[rogertb]

Hi chaps, looking for an app for my vegetables has anyone any experience please ? the main requirement I have is a basic diary where I can make a note of my own sowing times though, obviously, additional advice on crops would be useful, I've looked at the RHS one and it seems OK but some personal reviews from you chaps would be good.

Many thanks Roger

[rubberfrog]

Get yourself a nice notepad and pen, much more fun looking through it a few years down the line.  just how i prefer to log and store info. 

Thanks

RF

[Kristen]

I use a spreadsheet with columns for

Vegetable type & variety
planned sowing date (as per the packet for that specific variety),
actual sowing / pricking out / planting dates
first & last harvest [the later tells me when that plot was available for a follow-on crop].
Qty of plants grown (after thinning etc.)
Comments about whether the family liked the taste and grow more/less next year

I then copy that spreadsheet to make next years, adjust the varieties according to what we liked, and any new ones I have decided to try (usually because the seeds were in a sale!!) and the Qty I actually want to try to grow, plus any alteration to the "intended sowing date" based on any comments I made the previous year, and away I go next year

[Fairy Plotmother]

I have looked for an app to help with planning etc but can't seem to find one that is suitable. So it's pencil and paper and reference books for me? 

[Kristen]

So it's pencil and paper and reference books for me?

My preference is electronic as I find it easier to keep earlier revisions, and file / refer to and copy-from prior years.

That ain't for everyone though ... although for anyone wanting an APP ... actually ... who knows?!

[beesrus]

I've laid out a spreadsheet almost an exact copy of Kristen's. It's so useful. The only extras I have is a column for the number of days between sowing and germination, very handy with obstinate early seeds, and a couple of formulas giving me things like the overall cropping length for each crop. The beauty of a well thought out spread sheet is you can type in any formula or enquiry you like, and get the most interesting and underlying facts in an instant.

I also have a smaller separate spreadsheet of the first cabbage white, the last frost, the first bees spotted, the first broad bean flowers, forget-me-nots and bluebells flowering, first sweet corn tassels etc etc... all good for an indication of the year's weather.
I've just acquired a very cheap indoor/outdoor minimum/maximum thermometer, and have just started recording the daily mins and maxs outside on the plot and in the greenhouse  Always wanted to do that and it will be most useful, particularly in the early Spring sowing period. 19.5 degrees today in the wind. Who needs an app.

[Kristen]

Good point about germination dates. I use the interval [between Sowing and Germination dates / Pricking Out] to "predict" when sown seeds will germinate or need pricking out, and then if we go away on holiday in the early seed-raising spring period I delay sowing, or sow early, so that nothing is at a critical stage when I am away. Less of an issue for anyone sowing direct, outside.

WRT annual dates for last frost etc. I just have a Notepad file for that, and I record the date sequentially after the "label".  It also contains a list of plants in the garden (in "walking order" down the bed) so if a label gets lost I know what variety it was and hopefully! prevents me buying one-I-already-have when I am on the bring of an impulse purchase. For some of those plants I put flowering dates next to them too, and an indication of anything that has to be lifted for the winter, and so on.

Maybe a spreadsheet would be better, but that is structured-data and most of what I have in my Notepad list is unstructured.

(Actually I use Evernote on my Phone, it synchronises with my PCs and any other devices I have configured, so I can edit-on-one and then review/re-edit on any other.)

[Headgardener22]

I also use a spreadsheet as a diary. Put and entry every time I pick something that way I've been able to compare past years.

[KeithN]

I use a spreadsheet with columns for

Vegetable type & variety
planned sowing date (as per the packet for that specific variety),
actual sowing / pricking out / planting dates
first & last harvest [the later tells me when that plot was available for a follow-on crop].
Qty of plants grown (after thinning etc.)
Comments about whether the family liked the taste and grow more/less next year

I then copy that spreadsheet to make next years, adjust the varieties according to what we liked, and any new ones I have decided to try (usually because the seeds were in a sale!!) and the Qty I actually want to try to grow, plus any alteration to the "intended sowing date" based on any comments I made the previous year, and away I go next year

It might sound a bit cheeky but any chance you could share your spreadsheet?  Is it an Excel document?  Would be helpful to those of us that aren't very good creating spreadsheets but, I do understand if you don't wish to share.

KeithN

[gazmet]

I've used Sprout It this year, found very useful.

[rogertb]

As ever stunning responses, thank you one and all ... I'm going to keep paper notes and maybe try Evernote and Sprout It if I can get my head around them.

Roger