[DD.]

Tried taking the lappy down to the plot once to fill in a spread sheet.

Took me weeks to get the mud out of the keys.

[JayG]

Aidy, assuming your comments include referring to my Nov 18th posting I explained why I find it a useful tool and also a convenient record of previous years' performance, and of course people are free to adopt the idea (one or two apparently did) or ignore it (this obviously includes you!)

As for getting out more, I will certainly do so when the weather improves! 

[sunshineband]

Tried taking the lappy down to the plot once to fill in a spread sheet.

Took me weeks to get the mud out of the keys.

I thought you had a shed DD... with running water and a little hand basin? 
Or try babywipes on those fingies 

[DD.]

Well, I've got a shed.

I'll be prepared this year now. I've a broadband dongle so I'll be able to search the internet as to whether I'm sowing at the right time.

Either that, or read the back of the packet.

[sunshineband]

Well, I've got a shed.

I'll be prepared this year now. I've a broadband dongle so I'll be able to search the internet as to whether I'm sowing at the right time.

Either that, or read the back of the packet.

You radical, you 

[Aidy]

Your not the first or the last to use software to plan/ record. I have been on allotments for over 15 years and I could probably count on one finger the amount of people that do such things and would garuantee most would laugh in your face if you said such a thing and then ask why. I must be lucky (given my past) in that I can remember how things grew the previous year, I am probably of the majority the don't weigh everything I grow before it goes into the freezer, each to their own I accept, and some will find it usefull in some way, but as I pointed out, what is the point? Is there any constructive meaning to keeping a record of how crops did the previous year or so, I would of thought if you do find it useful then you should also include weather patterns, temperature etc as this has a direct bearing on the crops we grow but I dont seem to see it on any of the spreadsheets I have seen! I shall carry on in my old tried and trusted ways without the need of becoming a slave to data input.

[zazen999]

Some people like it; that's good enough for me.

Each to their own....

[sunshineband]

Aidy, it is a case of one size does not fit all, and everyone should be free to make their own choice about how they record, or ideed if they record, where they grow their veg every year, without feeling they are either right or wrong.

As I had made the previous post, it did feel a bit like your comments about being laughed at were addressed to me, but I have to hope they were not intended to make me feel uncomfortable  

[mumofstig]

i put all useful info, such as dates for sowing and harvest and what went where, and weather, into a little book. Shows successes and failures and what to try a diferent way for the next year.

It carries more information than my head ever could   At my age playing with pooters is not a strong point.....much easier to use pencil and paper

But, each to his own

[JayG]

But, each to his own

Exactly!

I can honestly say that updating my spreadsheet takes a maximum of 30 minutes per year (so not exactly enslaved by data-inputting!), and I always know where to find it!

[Aidy]

So back on thread. Crop rotation. Why have a spreadsheet for crop rotation? If I may use the two examples shown by JayG and Kristen, both the images they provide for us has no other information other than what went where. In my opinion, and I am sure others will agree you dont need a spreadsheet for that. I agree with MoS when everything is recorded, some constructive info can be gained, but again as weather patterns are not garuanteed or consistant in our fair land I would question the hours that are put into data input if infact it was worth it, but yes each to their own.
I grow pretty much the same basic crops each year with the odd new one, but I know where it all went and where it is all going, so therefore do not need a spreadsheet to tell me about crop rotation.

[madcat]

And I have a brain like a sieve - no, a colander!  I forget what and where and when - and lose the allotment notebook frequently.  But never ever my bestest friend (OH and cat excepted), my laptop.  So my laptop remembers for me ....  

Each to their own - that is the joy of being a gardener!  I think it is DD's phrase, "ask 10 gardeners and you get 11 different opinions" and 12 ways of working.  

Also back on thread - I have always treated leeks as onions (part of the same family) and put them in the same bit of the rotation.  But some of the comment above imply that they are outside the pattern.  Enlightenment, please??

[Aidy]

Also back on thread - I have always treated leeks as onions (part of the same family) and put them in the same bit of the rotation.  But some of the comment above imply that they are outside the pattern.  Enlightenment, please??

I also treat as onion, which go in my root bed with shallots etc.

[DD.]

If I said they weren't alliums - it was a typo!

[Pompey Spud]

Leeks an alium so i would and do plant them together.