardeners. Nonna

Turan wrote:Territorial seeds http://gardenplanner.territorialseed.com/

Thank you, Turan. I buy seeds/garlic from Territorial, but never noticed the garden planner. Wonder of wonders. Another reason to contact like-minded gardeners. Nonna

Lol, that site is almost as fun as getting one of their new catalogs.

Next year I need to plant 100 sunflowers because the squirrels have destroyed 6 out of 10 that made it this far.

I have this garden planner, the same one, from Sutton seeds.
Someone else here posted it several months ago.
I guess the grow veg.com is the site that created it and it is sold via other seed companies.
It seems to be a great planner, and I built my entire garden with it, , I just have not gone back to it.

I am thinking I favour quilt beas method.
I am thinking that getting organized is a gradual thing.

Every year since planning my first SFG garden, I also have my veg gardens on an excel spreadsheet. I HAVE TObecause I never remember what I plant where and when, also since I want to rotate the crops each year, it is very easy to keep track. I also put notes onto the spreadsheet. I like to try different varieties each yr of veg's.
Of course my family thinks I have ocd when it comes to planning and tending my gardens, but it truly keeps me focused as do using the grids.
I also keep print outs of the spreadsheets each year and file them in a binder with plastic sheets to protect them. Also in my binder are empty veg packets, printout info from various websites (Rutgers University for example) any nurseries I purchase from such as Ferris Farms, etc.
I do the same with my flower gardens and any shrubs, etc.
I also take the print-out with me to the garden if I need to make any changes.