We hijacked the How to Warm Soil in Beds thread from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1234526/
So I thought I'd give the topic its own home. Keep the conversation going, please - I'm getting a ton of great ideas!
Have a great day, everyone!
Karla
Garden Journals
My garden journal is very simple I ve been keeping it for 5 yrs. I'll I do is write everything down in pencil. The date sowed, the amount, the days until germination how many germinated, when they were potted up and potted out. Sometimes this info starts on the calendar but it always ends up in this composition notebook. When I first sow the seed I leave enough room for all this info. I also put down any info that I feel maybe helpful for next year. Or what I would do the same or different. Nothing technical and it can go any were.
a garden journal is my biggest goal for this year. hopefully will be able to keep it up. i like the pencil/comp. notebook idea.
I do that so I can take it with me to the garden and I don't have to enter it in the computer. It's really easy to look up info too. My friends tease me about my garden book, but I won't keep it up if it's not easy and having on the computer just doesn't work for me. MY next goal is to enter ALL the seeds I have into the computer. I'm way behind on that. I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to list them on the iPad then put them on my computer. Maybe email the list to myself then cut and paste?
Greetings, all ~
The conversation moved here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1236736/
I meant to have an admin close this thread before anyone posted, but was too late. Anyway, please pick up this very interesting topic at the new location.
Thanks much! Happy Gardening! Karla
To be honest I don't care for the lay out of the other thread. I mean if somebody else wants to post there that's fine. But I would prefer to continue here for those of us that wish to. This can be all new posts since those posts were simply copy and pasted. They are still available but new ideas can still go here I would think.
I'm curious Kmom, why did the thread move a second time? BTW - I can't get to that 2nd link. Is it an active link?
I've tried paper journals in the past, but found they get dirty or lost, so last year I used Microsoft Outlook's "Tasks". I entered all the information as to dates to plant, when to harvest, etc. This year I plan to use the Journal feature in Outlook.
Anyone else used Outlook this way?
I've also used MSWord to keep track of what's going on in the garden.
I've used Outlook's tasks and journal features, but never thought about using it to track plants. Interesting idea.
Right now, I'm using Excel. In the same file, I am keeping the following: Journal, To Do's, Plant list, Garden Map and Season Summary. The plant list is used to generate plant labels in Word (thanks to another thread I recently figured out how to do.) I like to be able to sort and filter. Not sure if Outlook allows that.
I keep a garden diagram with slots for each bed and room to write date planted, soil temp, pH, amendments added, date of germination, expected date of harvest, actual harvest date, etc. I have a page for each month and keep several months on a clipboard which I can take to the garden. One year I kept records as to whether the seeds were planted by moon signs or planted in supposedly barren signs. I have room on the page for notes, weather, nematode problems, etc. If a crop is nearing its end, I pencil in what I want to plant next. By keeping several months together, I can plan crop rotations.
I just love my paper note book I can find things anywhere in 5 seconds. I cant imagine having to input it into the computer too. I thought I was doing good by actually getting a list of my different seeds on the computer. Honey-Im starting your Moneymaker seeds this week.
Lisa, I tried keeping mine on the computer. It was too much trouble and I would still have to write planting info on paper to transfer to the computer. Paper notebook/clipboard is much easier.
Lisa - Thanks for the update on the Moneymaker seeds. I saved seeds from mine last year - they'll be started around the middle of March here.
I'm currently experimenting with www.evernote.com for to replace my book journal. The free version probably will work for most people. There's a version for various smart phone platforms, mac and pc and they all sync to each other. You can see your stuff without being online, but you have to be online to sync. The company is not a US company, so although the use security technology, the info is not encrypted on their servers, so I wouldn't use it to store anything like bank information or passwords... but it seems to be working well for me for other projects I am working on. Coupled with iPhone's siri, I am able to take a photo of something in the garden and speak to it and my words are transcribed into the note that contains the photo. You can "tag" your notes and all of your notes are searchable by title and tags.
For those who wondered - the thread originally moved a second time because someone took the time to transcribe all of the old posts from the thread we hijacked - to start another thread, but it didn't seem to catch on, and they deleted it. So, it appears the journaling folks are still hanging out on this one. :-)
Have a great day, everyone!