[sunshineband]

I imprecisely agree -- that is wot I do 

[Aunt Sally]

I looks around and says to meself - "Hmm.. I'll plant this just there"  

[Headgardener22]

Pencil & paper has the advantage that you can change it to reflect reality on site. Maybe an iPad app?

[sunshineband]

Pencil & paper has the advantage that you can change it to reflect reality on site. Maybe an iPad app?

Or a notebook?  Proper on,e none of these electricically gizmos for me down the plot 

[LilacSandy]

For the last two years I have planted and have either not put the name of the seeds (because of course I will remember what was planted), or the writing has faded on the pegs, so I do not know what has performed the best.

This morning I paced out the plot and on my Excel spreadsheet I allowed a row for each step (I have little legs), and put down everything I had growing in each row.  I have also plotted the trees I have planted and the names as I have two trees where the labels are missing so I do not know what they are!!.  I have also plotted the fruit bushes and the varieties so I do not duplicate any.

Sounds a bit anal I know, but I am a scatty bird and and this really helps me.  I do not however stick to a rigid planting plan, like Ice I stick to a rotation but if I am running out out space then it goes where it fits.

[Paulj]

I know this is technically about the growveg web application, but for those wIth an iPad and wanting a simple way, probably novices like me, they have now released an iPad app which is much cheaper than the website (or at least it was when I got it). There are improvements o be made for it, but the guys who make it are well aware of that and seem to be updating it accordingly (I've been in touch with re suggestions and so far they have been fairly receptive to some of the ideas).  By the way I have nothing to gain from posting this. I'm just a fairly pleased customer who can use excel very well but wanted the pretty pictures and spacing worked out for me!

[Gwiz]

I follow Aunt Sally's " There's a hole, I'll stick some in there" way of doing things. I was going to start writing things down, But I know I'd forget and then get annoyed at myself.
I'd get even more annoyed if I spent £15 and  forget to write it all down......

[sazhig]

I've just paid for a years subscription after finding it very useful over the trial and wanted to carry on using it. I used excel previously to plan my site overall but struggled to figure out exactly how much space I would have for individual crops so have transferred my excel plan into growveg and will use that now. This year I am mainly using square foot planting which growveg has made really easy to plan. I also like having the reminder emails as I always forget to check my planner  and love the ability to plan succession planting over the whole year.

[DD.]

Really does make you wonder how the older generations coped. 

[Ice]

Really does make you wonder how the older generations coped. 

We 'excel' in other ways.

[JayG]

I used excel previously to plan my site overall but struggled to figure out exactly how much space I would have for individual crops so have transferred my excel plan into growveg and will use that now.

Excel obviously has its limitations for garden design, but if I've understood your point correctly being able to draw scale diagrams isn't one of them. 

If you re-size the cells to a square shape and then assume that each one represents, say, a foot of your plot, you have the beginnings of an accurate scale diagram. I use "text boxes" to draw the various growing areas because they are easy to move and re-size, and you can write notes inside them. You can of course then "pretty it up" to your heart's content by formatting individual cells to represent grassed areas, paths etc, or other "drawing objects" for your compost bins etc.

Next year you just copy the previous year's worksheet and start moving everything around again, knowing that the previous years' plans are always there for reference and only one click away.

[MichelleC]

I use the Growveg software and think it's really good and very easy to use. Laminate it and hang up in the shed. Of course I always grow more than expected so I leave a little space on the plan for this. I then update it so I know exactly what went where.  It's great for copying an empty plan over (still to scale) and warns you if you try to plant the same family of veg in the wrong place. They are also releasing the iPhone app soon but I hope you don't have to pay for that as well as the original subscription.

[sazhig]

Really does make you wonder how the older generations coped.  

I'm sure they coped very well. The fact is I find it easier to plan things via a keyboard because I have a thumb injury that makes using a pen/pencil painful after a few minutes. Nothing funny about that  

Excel obviously has its limitations for garden design, but if I've understood your point correctly being able to draw scale diagrams isn't one of them.  

Oh no, my excel spreadsheets were actually quite detailed and very to scale. I'm an excel geek  :happy: so have used it for lots of things over the years.

It was figuring out how many crops per square foot I found time consuming, fitting all the crops into rotation beds. Having the information already there in grow veg by a simple drag and drop feature, without having to consult books and do lots of calculations has saved me a lot of time  

[trampyjoe]

I've been using the trial and am thinking about paying for the subscription.

My reasoning is thus: I don't have a clue what I'm doing so any help I can get (at anytime of the day or night) is always welcome .. the books I have are quite limited when it comes to planning a plot.

Horses for courses etc.

[DD.]

Really does make you wonder how the older generations coped.  

I'm sure they coped very well. The fact is I find it easier to plan things via a keyboard because I have a thumb injury that makes using a pen/pencil painful after a few minutes. Nothing funny about that  

My grandfather didn't even use that.