OVERWHELMED ??? Part 3 - Winding Down

~Whew! I guess I got 'overwhelmed again. {~ LOL ~ } I plum let this thread slip out of sight.

I've been cleaning seeds, planning garden beds, potting up rooted cuttings and repotting some that had already outgrown their containers. If things keep growing the way they are right now, I'll have my dream garden next year, for sure. :-D (And if I don't, it *won't* be because I didn't put my heart and soul into it. ;-)

From looks of the time that has passed here...you guys must have fallen into the 'overwhelmed' catagory too. Or else you're hanging out where I can't find you. :-D If something good's going on here at Dave's and I've missed it, how about linking me over to where the action is!

~julie~

Hey Julie, I'm about plum tuckered out... Too tired to be overwhelmed. We had three parties to attend for the kids this past week. Sunday morning I spied loads of bagged leaves and I made three trips worth with the pickup to retrieve them and put them out back where I will compost them. They were glad to see me take them. It was hard work..

I forced my husband to help me install long strips of edging because our zoysia is creeping all into the beds and I just can’t have that. We got the black plastic edging at home depot and we still have more edging to do. It looks good -a nice clean line.

I can't believe it is still so warm here. My tomatoes are still growing and producing just fine. My co-op bulbs came and my 500 tulips bulbs from parks and Oh my gosh, am I gonna be busy! I need to rent a big tiller and get the final step done in my beds. I won’t be able to till until the13th, but I still have not brought in my houseplants and I need to do that soon before a frost sneaks up on me and I lose them. Must repot them first.

What to you clay dwellers do to amend your soil? I know that natures helper and mushroom compost are good, but it can get quite pricey if you want to amend a huge area. Ya’ll know I’ve brought in loads of horse manure, but I realize that I can’t put that in the area where my bulbs will go and I have had to change the entire plan because manure was in the original location and I hear they don’t like that. I also know that chopped up leaves are a good organic thing to add to the soil and I have plenty of that now. I just don’t have a huge (clean) trash can to weed eat them with (yet). :) What else to yall do to amend beds? Also, I know that tilling on a regular basis isn’t ultimately good for the soil.. So, what do you do them? I am not able to plant annuals without it and I feel like I could be doing better.

Susan McCoy

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/449802/

Julie, there'a a fun thread for ya.. Turn the music on! It' makes all the difference! If you go toward the bottom, I have written a few lines myself and I wrote "An ode to GeorgiaRedClay" :)

Susan McCoy

I hope you guys have this thread on "watch". :-)
I've sure missed talking to everyone and seeing what you're doing. Things got a little discombobulated here a couple of weeks ago. A little old lady (read that 'hermit', 'recluse', 'odd (very odd) person) that lived a few doors down from me passed away on election day. We had just, over the summer, become friends of a sort. She had a WONDERFUL prairie planted piece of property and she (*and* her garden!) fascinated me.

She had told me back in summer that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was going through chemo with flying colors. I thought, since she had no relatives at all, that I should at least *try* to help her in any way I could. She was in her mid 80's and just as stubborn as she was eccentric...so the only thing she'd allow me to do was talk to her. We talked of many things and I could tell that those visits meant an awful lot ot her.

In October I went for my regular visit and was surprised when I saw her come to the door all dressed up and literally beaming. The doctor had tested her and the cancer was nowhere to be seen. It was a miracle!

Two weeks later my DIL who works in the local nursing home told me that my friend had become a 'resident' and that she was 'terminal'. I went to the nursing home as quickly as I could. I found out that no one had brought any of her own clothes or other things for her. And I also found out that she was in very bad condition. I sat on the side of her bed for a while and managed to get eye-contact with her for a minute or so. I told that she was a "Sweetheart" and bent over closer to her and with a big smile on my face whispered "I'll bet that's not something you've been accused of being before, right?" She *smiled*...and said faintly..."no." I kissed her on the forehead, told her how much she meant to me and my garden and told her "I love you."

I got permission from her to get her keys and go into her house to get clothes for her. I brought back a few things a bit later...she was sleeping.

The next morning I got a call from my DIL..."Bea passed away just after midnight".

Isn't it funny how you can miss someone, not because they've been especially close, but just because they aren't there anymore? I miss Bea. And I wish I'd taken the time to do something more, even though I really don't know what that 'something more' might have been. Maybe just thinking about her when I look at the wildflowers and prairie grasses will be enough. I hope so.

~julie~

Julie, I saw this thread and hoped it was you replying since I had not seen you around. I am sorry to hear about your friend. I am so glad you got to visit her and I am sure you being there and bringing her some things continued to warm her heart as she moved on. For someone you knew for a very little time, she obviously touched you and it sounds like you were able to do the same for her during her last moments here. I hope the enjoyment of her prairie this spring and possibly the chance to help make sure it stays around can be that something more.

Julie - my heart goes out to you tonight. I think you did exactly the right thing for Bea. It's quite obvious from your words and the emotion behind them that you did absolutely the right thing. This cantankerous little gal has you to thank for probably some very lively discussions in her last few months and you most likely gave her a sense of not being alone anymore. Maybe that was just exactly what she needed. The Lord brought the two of you together and my guess is that your heart now holds the reason. God bless you my friend.

(((((((((Julie)))))))))

Brenda

Sweezel...thank you *so much* for your reply. Brenda...thank you for your reply also. But most of all thank you both for using the words you used. I try not to make a habit of spreading my feelings out so they can be used to cause other people to 'catch' my bad (or sad) mood. I'm not really sure what it was that made me write about my experience to begin with but now, thanks to you both, I feel a little more comfortable. (Funny how a a few tears rolling down one's cheek can work to clear the air in one's head, isn't it? ;-)

((((( ~ Sweezel & Brenda ~ )))))

Now to change the atmosphere here...
I've been working on organizing the information I've gathered for all the plants in my garden. I made up a new template in my WORD that allows me print the most important stats, as well as a photo, on index cards. I have two sets of cards at the moment one for plants and one for the seeds I've purchased and/or been given by my friends here at DG.

I started out printing the index cards for the seeds and attaching my seed packets to them. They were then put into an alphabetized filing cabinet made for the 4 X 6 index cards...COOL! NOW I can find my seeds!

Originally, I put the main 'photo card' with my seeds, but as I LOVE to sit with a book in my hands in the evening while hubby is watching T.V. And since my favorite books deal with flowers and gardening...I've started making up Index cards with just the basic facts (no pics) to replace the fancier ones in the box and put my photo'd info cards in a recipe card notebook.

The notebooks were bought several years ago at WallyWorld and have 'sleeve' pages that hold 4 4x6 index cards each...just like regular photo albums. I don't have everything printed out at the moment (I may have to get a second mortgage to pay for the INK to do that! LOL) but I have ALL of the seeds done. And having this system will at least help me know "what's next" when I start winter sowing in the very near future. :-D

Now, if anyone has a database or spreadsheet template that they'd share with me...I'd sure appreciate it.

OH! Oh! OH!! I nearly forgot!
I've just ordered a new piece of gardening software, too! I'm really excited about it! I've done almost *everything* on my computer for the past 20 years and when I got hooked on gardening I immediately went looking for landscape design software. It took me a long time to find anything *worth* buying but, thanks to Garden Gate magazine (back issues...my DDDH bought me the whole set of 9 vols for a combined anniversary and Christmas gift (LOVE that man!!)) I finally found what I've been looking for.

Chances are that it will turn out to be less than 'perfect' (like most software I've used :-)) but after taking several days studying the feature list and watching the little presentation 'video' I know it has at *least* the basics of what I need. If nothing else, working with it will help quench the winter doldrums. (Hooray! for me!!! :-D)

Hope to see y'all soon!

~julie~

Julie -

You might want to read over this thread in the Daylilies forum where Charlotte asked a similiar question on how everyone keeps track of their plants......

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/467175/


I'm curious what landscape design software you bought? I've bought 2 or 3 in the last year and wasn't wow'd by any of them, but I also don't have the patience for a software application that isn't a snap within an hour of use. It was just too tedious! Maybe landscape design IS just tedious!


Do you have an Avery template or something for the 4x6 note cards or did you make your own? I'm VERY curious about that setup you've got.

Wow! You are little miss organized, aren'tcha? :P I love the idea of attaching the seed packets to note cards so that you can easily flip through them. One of these days I will get a bit more organized, but working in this darn out of house job & keeping the house clean after 4 kids run through every day is coming first for now. umph Maybe my DH will get some giant contract and I can quit or at least hire a maid! :) LOL Sorry I can't donate a spreadsheet template. I have a simple word file with the list of all my perennials e with a few details up to last fall sometime and all my seed baggies are in a shoe box in no particular order.

Brenda...Oh goodie! Someone's interested!! :-D
I bought the "GrowIt Gold" from this site http://www.taoherbfarm.com/index.htm I must have looked at a dozen or more sites, checked into the features of all of the programs, and finally decided on GrowIt. I've been watching several shows on DIY that were using some kind of software where the user can import a photo of the property to be landscaped and from there are able to simulate various plantings, etc. Of course, I *wanted* it! :-D I knew it *had* to be available somewhere, even asked on the DIY site but got no reply.

When I saw the GrowIt software and digested the features I knew it had to be close enough to what I needed. Now, you have to remember that I'm a software "junkie" and have been for a very long time. I don't mind spending time learning a new program and will use anything as long as it serves my purpose. I was among the first group of people to use embroidery digitizing software for home embroidery machines when they first hit the market. *Trust me*...THAT was an experience in patience! (I've been working with computers since the time of DOS 1.0! and that's a LONG time!!) At any rate, I purchased the GrowIt Gold v9 because my computer doesn't have a DVD reader/writer (yet! :-D) and I chose to buy the older version rather than pay for a machine update. :-O

As for the template I'm using for the Index card system. I'm using MS Word and made up my own template. I found that setting my "Paper Size" for the document and viewing the screen in Print format, I had exactly what I needed. If you have WORD I'll gladly email a copy of my basic file to you. I have it set up with a set of alphabetic indexes in LARGE font size so I can easily find the section where I want to add/edit a card. Probably a picture would explain it a LOT better...LOL When my virus scan is finished running, I'll do a few screen captures and post them for you. Right now my machine is running WAY to slow to get them done and posted.

SO....I'll be back in bit. In the meantime, why don't check out that link and download the video presentation to see why I'm so excited about the software. But if you have it and DON'T like it...*Don't* tell me! hehehehe

~julie~

I'm back... :-) and the virus scan is finished...so, Brenda, this image shows a couple of cards as I see them on my WORD software screen. I've set up a card with each letter of the alphabet in HUGE font size, beneath the letter I've placed a copy of the basic information I'll use for each plant or seed packet. I use a seperate card for each variety if I have more than one (Marigold - Crackerjack / Marigold - French dwarf will each have a card).

When I add a new plant or seed to my collection, I copy the basic info (without the BIG letter) from the main index card and paste it on my new one, fill in the info, and add the photo.

The photos? Weeeel......Some are from my own collection, when I want to the take the time to prepare them, others are "borrowed" from the Internet and usually from the PDB here at DG. Once you learn to set up the properties of the image, in WORD, it's a fairly easy process to resize them to fit on the index card.

You might notice that the plant names are blue. That's because I've put a hyperlink into the document that links me directly to the appropriate page for MORE info and comments on the plants here at Dave's. I *love* that! Now if I can just figure out a way to link my own photos to the index cards in my reference document, I'll have it ALL! :-D

I use my electronic document as reference when I'm at the computer, and the hard copy cards in my garden 'album' when I'm sitting around dreaming. So I really have the best of *both* worlds...for me, anyway. :-D

If you have any questions, let me know.

~julie~

hehehe...I just looked at my picture and realized that I had added the "basic info" part of the "B" card AFTER I'd made up those cards on the screen. So the 'basic info' doesn't match what you see in this example. LOL THAT'S *why* I changed it to begin with...I was constantly getting confused. But NOW I have it straightened out.

~julie~

Very nice Julie!! No wonder you like to flip through them at night.

Thanks Sweezel...leafing through my index cards is better than going through the Park's and SSE(SeedSaversExchange) catalogs. (It's a BAD feeling when you look through the catalog pages and realize that you HAVE everything you've checked off in them as "I *want* this" LOL)

~julie~

Maybe because half of the time the pictures in the catalogs look so much better than when we actual grow them at home. :-

I have an Excel spreadsheet for my acquired plants. It shows:
Botanical Name Qty Common name Height Width Space Grower Color Bloom Time Light Req. Soil Req. Moisture Req. Companions Care Other

It's arranged by year/time of purchase so I really need to do a sort by names in another spreadsheet. Of course, since I moved I don't have most of those plants anymore anyway.

Maybe a combo of your Word docs and a spreadsheet might work for me. Providing I can afford the ink.

Wow Julie! That's very organized. If you don't mind sharing the Word template with me that might be a nice tool for my seeds. I'm the shoebox seed type and I really have way too many seeds crammed in there and need to come up with a better system.


I've not seen GrowIt before. I have Garden Composer and Garden Designer and didn't really care for them that much.

Hi Darius! Sounds like you've been busy with that spreadsheet. Over the years I've learned how to really put an Access database to use. With that database software, it would be easy to add a new column to code "Have" or "used to have" (Old garden/new garden) and still be able to keep all the info you'd collected on the plants. I may be forced to sit down and write up a 'front end' in Access. I've been trying to avoid anything that reminds me of my old job. LOL

Brenda, it's pretty easy to organize when you don't have a HUGE collection of seeds or have crates full of one kind (hehehe....mine are marigolds) or bulky ones (canna and 4 o'clock seeds are my largest right now). I suppose if I got a big supply of one seed or another, I'd probably just keep the labeled seeds in a shoe box (alphabetically, of course :-D) and keep the main info card in my index file or album.

You know...I'm spending a LOT of time with this 'organizing' thing. :-D I think that's a GOOD thing!

~julie~
P.S. Brenda, I'll clean out a copy of my document and send it out to you this evening.

Julie, Access is not a common Mac program so I'm unfamiliar with it.

I have File Maker Pro (isn't that a database?) but do not know how to use it, LOL.

Ahhhh, I'm sorry Darius. I've been working with what we used to call "IBM-clones" for so long that I completely forget that there are Mac users out there. If I'd started with Apple I probably wouldn't know (and wouldn't *want* to know) anything about the buggy PC. LOL As for the File Maker Pro, I'm not familiar with that one. It's a shame that that the software designers never found a way to truly integrate a spreadsheet (YUCK!!!!) with a great relational database (YUMMM! ;-)). I designed my database to do record keeping and invoicing for the company I used to work for. I'm a 'novice' but I had that little database doing things they aren't *supposed* to do. hehehehe

I have a love/hate relationship with computers...at the moment I *love* them! Let me get a virus and I'll swear OFF them *again*! :-D

~julie~

Actually, I believe File Maker Pro can integrate spreadsheets, one of the reasons I bought it. Eventually I will have to learn it if I am to do a website of my own to list all my books for sale... at some vague point in the future. First I have to learn Dreamweaver and Fireworks to build a website. I get through about 4-5 pages and then lose it. Lack of attention to detail in this instance, I guess. Or a mindset.

I started out with a Mac in 1987 and never looked back. When I read all the problems folks have with PC's. I'm very glad to be a Mac person. I always had to trouble-shoot my housemate's PC and it was a real challenge, so I understand the love/hate thing!

:-s) Sometimes I wish I'd been *smarter* and started on the Mac...and I really MEAN that! (Especially when I lose a hard drive. :-( )

~julie~

Well, Macs are not immune to losing a hard drive... trust me!

Julie, I've been ill, (bad virus) as well as my family, so I haven't been here in a while, but your an angel :) How sweet of you to have been there right beofre her transition and how comforting in her last moments on earth. Bless you.

Susan McCoy

Julie I miss Bea also. Just from your discription she had to really appreciate you. You are one more SWEETHEART yourself and I bet you have been told many times.

I had this watched at one time and everyone quit posting so I thought it was in cyber heaven and I must have unwatched.

Susan...I'm so so sorry to hear your family has been ill. Hope everyone is doing better now. After all, we *do* have the holidays coming at us full force...and we NEED our energy. ;-)

Jim, don't you DARE unwatch one of *my* threads! LOL I can never find anyone so I figure the best way to contact everyone at once is to post here! :-D

Thank you both for your very kind words. (Jim, don't you owe me an email ;-),/b> ?)

Well, it looks like my early seed starting season is now official. I just received my heat mats in the mail (...and a few more seeds. hehehehe)

~julie~