Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: crowndale on December 12, 2007, 20:52

Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: crowndale on December 12, 2007, 20:52
Ok, so sad little being that I am I have made a table (3 pages long!) with a calender on it with sowing and harvesting/transplanting times on it etc for all the seeds I have ordered this year  Even got some space for the perrenial things like raspberries.  All colour coded to give the month expected activity should begin.  then (to make me even sadder according to daughter) I have the same chart, without the colour codes, to record the actual times I actually do these jobs.  I need to get a life!!  Am hoping it will make my life easier next year (well, 2009) as I'll hopefully be able to iron glitches easier if its all on paper, warts and all.
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: WG. on December 12, 2007, 21:03
Drawing in!  Another 10 days & they'll be drawing out!!  :D
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: richyrich7 on December 12, 2007, 21:14
Quote from: "WG."
Drawing in!  Another 10 days & they'll be drawing out!!  :D


Yessss  :D (http://emoticons4u.com/party/fest30.gif)
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: fatbelly on December 12, 2007, 21:24
Quote from: "richyrich7"
Quote from: "WG."
Drawing in!  Another 10 days & they'll be drawing out!!  :D


Yessss  :D (http://emoticons4u.com/party/fest30.gif)


Double Yessss
(http://bestsmileys.com/happy/7.gif)
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: Selkie on December 12, 2007, 21:44
Quote from: "fatbelly"
Quote from: "richyrich7"
Quote from: "WG."
Drawing in!  Another 10 days & they'll be drawing out!!  :D


Yessss  :D (http://emoticons4u.com/party/fest30.gif)


Double Yessss
(http://bestsmileys.com/happy/7.gif)


triple yes!!!
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: WG. on December 12, 2007, 21:50
Back on topic - so how is your chart looking crowndale?
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: sweet nasturtium on December 13, 2007, 00:13
:idea:  :idea:  :idea:          :arrow:

Yes I love the sound of your chart.  It's not sad, it's clever and you can tell your daughter from me.
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: Novice on December 13, 2007, 07:49
4ple yesss !!
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: crowndale on December 13, 2007, 07:58
Quote from: "WG."
Back on topic - so how is your chart looking crowndale?


Its looking very impressive WG, though I say so myself, modesty has always been a virtue I have possessed in abundance!!  :wink: I have stuck each set together and blu tacked them onto my desk infront of the computer.  I have always been one of those people who survives by writing lists and recording stuff so its an extension of that I guess.  And like the rest I am SO glad the nights will soon be drawing out again.
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: brucesgirl on December 13, 2007, 08:37
Hey CD if you're sad then so am I !!

I have bought next year's diary, and the thing I am most looking forward to in the Christmas break is to write in there when to sow and plant out through next year. I have all my seeds already, and a chart of next year's plot beds on an A3 sheet of paper with the veg written into each bed.

In my eyes its virtual gardening!!
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: DD. on December 13, 2007, 08:52
You sad, sad people.

I use an Excel spread sheet to note where, when, what & results as I lose bits of paper.

Hang on - that makes me even sadder! :lol:
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: Scribbler on December 13, 2007, 09:05
I never got my head around Excel - perhaps a project for the New Year.

Instead I've got a perfectly adequate Word table. Months down the left column, with SOW, PLANT and HARVEST columns going across. This stretches to two years, and all the crops in the greenhouse are picked out in green.

All I've got for this month is harvesting last year's leeks - which I didn't actually plant! We'll see how it goes...
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: DD. on December 13, 2007, 09:14
Quote from: "Scribbler"
I never got my head around Excel - perhaps a project for the New Year.



In this case it not used for any fancy calculations - I used it as the columns & rows are already there.
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: Rob the rake on December 13, 2007, 09:33
Well, I've actually bought a page-to-a-day diary to keep at the lottie. You never know, I may even use it!
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: beeman on December 13, 2007, 11:36
I use excel too. Alas I have yo make a new spreadsheet as my PC ate the hard drive and I didn't have a backup, silly me. I've lost the records of when I actually planted stuff rather than what it says on the packet and also how successful or otherwise the crop was, I'll be keeping a copy on CD from now on.
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: paintedlady on December 13, 2007, 12:00
Here's a sad suggestion (alas, I have already done this ...) you can even "draw" your plot plan on Excel (squares & rectangles - doesn't do too well with curves & circles!) and to make it dazzlingly pretty, fill the different beds a different colour.

You can use whatever colour code you like too - either generic so that you can use it as part of a colourful crop rotation plan eg green = legumes, blue for brassicas etc , or specific to the crops eg yellow for courgettes, and then compare with past and future plot plans.

It does help to get some reasonably accurate measurements of the plot, but once you adjust the size of each cell on Excel, you could almost use them as a measurement eg 1 square foot of plot = 1 square 2mm of paper and then you really start to plan how many plants at x distance apart you can get in a bed without leaving the house......

 :roll: did I really say I did this?
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: milkman on December 13, 2007, 17:14
don't worry painted lady, my lottie plan is on powerpoint, although not drawn to scale or measured out or anything like that, and I don't have a colour printer so it's just in black and white and grey - I have two slides for each year - "allotment plan" for what I plan to do and "allotment actual" for what actually happened....

 :shock: ...plus on word I also keep a diary of what was sown planted when, what came up what didn't what tasted good what didn't etc. etc. etc.  it sort of goes awry april and may 'cause I get too busy to keep it up, then re-starts with a new document every october/november when the garlic and broad beans get planted.
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: crowndale on December 13, 2007, 18:22
I feel so much better now!!  I didn't say before, but feel able to confess now, that I also keep a diary of what I have done when and where.  I have lists of things to take down to the lottie to do particular jobs, didn't do it today and had to come home and then STILL forgot the spade!  I love lists and charts and diaries etc.

Maybe we should start a new group?  Hi, My name is crowndale and I am addicted to recording allotment/gardening information!  :roll:
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: WG. on December 13, 2007, 18:23
Are you a Virgo perchance Crowndale?
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: gobs on December 13, 2007, 18:38
Quote from: "WG."
Are you a Virgo perchance Crowndale?


She has got children, wigglyhips. :lol:
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: Selkie on December 13, 2007, 18:59
:lol: very good gobs
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: Rob the rake on December 13, 2007, 19:01
Crowndale, I take lists down to the lottie, otherwise I get so sidetracked that none of the real work gets done. I write down all the useful snippets of info that I glean from these pages in a little book too, otherwise I'd forget those an' all.
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: noshed on December 13, 2007, 22:42
A mud-stained notebook werks fer me
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: milkman on December 14, 2007, 10:36
ooh I don't take lists of things to do with me down the plot, there is enough to do at home without adding to my woes.  if i did take a list i'd only get chatting and none of it would get ticked as done anyway...
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: paintedlady on December 14, 2007, 12:16
sometimes it is easy to forget how long some jobs on the plot can take.  So I don't bother with lists either - I decide before I get there what is the most important task, and anything else is a bonus :D
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: crowndale on December 14, 2007, 16:16
Quote from: "gobs"
Quote from: "WG."
Are you a Virgo perchance Crowndale?


She has got children, wigglyhips. :lol:


 :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Actualy one of them was adopted so I could almost be!!  No idea tho if I am a virgo wg, have never followed the stars.
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: richyrich7 on December 14, 2007, 21:47
I'm absolutely useless in remembering stuff, except when it come down to the garden  :roll: so I don't write anything down, except plant labels  :wink: sometimes wish I did, but as per my signature  :lol:
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: crowndale on December 15, 2007, 08:18
One of my greatest virtues richy, procrastination!!
Title: Re: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: Oliver on December 15, 2007, 12:11
Quote from: "crowndale"
Ok, so sad little being ....

I hate this expression. There is nothing sad about you at all. Very sensible. You know when you did what the previous year. This is exactly what she does - except, sometimes in the excitement of planning, sowing etc, she forgets to fill in the dates when things happen!

It's very interesting to compare years as things don't always happen at the same time either. More power to your elbow Crowndale!
Oliver
(you can tell we can't get on the plot (nights drawig in and all that ...), or outside much because we can spend time playing with the white mouse. I love mice ....
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: crowndale on December 15, 2007, 13:26
thanks oliver  Its only my kids think me sad!!  thats why I love this place so much, we might have different ideas about how to grow stuff and do things but we all understand the little quirks that go along with an addicition to allotment growing!
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: Oliver on December 15, 2007, 14:43
You're welcome. And have a happy Christmas until it's time to go out and start the fun next year! I'll be glad when she can get out again, her grumpiness is driving me mad!
Oliver
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: tallulah on December 15, 2007, 17:22
In the deep mid winter of last year, I dug out a large piece of sketching paper, and spent many happy hours cutting out and pasting on pictures of various favourite plants and flowers, as a kind of montage.  This was a plan of my new border, which I more or less was able to stick to later on in the year.  It was worth foraging in the paper recycling bins for old gardening mags, tho I always felt slightly criminal!  This year I expect I'll be doing the same for the allotment. Also have bought a 'gardener's diary' courtesy of next, which I hope will ensure I keep a record of everything.  I can't think of a better way to spend dark evenings, Crowndale, than hunching over plans and lists!  Keep it up!
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: DD. on December 15, 2007, 17:30
Quote from: "tallulah"
I can't think of a better way to spend dark evenings,


I can, but this is a public forum! :lol:
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: gobs on December 15, 2007, 19:43
Quote from: "DD."
Quote from: "tallulah"
I can't think of a better way to spend dark evenings,


I can, but this is a public forum! :lol:


And so? :lol: Never bothered many in the past. :wink:
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: richyrich7 on December 15, 2007, 20:10
Quote from: "gobs"
Quote from: "DD."
Quote from: "tallulah"
I can't think of a better way to spend dark evenings,


I can, but this is a public forum! :lol:


And so? :lol: Never bothered many in the past. :wink:


He's being good :wink:
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: gobs on December 15, 2007, 20:30
Ain't that unusual?  Well, of course he is on the norty... and so many other guys!

Have I ever got released, BTW? Or does anybody ever get? We just get sent and I as yet, never ever seen a post of release :shock:
Title: Can't you tell the nights are drawing in?!
Post by: richyrich7 on December 15, 2007, 20:34
Quote from: "gobs"
Ain't that unusual?  Well, of course he is on the norty... and so many other guys!

Have I ever got released, BTW? Or does anybody ever get? We just get sent and I as yet, never ever seen a post of release :shock:


Good question, I just sneaked back off an Aunty never noticed  :wink: :lol: