Gardener's Journal - Take 2

Friends and beloved beta testers,

Today I am moving the journal out of "beta test" and into "gamma test", which means that I have fixed all reported bugs, and added all features that I was able to at this time.

We now need another round of good solid testing. I will then fix all bugs and add any new features in right quick, and then we'll go LIVE and everyone on DG can start using their journal.

Note: When we began the beta test, I warned you that the data was not 100% safe and could be harmed or damaged. We are beyond that point now - anything that you insert is as safe as any other data on DG. Go ahead and start journaling your stuff with the comfort of knowing that you data is safe with me.

Another note: And this one is an important note that needs a lot of testing... As you know, the journal is edited through the link you received in an E-mail from me.

That link I gave you is your private place where you edit your own journal.

I have now created a new page that is for other people to view other people's journal. The link is:

http://davesgarden.com/gj/

Please hit that link and visit some journals. Specifically check out my journal, as I put lots of different stuff in (including pictures on the 4:00's and mulberry nigellas).

So, please go forth, explore, add, catalogue, journal, and have fun. Please let me know EVERY SINGLE oddities, suggestion, feature request, or whatever that you think of while you're doing this test. This is the last step before we go live and have our 450+- members use it!

Thanks again for your help,
Dave

Feature request. How about a connection to my have list. I am now going to start planting many of the plants listed there. Can I just click on a new link that will create an entry for the garden journal including the plant name and category? It's not that I'm lazy, just less typos, wink, wink :)

No problem. Here's what I have in mind:

Go to journal: Create the catagories that you'll want to use.

Then, go to your "Edit Havelist" page. Click "Add to journal" for a particular item.

It will then ask you what category you want to put this item under.

It'll then add it right in to the journal, under the category that you selected at that time.

Problem/Question: The havelist is setup to just have one entry for "latin name", but the journal allows you to get more specific with two entries: "Genus" and "Species". Together you get the latin name.

Any ideas on how to translate that between the lists? Should I just present to you the latin name, and let you copy and paste the two parts into the appropriate fields?

dave

RiseAnn,

I put it together - please try it out and see what you think.

since the categories do not consistently match between the GJ and the Havelist, I couldn't import that.

I was able to import, however, the comments, name, and latin name. Pretty neat!

Now to hook it into the Plants Database.

Dave, That is really slick. I will have to re-add all of the pictures that I have though because they don't transfer.

Bugs? How do I delete a category? Also, I was able to view my journal before I logged in, so the privacy mode does not seem to be not working.

Hi Rise,

You can't delete a category right now - you can only rename it. I'm not sure we should allow the actual removal of a category, because then what if you already have items that are belonging to that category?

Regarding privacy mode: I thoroughly tested this, and it looked good to me. I can't reproduce the error you mentioned.

Can you logout and see if you can reproduce this? Please let me know the steps you're taking to view your own journal while logged out.

Dave

Hi Dave - you must have added the privacy feature since this morning :) Renaming the categories works for me. Thanks so much !! I am at a training course with internet access, so I need to wait until I get home to try out the other new features you added. THANKS!!!!:)

Help!!! Looking at the journals, the plants are under "entry name" and "latin." I can handle that. But when I go to add plants to my journal, it is under species, genus, etc., and I am totally lost.

Removed by member request

Gabrielle,

The Genus and Species are, collectively, the "Latin name".

For example, the latin name for Four O'clock is: "Mirabilis nyctaginea"

This means that the genus is "Mirabilis" and the species is "nyctaginea".

Hope this helps!

Dave

Dave!!! I love it!!! Before your wonderful journal, I was keeping a spreadsheed in excell, the columns/names I used were:
Botanical Name
Common Name
Variety/color
Type of plant
Yr/source (aquired)
Quantity (#avail to trade)
Sowing method (strat,scarify, etc)
wks before last frost
sowing depth
space
height
Transplant to (cultivation info)
comment
comment
Sowed
Results
Now I can input all of this info in a much easier format, although it's not in "columns" its much easier to view a specific plant w/ info. And I love the fact that I am able to sow mutltiple "batches" and view as separate entries. In excell it was difficult, had to either change original or add another line, thus in the long run making the spread sheet soooooo many pages long. Well no need to ramble, its just 100 times better than any spread sheet! THANKS!!!!! I'm sure I'll ask for tweaks here and there, lol. Also want to thank you and poppysue for making your journals public, I viewed these before attempting to start my own. I still have lots to add...I sowed a bunch of seeds already, a big bunch 12/2, another 12/30 and another yesterday. Guess I better get typing.

jody,

I'm glad you're liking this. I'm really excited to see my own journal fill up throughout the coming season.

A tip for you on the stuff you already sowed: Add the items, and then add the entries for the dates that you sowed them. Then you add the entries, use the date pulldowns to select the date that you performed the action. Then it will record it with the proper date.

Dave, your journal is fantastic.It's going to take me awhile but I've got almost 18 years of our fruit business to transfer to my journal in a condensed version.All my notes may finally make sense.Wife thinks I'm nuts but it's wintertime.To be able to have plant,variety,nursery,a todo list and remarks in one place instead of 15 notebooks save me alot of time.A reminder phased into the todo list would be great if at all possible.

Hi Jake,

I'm glad you're getting good use of the journal. I am definitely going to be putting in a reminder based on the TODO. So, keep putting those TODO items in (give them a future date, of course - the date is the day you want the TODO item to be accomplished).

It may be a week before the TODO notify is done, though.

Dave

Dave, When I go in to edit my journal, I can't get into the entries to change them. All I can do is add. Is that the way it is supposed to be? Should I just put a new entry in with the new info? Thanks! Mick