I started out keeping a detailed Excel spreadsheet with more categories than you want to know so that someday I could search by the various fields (e.g. type, hybridizer, season, rebloomer, PBF...etc.) I found that I rarely have time to fill all the fields so I log the most important information (Name, Intro Year, Hybridizer, Type, Season, and where it come from) right away and then when I find spare time or if I'm watching TV (especially when DH has his sports games on
) I work on filling it in. I also use the ATP list. I keep simplified bloom notes in a column each year, and comments about growth etc. in the comments field.
I don't count blooms or measure stalks. I would never be able to keep up with that.
Unfortunately I occasionally find one that didn't get logged.
As for maps that's where my organization is sorely lacking. I would love to know what computer methods the rest of you are using to draw maps. I have a Mac and don't currently have any graphics program on it. So far I've been lucky. My cats stay indoors; my dog is not allowed in the iris area (for other reasons but it works out well); I don't have turkeys, rabbits, or squirrels; my kids are adults and with no grandkids in sight; and the neighbors don't come inside my fenced field to mess with the markers. I occasionally have workers in that area but no problems so far.
Still I know I need to make maps.
