Ideas from our fellow gardeners here at NGA are the best! Thanks very much Dave for creating this forum where we all can share our ideas, short or long.

Ideas don’t need to be complex. Diagrams or pictures aren’t necessary, but pictures are liked by everyone so if you are inclined to include some, by all means, do! And if you have a more involved, complex idea, those are great too.

The replies to this thread are extremely helpful--there's good information here about using the snipping tool to create a screen capture if you're posting from a PC, and other things.

Here’s a great example of a short, yet great, idea: https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

Here’s one I posted recently—a little longer, but definitely kept simple: The thread "Article: Idea--simple gardening calendar to share" in Gardening Ideas forum

So please, share your ideas with us! Most likely, if your idea is useful to you, it will be useful to others!

Joanna, I actually sent you an email on this, but perhaps responding here would be more useful. I have no clue how to do a screenshot. I looked it up on Youtube and the instructions did not 'fit' my version of Excel, so no help. Could you, or someone else, please set out some clear instructions on how to take a screenshot from one program (Word or Excel) and then copy it in to the Garden site? Thanks so much in advance.

Bonehead said:Joanna, I actually sent you an email on this, but perhaps responding here would be more useful. I have no clue how to do a screenshot. I looked it up on Youtube and the instructions did not 'fit' my version of Excel, so no help. Could you, or someone else, please set out some clear instructions on how to take a screenshot from one program (Word or Excel) and then copy it in to the Garden site? Thanks so much in advance.

It's actually a little different depending on which computer you have (PC or Mac or Linux), and depending on which operating system you have (Windows 8, Window 10, OSX, etc.) But you're actually not taking a screenshot of a program, you're taking a picture of, as the name implies, your computer screen. For me, I'm using a MacBook Pro so the keyboard shortcut is Command + Shift + 4 which gives me little cross hairs. I then click and drag over the area I want to capture, and the picture is automatically saved to my desktop. And here it is:



If you Google the words Taking a Screenshot, you'll get tons of help. Here are my results:

https://www.google.com/search?...

I'm happy to help anyone get to the instructions they need. Can't wait to see everyone's ideas!

I use a PC with Windows 10. When I did a search for 'how to take a screenshot' it didn't match up to my Excel menu. So I remain lost in space.

I tried going to Excel, Ctrl-Prt Scr then going here and Ctrl-V = nothing

I tried going to Excel, Insert, Take a Screenshot = the file I had open and was on my screen was NOT one of the options available. I closed everything except the Excel file and this site and tried again. The only option available is this site. I thought perhaps the screen shot was already loaded and tried to paste here. Nothing. I just don't get it. I'm sure it's a simple process, but it sure is NOT intuitive to me...

Bonehead said:I tried going to Excel, Ctrl-Prt Scr then going here and Ctrl-V = nothing

I tried going to Excel, Insert, Take a Screenshot = the file I had open and was on my screen was NOT one of the options available. I closed everything except the Excel file and this site and tried again. The only option available is this site. I thought perhaps the screen shot was already loaded and tried to paste here. Nothing. I just don't get it. I'm sure it's a simple process, but it sure is NOT intuitive to me...

Deb, lots of people feel that way. No worries. There's a nice page with instructions for taking screen captures on any version of Windows here: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/ho...

Here's what they say about Windows 10 or 8:
"Users with a Windows 10 or Windows 8 machine have the added ability to take screenshots that automatically save to a special folder. Pressing both the Windows and Print Screen key at the same time will capture the entire screen. This image will automatically be saved to a Screenshot folder inside of the Pictures library.

The Print Screen methods from Windows XP and the Snipping tool can also be utilized in Windows 10 and Windows 8. You can search for the Snipping Tool on the Start screen in Windows 8 or in the search field next to the Start button in Windows 10."

The method used with XP has extra steps (who needs that?)

Once you take your screen capture, instead of copying it into your post (that doesn't work at all for anyone--I'm pretty sure you can only paste text here), click the "Upload an image" button next to the Preview and Finished buttons (below), navigate to the your Screenshot folder inside the Pictures library, and select the screen capture you want to include.

The snipping tool enables you to select an area of your screen to capture so that you won't be including information that's personal or irrelevant. It's also better for this site because less stuff in the picture means less data for NGA! I love that it seems unlimited, but we want to do our best for NGA!

Here are a bunch of search results for "How to use the snipping tool in Windows 10." I think there's something in there about how to find the snipping tool too:
https://www.google.com/search?...

We'll get this!

Here's an example of one type of extremely useful idea to share. It's from @greene who is currently preparing for a possible hurricane.

Greene wrote in another post, "I only wish I had a few minutes to spare to let folks know what kind of preparations can be done to protect the garden in an event like this. If anyone has been through a major hurricane and has been able to learn from the experience, please, please, jot down a few ideas of how we can be better prepared to save our plants/gardens in a potentially catastrophic event."

Yay, Joanna! I finally conquered the screen shot process. The key step I was not getting was that the screen shot was really just an image in my Pictures folder. Now must write this process down somewhere so I don't forget next time I need it! I also just added a new idea to this forum. Thanks so much for your help!

@Bonehead -
I had sent you a Treemail to hopefully tell you how to do the screen shot, but now I see that while I was typing you already figured it out. Please ignore my Treemail.

No worries, Greene, every explanation is helpful to me. Sometimes just a single phrase makes things more clear.

Bonehead said:Yay, Joanna! I finally conquered the screen shot process. The key step I was not getting was that the screen shot was really just an image in my Pictures folder. Now must write this process down somewhere so I don't forget next time I need it! I also just added a new idea to this forum. Thanks so much for your help!

So happy! Now I'm going to look for your idea! This means that we've got three now (if Greene's counts because I think it was posted before Dave said we need three) and so we'll get the new forum! Yaay!

But please, to others who were thinking about posting....please do! We want to see your great ideas! (yes they are....)

Joanna 😁howdy !
You made me have to think.
I came up with an idea. Now i'm off to send it in. I think a new forum will be supper dupper-e-noes.
😎😎😎

My idea @dave. In support of @JoannaKat. For new idea forum.

I took my automatic sprinkler valve system and took all sprinkler heads off. Plugged up all but three, on the one system. I hooked up, 3 fifty foot half inch poly drip lines with 1 gallon per hour emiters. Emiters one foot a apart. Total 150 1 gph emitters. City pressure is 40 psi. Works fine with no pressure regulator. Even if i have only one 50 foot line hooked up, i have no blow-outs.
I got elbow fittings, riser thread to faucet thread. Put hose thread on drip lines. Makes easy, to plug a line off that i'm not using.
Presto ! Automatic drip watering system.
😎😎😎

Philipwonel said:Joanna 😁howdy !
You made me have to think.
I came up with an idea. Now i'm off to send it in. I think a new forum will be supper dupper-e-noes.
😎😎😎

Excellent!

Philipwonel said:My idea @dave. In support of @JoannaKat. For new idea forum.

I took my automatic sprinkler valve system and took all sprinkler heads off. Plugged up all but three, on the one system. I hooked up, 3 fifty foot half inch poly drip lines with 1 gallon per hour emiters. Emiters one foot a apart. Total 150 1 gph emitters. City pressure is 40 psi. Works fine with no pressure regulator. Even if i have only one 50 foot line hooked up, i have no blow-outs.
I got elbow fittings, riser thread to faucet thread. Put hose thread on drip lines. Makes easy, to plug a line off that i'm not using.
Presto ! Automatic drip watering system.
😎😎😎

Great! So did you also post this to the All Things Gardening forum? That's where it needs to go. And be sure to put the words, "Article: Idea--creating an automatic drip watering system" in the subject line of your post.

And please remove the part about being in support of me--this is for everyone and there are lots of people behind this.

Let us know when it's up! Here's the All Things Gardening forum: https://garden.org/forums/view...

There's a Snipping Tool in most versions of Windows. You can use this to take a picture of the whole screen on your computer or just a small portion. Here are some instructions - feel free to play around with it. If you want to practice, you can insert the photo in Word to see what it will look like once uploaded.

1) To access the tool:


2) Either select the Snipping Tool in the list or find it in the Accessories folder


3) The Snipping Tool is now open. The background/screen will grey-out a little and this box will appear. Drag your cursor around the area you want to keep and save. When you let go, the tool will show you the capture.


4) To save the capture, click on the disk icon and save the capture as a JPEG file:


5) To upload the capture in the forum, follow the same steps you would to upload an image.

Note: Various editions of Windows have different editions of the Snipping Tool - newer versions have more options but the basic steps above are still the steps you'd follow. You can learn more here: https://support.microsoft.com/...

I hope this helps!! @Joannakat please let me know if there's something else you'd like me to add to these instructions.

Edited to enlarge screenshots

GenXNEGeorgia said:@Joannakat please let me know if there's something else you'd like me to add to these instructions.

@GenXNEGeorgia, are you kidding? This is aMAZing!!!!! What an excellent job! You could be a technical writer! (Are you a technical writer?)

Really excellent. And I'm sure it'll be useful and helpful to more than one person.

joannakat said:

@GenXNEGeorgia, are you kidding? This is aMAZing!!!!! What an excellent job! You could be a technical writer! (Are you a technical writer?)

Really excellent. And I'm sure it'll be useful and helpful to more than one person.

LOL Kinda, yeah - training, Lean, efficiency maximization, lots of writing, etc. Twenty-plus years in the legal field has made me a Jackie of all trades--pardon the pun

Happy to help! Let me know if you need anything else like this!

GenXNEGeorgia said:There's a Snipping Tool in most versions of Windows. You can use this to take a picture of the whole screen on your computer or just a small portion. Here are some instructions - feel free to play around with it. If you want to practice, you can insert the photo in Word to see what it will look like once uploaded.

1) To access the tool:


2) Either select the Snipping Tool in the list or find it in the Accessories folder


3) The Snipping Tool is now open. The background/screen will grey-out a little and this box will appear. Drag your cursor around the area you want to keep and save. When you let go, the tool will show you the capture.


4) To save the capture, click on the disk icon and save the capture as a JPEG file:


5) To upload the capture in the forum, follow the same steps you would to upload an image.

Note: Various editions of Windows have different editions of the Snipping Tool - newer versions have more options but the basic steps above are still the steps you'd follow. You can learn more here: https://support.microsoft.com/...

I hope this helps!! @Joannakat please let me know if there's something else you'd like me to add to these instructions.

Edited to enlarge screenshots

@Joannakat I wanted to follow up and find out how we can get this turned into an article for the learning database. Should I forward this on to someone?

GenXNEGeorgia said:

@Joannakat I wanted to follow up and find out how we can get this turned into an article for the learning database. Should I forward this on to someone?

I believe @dave is aware, and will create a dedicated forum as soon as he can. But if you'd like to mention it to him again, it wouldn't hoit!