Winter Sowing Data Base page 3

Thanks pamsaplantin for that really nice site, what a great help it will be. what the seeds look like and the seedlings : )

Congrats to those seeing your WSing coming up, wow. I'll have to look again tomorrow.

Dave, we really need a link so people can find the database... It's causing some confusion over on the WS forum. People are hearing about the database, and then they can't find it. Or they're entering information via the PF page link, and then they can't find their entry or find any other information on this database they've just contributed to.

Is there a reason not to have a link to it yet?

Even if you're not ready to add a link to the "Guides & Info" tab, could you put a link at the top of the Winter Sowing forum, please? I think that would be really helpful, and I'm guessing it would also increase database entries.

Thanks!

I hope there will also be a way to search through the database. I was trying to look something up and have to go page by page.

Check the Tag Cloud - there should be a tag for it there. Not a quick way to get to it, but at least we've got that option :)

I've got it bookmarked, so that works for me... but a link at the top of the winter sowing forum would make it lots easier for the folks there.

Anita, two tips that might help... I think the entries are arranged alphabetically by Latin name, regardless of whether the Latin name is actually entered (hence, Yarrow is at the top because its Latin name is Achillea). The other thing that's been helping me on a lot of threads is my recent discovery of Firefox's "Find on this Page" tool -- hit ctrl-F or look under the "Tool" menu at the top of the FF window, then enter the name of the plant you're looking for in the "Find" box.

Good tip Jill, but the database is several pages now. Currently I have to hit a few pages to see that I am in the right range. I more worried for when the pages grow to higher double digits or even triple digits.

I agree Anita, it's a wonderful tool but getting so big that it's almost too unwieldy to use. A search for that database would be SO handy.

You're right, Anita, it's getting awkward... those suggestions are temporary measures at best!

I agree that adding a search function would be super. It would be great to be able to use the Plant Files "Look for a plant by key characteristics...with our Advanced Search" function for this. The "Other details" drop-down could include "This plant has been winter sown" as an option. That way, I could search on the genus Aquilegia, for example, and the search results would display all of the columbine species and cultivars that have reports in the winter sowing database. I would then like to be able to pull one of the plants up in Plant Files and click a "View Winter sowing reports" button to see what folks have had to say about it. While I'm dreaming, could you sort those reports by zone? -LOL

I understand what you all mean. I have stopped entering data because it is getting far to full to even be handy to use. I will ask around and see if there is anything that can be done. I have so much data that will need to be entered starting in March-it is frightening. I don't want to make the database even more cumbersome.
Robbi


Where is Princess Tammy-have you even started WSing yet??

NOPE! Shame on me!

I figured I would start entering with this years results - as the seeds start germinating

In NY!! You have germination!! Oh man!! I didn't know NY was 6b-but I guess with the coast right there-oh I am in major zone envy sitting here with 6º temp :o(

I WISH! :)

I still only have 3, Corncockle, Bachelors Buttons and a NOID, that are growing well and looking good. I'm about ready to put some in pots they are so big. I have one that I don't have a clue what it is though. I'll try to post a pic on the Plant ID forum and get a name. By the way those waterproof vinyl labels work great for WSing. I can read the names just great except the one that I didn't label, mine have been out there since Dec 16th and I can still read the labels like they were out there yesterday. I have started some veggies in the house and I just wrote on those labels with an ink pen and even after watering and all that I can still still read them very clear. I may have to order me some more of those labels.

I have been using freezer tape-it works great and very inexpensive :o)

is there a db of seeds you can WS?

Hi WSowers. Been like spring this weekend and now its raining hard and snow in the forecast, oh well got a lot of outdoor things done.

? on morning glories. I soaked some of them and they open up and then I went ahead and WS them. Sould I not have pre soak them? Is WS suppose to take care of hard seeds and do its thing naturally? Hope I didn'tjump the gun on them.

You shouldn't need to do anything to them. Mother nature does it all for you.

Starting2luv- I don't know what zone you are in, but you can ws just about anything except tender and tropicals. Some of it is trial and error. What works for one person, may not for another. I would touch base with people in your zone.

Hi starting, I swear I posted this last night!!

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/ws/

Here is a link to use. At the moment there isn't a direct one. Sorry it took so long to get it on here. I will D-mail it to you as well :o)

Hey Robbi,
I just d-mailed you trying to find this page. As you can tell i found it. I have a question about the data base. I entered my ws information on Wild Anise Hyssop Agastache foeniculum. I need to take out the date of bloom. It was automatically set with today's date but of course its not ready to bloom yet. How do I fix or take the date out???

Got another question.
Why did only the common name Blanket Flower show on the ws data base? I entered the winter sowing information on Gaillardia aristata 'Bremen' from Plantfiles. Shouldn't the winter sowing data base include the full name and cultivar when linked from PFs for a better description of the data just entered?

I popped over to see if anyone could help me with some problems I'm having with the data base, but it looks like most of it has already been covered. What is most frustrating to me is that the plants are listed by common name but alphabetically by latin name. That makes no sense to me. If we're going to use latin names (which is fine) then why wouldn't the alphabetical order start with the "A" latin names? Or if we're going to list them by common name (which is also fine) then why wouldn't we start the list with the "A" common names. Actually maybe it's not the best idea to list by common name. I have a few seeds that are labeled by their latin name only and I have absolutely no clue how to look them up. I suppose I could go to plantfiles and look up each individual seed, then hope that PF uses the same common name as whomever entered it in the database, then look through the entries one by one and hope to stumble across it. Maybe I'm just being dense here. Am I missing something really obvious?

I'm hoping Dave will find time to give the database a few minutes of his attention, but I know the new auction site and other things have him pretty busy at present. It would be nice to get it working a little better so we can start entering the data we're collecting from this season!

As far as I know, La, you're not missing anything obvious... I'm frustrated too!

I'd like to USE it for this season. LOL! Thanks for confirming for me Critter...helpful as always!

I second that everyone. Lucky for me, my plants are still freezing so I don't have to put in information yet-I hope all of this gets taken care of before mine start getting warm. I have D-mailed and asked for help here but have heard nothing yet.

Cordeledawg, as far as the bloom date issue..It is something I have tried to address as well. Does anyone know an Admin to ask these questions to? As I said, I have sent D-mail and heard nothing back.

Wish I could be of more help.


This message was edited Mar 4, 2008 8:02 PM

I did use the dashes to blank out the bloom date on the rest of my entries. I'm sure there will be an opportunity to edit your own entries at a later date? Especially for the sake of those perennials which take two or three years to bloom.

There used to be an edit button, but it is no longer there. Or it is not in the same place as it used to be

I may spend some time this winter and go thru some of my notes from previous WS'ing and enter some data.

At least then, when i am able to enter my 2009 data, i will have the hang of it.

Terese

I've looked to see how to add new plants but it tried to add it to plantfiles. Where do I go to add my plants?

Another wish for me is to have this work like the plantfiles so people's information could be stacked rather than have multiple entries for same plants. Would also love a field for propagation since I will START my lavender from seed since I need so many plants but once they get going, I will mound them in dirt and get cuttings for more plants rather than starting from seed again.

So let's bribe Dave, what does he really, really want???? Let's everyone send him a CARD saying please???? lol

I've been ordering pansy seeds and of course, to do it "BEST", I should have sown it last August and then overwintered in a cold frame which begs the question, could I not pot up the pansys before hard frost and overwinter the plants? For some of you who have z6 weather, are your pansies perennial if you don't toss them out in the summer heat? Just wondering. MIght be worth potting up a few and overwintering mature plants - thoughts?

Starting - look where my yellow arrow is... you can add plants there

the one I was looking for was how to update the winter sowing instructions.
Found it on the bottom of the page under My Actions. Thanks much
for your advice!

When you're filling out the DG survey this week, you might consider putting down improving the WS database (and maybe expanding it into a general propagation database) as something you'd like to see added to DG!

:-)

DG survey??

**edited to add....

Never mind... found it. i rarely scroll down there.

This message was edited Feb 3, 2009 5:35 PM

It's listed to the right on the front page, at least it is on mine....just popped up today, i think.

Robin -- mine is listed all the way at the bottom. but -- there it was..... gonna go take a gander now.

You can arrange your "preferences" for your home page so the announcements from Dave show up at the top.

This is an older thread, but seems the best place to ask this. Is there a way to see the winter sowing database sorted by Latin names? Right now it comes up sorted by common names, making it really difficult to find anything since some things have so many common names. I understand it was confusing to see common names when it was sorted by Latin names, but at least I could kind of use it.

It would be more useful to me this way, also.

I admit, I haven't used or contributed to the database much... kept hoping Dave would get around to working on it... I thought it was still at the "test version" stage, since I can't find a direct link to the database on the site. (I can get to it from the link on this thread, which I've bookmarked, but I thought it was going to have its own link on the "guides & info" tab.)

Dave, are there any plans for moving forward with the WS database?