How do you tell what you planted?

[runfox]

I am trying to figure a cheap way to keep track of what I plant where in my garden. How do you all do it? Last year I tried some coat hanger wire and made little labels , mixed results. I have tried mapping it out, I guess Ill have to go back to that. My gardens small, 3 rows 25' long.
Guess Ill go back to my grid paper and lay it out that way.

[PunkRotten]

I map it out and also just try to remember most things. I have a small garden too so that helps. Also just knowing what certain plants look like help a lot. I planted a bunch of beets, carrots, and radishes in fall and mixed some of them around. I thought I would forget what was what. But once they are up you figure out where everything is.

[Ruffsta]

since I am webmaster and make websites, ds games, online games, ect..

I figured the best way for me was to make html tables based on square areas and print them up..

but that's just me..


but one can always just use a pen and paper...

[vebyrd36]

I use a grid map of my garden I have found don't fix what is not broken. My Dad has been using this method since before I was born.

I like the method cuz I grow organics and heirlooms and want to know what plants grow best here in West Texas. Although considering are zones have changed at least that is what is been said to 8a gives me more to work with. I hope this helps. VIVI

[Bobberman]

Take a picture of the garden area and blow it up in size and put your marks on it!

[hendi_alex]

I look in my garden and see egg plant where egg plants were placed, tomatoes where tomatoes are placed, bean where beans were placed, etc. So I'm a little puzzled by the question, especially where one has a small garden. More seriously, for tomatoes, if for some reason I want to monitor a particular variety, its six inch white plastic I.d. marker is placed near the base of the plant in the garden. For most things though, I just don't care. When the various fruit or seeds get ready to harvest, I know what is where.

I am bad about replanting the same family in the same area too many years in a row, but do move things around as much as is practical. Picking varieties, or actually finding room to plant each variety selected became a chore for me. My solution has been to simply categorize vegetable seeds and then dump all of the varieties in with its category. So when the seeds are planted we get a kind of variable pot luck. Of course for the first year, the seeds are generally tested, to make sure that we in fact like the variety.

Here are some of my categories from last year.

Tomatoes: black, green, hybrid slicing, heirloom
cucumbers: asian, pickling, burpless
peppers:sweet, jalapeno
lettuce: all loose leaf are dumped together
arugula: three varieties dumped together
egg plant: several Asian varieties dumped together, a mix of green and some black
Yellow squash: all together
zucchini: all together

This method makes seed starting and planting much simpler. There is no more agonizing over having started 40 tomato seeds and I still have not planted four other favorite varieties. I plant my 40-50 seeds by category and then we get a surprise as to what the season provides.

[lorax]

I use popsicle sticks and either a permanent marker or a woodburning tool.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I use a combination of Bobberman / marlingardener.

I take lots of pictures and use the mini blind tags. Tried Popsicle sticks The permanent marker is not permanent. I use a garden marker on my plastic blinds, it doesn't fade.

They are a little spendy, but worth it.
https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/garden-marker-pen/potting-accessories.

Eric

[applestar]

I'm mostly with the map of the garden group.

I've named my garden areas that are scattered around the property (Kitchen Garden, Front Yard Fence Row, Sunflower House, etc.) and designated raised beds in the main Vegetable Garden area A-F (VGA~VGF). I draw and re-draw plans based on exposure and other requirements, previous year's crop, succession planting plan, etc.

Most things are pre-planned on little sketches in notebooks or using drawing programs on the computer or iPad. Little marks or codes to designate plants and varieties.

Tough part is sticking to the plan -- when I go to plant, sometimes, the terrain isn't quite as I remembered or there are leftover or volunteer plants that mess up the neatly ordered planting design. Or I'll get an irresistible urge to plant the seeds in my garden jacket even though those seeds were meant for somewhere else....

For things like tomatoes, I generally use recycled materials to label the seedlings with variety names and found that punching a hole in the label and twist tying it to the tomato cage/support works well. I also tried wooden clothes pins and marker for neater appearance. Sticks and other labels stuck in the ground almost ALWAYS get lost...

[jal_ut]

I have tried using magic marker on plastic strips, however the magic marker doesn't last the season in the sunlight. Forget that.

For the most part, I don't need to mark things. As soon as plants get going, I know what it is.

Only when I have a new variety that I want to watch closely do I make an attempt to keep track of it. The best thing for me is to make a note, maybe a map in my garden notebook.

[Bobberman]

Mark what you want on even p[aper and put it into a small zi bag and itwill keep nice. just staple it to a box or stake!

[ruggr10]

I got a Christmas gift from my mother in law using paint stirrers and sharpies. They work great!

[GardenGnome]

Faded pen I've been there lol. Wood burning tool on wood sounds cool tho. But I also have little kids who might pull them. I might check the dollar store for something random idk.

[Gary350]

Draw a map on paper. Easy way to do the map is to use letters like T for tomato, S for squash, K for okra, C for corn, B for beans, P for peppers, O for onion.

If I plant 4 types of tomatoes, 3 rows with 10 plants per row then I mark them T1, T2, T3, T4, on the map.

I make notes T1= Beefsteak, T2= Super Star, etc.

Gargen map looks like this.

C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C

C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C

C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C

K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K

T1 T1 T1 T1 T1 T1 T2 T2 T2 T2

T3 T3 T3 T3 T3 T3 T2 T2 T2 T2

T4 T4 T4 T4 T4 T4 T4 T4 T4 T4

P1 P1 P1 P1 P2 P2 P2

S S S S S S S S S

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

[Flatlander_MB]

I've usually just gone the popsicle stick/pen route, but last year my wife looked up some pictures of the veggies I grow on 'da google and then printed & laminated them. I stapled them to small garden stakes & shoved 'em in the ground in the proper locations. It was a nice visual guide for visitors to my backyard (though the chipmunks seemed to be oblivious to them), & the labels are still useable this year.

[nedwina]

No more mini blind/Sharpie frustrations for me anymore. I cut up soda cans into strips and write on 'em with a ballpoint pen now. (Put a magazine or something soft underneath, you get better clarity/scribing.) Just punch a hole and wire them on to wooden stakes or directly on the trellis, cage, or even the plant itself. Pitch in recycle bin when done!

If you don't drink soda, (or don't want to wrestle with a can or trash your scissors) you can get a handful of thin aluminum flashing squares from any hardware type place for cheap. They're about 4x6 and come in packs. Score using a box knife & ruler, & wiggle until it snaps apart. Super easy.

And keep a journal with lists and maps.

[nedwina]

Draw a map on paper. Easy way to do the map is to use letters like T for tomato, S for squash, K for okra, C for corn, B for beans, P for peppers, O for onion.

If I plant 4 types of tomatoes, 3 rows with 10 plants per row then I mark them T1, T2, T3, T4, on the map.

I make notes T1= Beefsteak, T2= Super Star, etc.

Gargen map looks like this.

C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C

C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C

C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C

K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K

T1 T1 T1 T1 T1 T1 T2 T2 T2 T2

T3 T3 T3 T3 T3 T3 T2 T2 T2 T2

T4 T4 T4 T4 T4 T4 T4 T4 T4 T4

P1 P1 P1 P1 P2 P2 P2

S S S S S S S S S

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

Nice. Easily saved in Word as a doc, or printed & put into a 3 ring binder journal. Great design, thanks~

[runfox]

I found some cheap, little white plastic strips at my Lowes where I bought some seeds, that works so far. The reason for my question was I wanted to know how you all do it, to hear some new or different ways. I have mapped mine out on grid paper last couple of times. My garden is small, three rows 25' long.
I am trying to better manage what I grow where, cause I seam to plant too many Zucchini and squash , and then have too much at once. So I'm trying to plant less, leave myself some room, then a month later plant a few more, so as to stagger my harvest by a month. Trying to have some veggies spread out over a few months rather than have a bunch all at once.
Still learning that. here in fla I have a long window for harvest.

[gardenvt]

I use a spread sheet to draw the garden to scale and then fill it in with the plants I intend to grow. I have an overview and then more detailed drawings. Once I'm done, I print it all out and put the drawings into sheet protectors and then into a three ring binder which is never far away. This allows me to take it out to the garden, it stays relatively clean and I have a record from one year to another. It is also easier to walk out into the garden and plant seeds or seedlings because I know where they are going.

I also use this to "map" the plug flats I start seedlings in. These are quite helpful the next year because I know when I started a type/variety, how it germinated and if my timing was right and I can make necessary adjustments.

I don't use markers in the garden. I do use tags that are attached to the tomato plant especially when growing so many varieties.

Some of us like a lot of detail - I'm one of them.

[Dillbert]

being a classic nerd, I use AutoCAD to create a drawing of the garden.

overlaying the basic drawing with a grid is a piece of cake.

copy machines - wonderful devices.

make a copy of the drawing, pencil in what went where; three ring binder year to year.

nadda' problem.