bb,
I believe my use of paint for garden record started by scanning an old pencil and paper sketch into computer and wanting to mark something on it. I noted how paint could provide an on-going changeable record then and subsequently erased the written info and replaced it w/ type. I have used paint therefor ever since. When I open it, it actually overfills the screen (& I've a pretty good sized screen).
I'm hoping to find the time this winter to write up an article on how I so employ paint.

YES YES YES! I would be very interested in that article.

Thanks - me too! I've never used paint.

Have you printed it out?

>> Such joy was never known as those springtime surprises!

I planted one bulb of a fancy Japanese Iris wo years ago. I thought it died. Just this summer, a big green-and-white-striped leaf or stem appeared right where I planted that bulb ... I hope I get a Spring Surprise next spring!


I keep very detailed "maps" of what is in each row of the insert trays and propagation trays when I start seed. Those rows also get tiny white plastic stakes with the name written in pencil. Those are 1/2 wide or 1/3rd wide mini-blind slats. They hold the 18" wide Saran Wrap up off the soil surface when I run out of humidity domes.

Those "tray maps" are easy to print - I use Word or Open Office Office to make "tables" with rows and columns to correspond to rows in plug trays or six-packs in insert trays.

The nice thing about having that as a computer file is that I don't lose it, and I always know which is the latest, most up-to-date version.

If I pot up from the plug trays into 4" pots, each pot gets a white plastic stake (half-wide or whole mini-blind slat).

Usually when I do each wave of seeding, I assign varieties within a species a sequence number, or sometimes make a system like "the tens digit is the species and the ones digit is the variety" Or "Green stem Bok Choys are 10 through 19 and white stems Bok Choys are 20 through 29". Then the small stake can be just "B21".

- - -

Potting out is when my organization breaks down. If I made enough large stakes to label each batch, that's fine until they get overgrown. But I have to walk outside and stoop and burrow through branchs and squint at the label to see what's where.

When a bed is very simple to draw (like long, narrow and straight), I usually remember to make a hand-sketched map, and only lose it 2/3rds of the time.

Once I made a drawing in Visio because I had a long, narrow bed with natural landmarks (Lavatera bushes). I was trying to plant a dozen different salvia varieties in recognizable places. I gave each salvia variety its own number, like "S31".

I've been trying to make a recognizable hand-sketch OR computer map of my whole yard, but my drawing skills are negligible and I haven't put enough time into it to get one large, usable map. Small sections and individual beds are somewhat recognizable.

Unfortunately, Google Maps doesn't give me QUITE enough resolution that I can print one of those and trace it or scan it for an outline. I can't download Google earth at work, and my home PC hard disk is full enough that I'm wary about loading big apps. Some day ...

Came back to read through all of the great info here again... so many awesome ideas!

Also wanted to give a shout-out to the ATP database, or more specifically the list of "my plants" it lets one create, for being the 'missing link' in my notes. It has the pics! If one wants a list of their plants and hasn't already started one, I'd recommend using ATP plant list. You can put notes there, indicate if you have enough for trading, and not worry about losing the whole thing in a computer crash.

I'm really going to have to use some kind of little marker when I put dormant bulbs out there, move them around. Sliced so many of the poor things lately. The funniest one though, I sliced through one bulb, trying to put an exact same kind one in the same spot. Not sure what they are (from a swap,) but apparently I definitely think that's a good spot for it.

How are the notes evolving out there?

I use a Google spreadsheet with detailed info. The spreadsheet also has links to photos.

I have named all my garden beds to help me pinpoint locations.

I made the spreadsheet viewable. The link is below.

https://docs.google.com/spread...

I sort the spreadsheet depending on my needs. Currently, it is sorted on what plants need to be planted (waiting in the greenhouse).

I have separate spreadsheets for seeds and Dahlias, I may move this info back to the master list (some of the seed data is already current).

I also add wishlist plants to my sheet.

I have several tabs that allow viewing a specific garden bed.

These are my Visio mapping attempts (like AutoCAD):




Blurry Google Maps images:

I've never formally mapped where things are, but I do track which bed specific plants are in. With that basic information, I can generally track things as they come up. Not always, I often have a mystery plant or two, but then I have the treasure hunt fun of trying to ID it. I previously kept a master Word document, with all of the relevant plant information (common name, latin name, location, source, needs) plus a bloom photo, but that file got too large (dang Microsoft waits until the file exceeds its limit to tell you it can no longer be opened...go figure...) so I am now transferring that data into the ATP List feature. Under my personal comments in the ATP List, I can then note which bed(s) the plant can be found in and the year it was planted along with specific cultivation notes and whatever other information I might want to keep track of. I like that my personal notes only show up in my own List and not as a general plant comment (e.g., I doubt the membership cares that I find primroses to be squatty little plants that I have an aversion to and should quit putting them in my grocery cart...)

Those are some pretty impressive maps, Frank and Rick.

Frank, I didn't know we could do spreadsheets in Google. Learn something new every day!

I am crazy. I can name every plant in my gardens. I take a pic different times in the month just to see if everything looks like I think it looks. A picture gives me a different outlook.

I do not have a lot of little plants though. I have a lot of bushes and large plants in the garden.

Yeah, I used to keep an Excel database of my seed plants but I don't even do that anymore. If I were to go through it, it would be too depressing to see how many plants I lost.

Best plants for me are those with a story or some kind of history!

I can post my maps too, for comparison. I use Excel (originally made them in OpenOffice but I'm on Windows today), but make each box in the spreadsheet a square to represent 1x1 foot in the garden. I keep a template version with the color coding, and another with the plant names in it for each growing season. This format makes it easy to add notes (as you can see in the first image), and I also keep another tab with planting dates and other info.

Here's winter 2011. Back yard only, so you can read the labels:


Zoomed-out view of my entire property:


Colors: black=buildings, gray=paved surfaces and my two mini hoop houses (not sure why they're the same), dark green=perennials, light green=annuals/biennials, brown=unplanted areas (mostly walkways or heavy shade)

That's cool!

I guess it would be easier to get things into scale by using a grid.

Gee, now that I think about it, I should make sure I can port these maps to something open source, like Open Office, for when I retire and Microsoft keeps changing Visio to new (expen$ive) ver$ion$.

jmorth said:

DAMN, J!!!
That's some serious record keeping.

Me, I just take pictures.

I'm a visual learner, so photo records work best for me as well. I recently created a separate folder for each garden bed and moved relevant photos into their spot, renaming the photos by date (month-year). That has allowed me to visually track how each bed looks at a particular time of year and also how it has changed from year to year. In my "Kitchen Bed" folder, for example, a photo taken in 06-2010 is followed by one taken in 06-2011, etc. Makes for a good visual progression as I scroll through each folder. More than one for any given month simple get (2), (3), etc. added after the month-year.

Thanks

Bonehead said:Makes for a good visual progression as I scroll through each folder. More than one for any given month simple get (2), (3), etc. added after the month-year.

I do that too.