Making a diary

[moggssue]

Okay, daft question number 387! You all keep diaries, this is obviously the way to go to see what to do and what to use next year - but how do you arrange it? Do you keep it by date, by produce (carrot, lettuce etc) or by position in the plot/garden? There seems to be no end to the methods possible - what do you guys find the best?

[shirlthegirl43]

I have a hardback A4 size book and just write in it the date planted, the date it sprouted and the date it got eaten (if I make it that far). I don't grow much so trust the memory for what was planted where! (could be a mistake though). Strongly suspect that other grapes are more organised.

[nick the grief]

I don't use a diary Moggs but I do use a spreadsheet but it's more to see if I've got enough room for everything.

For instance, I buy my seed tatties locally and I get them loose. I know i need 12 - 14 to a row ( depending on what they are) if I want to grow 3 rows of a variety I buy 36 - 42 of them rather than 3kg or 6kg

[Hazel at the Hill]

Fab question, Sue - and one which I have pondered...........I started on a big one page calendar with headings for date sown, sprouted, eaten, and then put the the crop in the right date for each heading and drew a line to connect them.

This turned out to be a really srubbish idea as the more you sow, the more complicated the calendar gets, to the point that now it just looks like a load of scribble, so at the weekend I went back to the drawing board, and for me, this mark II system is better:

Using Excel I have columns marked up as:

crop
variety
date sown
date sprouted
(column for excel to calculate the number of days)
date first eaten
(column for excel to calculate the number of days between sowing and cropping)
date last eaten
(column for excel to calculate the number of days the crop has lasted)

It means that all I have to do is put crop detail and various dates and it gives me loads of info - the advantage of using the spreadsheet is that I can sort on - e.g shortest cropping time - or by crop to see the average time taken for seeds to sprout etc etc.

I'm sure this system will evolve - like my gardening! And I'm really interested in how other grapes organise themselves...........

[Hazel at the Hill]

And I have a plan ......

[Madasafish]

I have a spreadsheet of flowers/veg arranged by sowing date order.

I then keep a Word document (diary is too grand) saying WHEN I did what and the result.
eg: 6th June: Planted out 2 Sub Arctic Plenty tomatoes in willow compost heat (warm 21C)

Which is obvious!

[Alice]

Good question Moggssue. I use a chart like a spreadsheet and just enter the dates in the columns, but it doesn't work as well as I thought it would.
Hazel I love your spreadsheet and plan. I'm going to make something similar but I'm not too good at spreadsheets. Wish I could just tap into your computer and steal yours. Oh well, I'm sure I'll manage.

[Hazel at the Hill]

If you pm me your email address I'd be delighted to send it to you, Alice, complete with formulas, so you just have to pop your crop, and the dates into it, and it can do the 'clever bits' itself.

[PAULW]

Cor! wish I was that organised, it has taken me 4 years to put a label in the tray telling me what I have sown.

[moggssue]

Hazel, that's a brill idea - I'm going to have a go at it, but it'll be a steep learning curve putting sums into a spreadsheet!! And I just thought I had to learn how veg grow haha!

[TPeers]

I have a hardback A4 size book and just write in it the date planted, the date it sprouted and the date it got eaten (if I make it that far). I don't grow much so trust the memory for what was planted where! (could be a mistake though). Strongly suspect that other grapes are more organised.

TOH says date planted, date sprouted and date eaten - by the slugs!

I don't tend to worry about rotation - I never get to eat what I grow!




Terry

[shirlthegirl43]

Slugs don't get mine - I use the bird/hedgehog friendly slug pellets to make sure of that. My problem was flea beetle and cabbage white butterfly last year. This year Madmax built me a brassica cage so hopefully we will get to taste some veg later!

Love the sound of Hazel's spreadsheet - sounds sooo organised!

[heebiejeebie]

Wow! I never thought of getting that organised. I love spreadsheets! (Hey, stop yelling saddo!)

I've just had to trawl back through this thread to find out when I planted the earlies.

[Digger-07]

I keep a spreadsheet with sowing dates and use the filter to see what needs to go in each month.

Records are kept in a hard back note book, I used to use a set out diary but some days there was not enough room to put everything down.

Page one of the book is a plan of the plot with rough rotation worked out and the plots numbered.

Following this the start of each week has a page for recording weather for the week. I have a useful site that I get the max. min temps and other data for the area. Then I begin with what I've sown, what's germinated and % success, what I've transplanted and what's been harvested. Each entry has a number next to it to indicate which plots the stuff has gone into.

Then I record what I've done on the plot and finally a section of "to be followed up or reminders for next year".

Some weeks I only use one or two pages but other weeks I might use many more. It's interesting to compare year by year and it only takes a few minutes while the bath is running to keep it up to date.

[shirlthegirl43]

I actually keep my book in the greenhouse and fill in what I sow as soon as it is done!