Gardening Software or journels

[Avonnow]

Does anybody have any gardening software online or loaded or a particular journal they find good that they could recommend. I am tyring to keep all my planting dates and info online in a windows calender and a self made excel form, neither fits my fancy not enough room. I don't keep every move I make, but more and more I like to log the day I plant something, type of seed and when it should mature as a follow up to see how it is doing. If I have a sick plant what I did and then check back. It is for me to glean alittle info and learn. I think if I had a good program I might stick with it more, heck it takes me 5 minutes just to find my last file in the computer. Appreciate it.

[garden5]

[url=https://www.motherearthnews.com/garden-planner/vegetable-garden-planner.aspx]Mother Earth News Garden Planner[/url]

This one is not free, but the cost is reasonable and you can start out with a free, no obligation trial. If you like it, the cost may be worth is and you probably will not need to use it for very long until you get the hang of things.

Hope this helps .

[microcollie]

I have to say that I'm still a fan of good ol' pen and paper. I have journals going back decades, and every now and then I still look back at the early ones. It's also easier to add sketches, seed packs, pressed flowers and leaves, etc. Of course it takes a few shelves of space in the shed, and there's not an easy way to cross-reference from year to year, but it's served me well.

[jal_ut]

I am with microcollie. I use a three ring binder and paper. I like this because things can be added. I sometimes print things I find on the internet to add to my book. I make notes of planting dates, varieties and performance notes on the varieties, and anything else I think may be of use or interest later.

One other thing I have been doing for years is keeping track of everything that comes off the garden. I have a clipboard in the garage and everything gets weighed or counted and recorded. At the end of season, I will tally it all up. This grand total is what encourages me to do it again next year. The sheets from the clipboard end up in the 3 ring binder along with the tally sheet. Every now and then I need a new 3 ring binder.

I think you can make a folder on your computer and just use your word processor to keep notes in if you prefer to do it on a computer. The basic Notepad is adequate to keep notes. You could just keep adding to a document for months maybe before needing a new document. Put all your garden files in the dedicated garden folder. Put the folder in a good spot on the tree where you can easily see it. Use descriptive file names to help you find it later.

Oh, BTW, I also have a Garden Folder on my computer where I store garden related files.

Sorry, I can't suggest anything online for this purpose.

[digitS']

Sherry, I have only the barest of ideas about online design tools. Until recently, I didn't know that something like this was available - certainly not for free use.

Years ago, I had the clunkiest sort of software that I'd picked up somewhere. Honestly, I don't know how things might have improved with software. I am sure that there is software that is an improvement and there may well be online freebies for our use, as well .

Now downloading something . . . I am very reluctant to do that unless it is some bona fide outfit and something I'm paying for. But, if it is just an online program, that might be different and safe.

Besides MotherEarthNews, there is a [url=https://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KitchenGardenDesigner]Gardener's Supply Kitchen Garden Planner.[/url] It does things 1 bed at a time, I suppose. It may be tedious to use this with a garden of some size.

I came across [url=https://www.seedtoplate.co.uk/]a seed company in the UK.[/url] that seems quite useful but only if the plot is small. I tried it out a little and had to set it for 1/4th of my smallest garden! (Actually, there is 1 smaller garden but I hadn't a clue how to plot a ~ 30' x 21' x 37' triangle!) Still, this program seemed useful to me.

Jung Seed Company has a [url=https://gardenplanner.jungseed.com/gardenplanner/gardenplanner.html#]Vegetable Garden Planner.[/url] Once again, it is a free trial or, you can use it at any time but not save anything until you pay. I noticed something about it in their catalog.

I can imagine myself making some use of garden planners like these. My old drawings on graph paper haven't been updated in a decade !

Steve

[Avonnow]

Yeah I noticed some want a small fee, which is fine, I would rather buy software outright, but I guess I can't be choosy. I just find it easier to type what I have done much quicker then writing it and I have horrible writing (I think I am a hyper person and it reflects in my writing) I don't have a large garden, I just find If I do not write something down right away I forget. I am using the stakes in the plants now for alot of info, it looks like a book. I am also using my calender on desktop which is small.
I am going to try some of these planners, if they are too difficult I may pass, but I think the more I log the better I will learn from my mistakes.

[garden5]

Let us know which one wins . I agree with you that once you garden a few seasons and keep trying new things, you will planning things out in your head like it is nothing.....I do over every winter .

[applestar]

Avonnow, I've tried all different kind of ways to keep track of my stuff. I've drawn up fantastic charts and diagrams on the computer that -- alas -- I realized I would need a poster printer to be able to read properly when printed out. I've drawn minute garden layouts on small notepads that fit in my back pocket. I've tried buying "special" notebooks and gardening journals. I've kept track of daily accomplishments on Calendar apps and entered to-do's. Sigh. None of them have been ideal. I haven't kept them in a 3-ring binder like jal said. I didn't like that they lacked continuity (and some of them were in hard-bound journals), but it's possibly only because I'm just not organized enough to try....

This isn't a recommendation or anything, but there's an online game called Snowy Farm that my kids and I have been playing recently on the iPad and iPod Touch.

I REALLY think if someone developed a gardening app based on its principles and capabilities it has the elements and potential to be actually useful:
The planting grid for the plants are not rigid (can be offset in various ways), there are databases of info associated with each plant and it counts down the time to maturity after being planted (albeit in hours and seconds for the game -- wouldn't it be great if it lets you input the days?), etc. It has a wide selection of animal keeping areas, buildings and decorations such as paths and walls (need to be able to scale flexibly for real life garden/farm). etc. etc. It needs a real-time calendar capability. It would be great if you could input local average last and first frosts. It would be fantastic if it could give you a choice of local forecast agency to link to.

The fact that you can easily carry this thing around on your person out in the garden is a plus (computer based software is a problem in that regard) If it can have a Computer version that it can synch with the handheld device, that would be even better.

[digitS']

. . . once you garden a few seasons and keep trying new things, you will planning things out in your head like it is nothing.....

Yep, that's me: I've gotten down real close to nothing. LOL.

I've forgotten more than most beginning gardeners know.

Yep, they can ask me for an answer on most any issue. Chances are real good: I've forgotten!

Steve

[applestar]

... oh, I don't know. The more I learn the more complicated permutations and logistics I hatch up, such as succession planting, companion planting, and crop rotation. One of the reasons two-dimensional diagrams on paper no longer works as well for me, though color-coding helps with the chronological factors some-what. I CANNOT keep all this in my head -- I can get the rudiments going, but then the inter-relationships get too complicated for my poor ol' brain.

Oh, yeah. One year, I tried using onion skin/vellum sheets on taped hinges to create layers on top of the main page of garden design. Apart from needing to re-tape several times due to wear, that worked well except that I used pencil on the onion skin and the pencil marks rubbed off/faded so much by the end of the season it was illegible by next spring -- I.e. I could READ them even at the end of the season because I'd been looking at the chicken scratch all season that I had more-or-less memorized them, but after the winter hiatus, the memory faded as badly as the pencil marks Another problem was that I had pages of tables and charts and scribbed comments -- when to start seeds, when I planned to plant out, spacing, when I planted, etc. that I had to constantly flip back and forth between the garden design page and the various data pages.

[DoubleDogFarm]

garden5 wrote:
. . . once you garden a few seasons and keep trying new things, you will planning things out in your head like it is nothing.....


Yep, that's me: I've gotten down real close to nothing. LOL.

I've forgotten more than most beginning gardeners know.

Yep, they can ask me for an answer on most any issue. Chances are real good: I've forgotten!

Steve

Yep, I know what you mean. I have a photographic memory. I take lots of garden pictures. Vegetables, fruit trees, livestock etc. You just have to remember to give them titles and other pertinent information.

Eric

[Avonnow]

I do agree with the pictures, I take pictures each time I redo a bed or plant alot of items, then I can refer back to them. I also take pictures when I pick stuff. (learned this from my home insurance company and going through hurricanes some years ago). But again like was said if you don't note the date, or your camera or software doesn't, I am lost. For me being new, I just want to know what I planted, when, how long it took to produce anything if it does. What I did as far as fertilizer or treatments. I want to see what seeds do the best for my area and hopefully in a few years I will have some favorites. I have a box of seed nows that I could literally start a store. I keep trying and trying. I know it probably takes years to glean all that info, so I think I will stick with my computer. As noted alot of these programs the beds in no way shape or form resemble what I am working with. I also have lots of pots on the patio and outside. So I am best making my own drawing and use that. I also am good with the computer but have yet to get a IPAD or IPhone. It is just another gadget I will have to become familiar with. I do agree it would be handy though.