I have a good example thsi morning of how "good" my system works:
I thought I remembered in my past hybridizing, that since I seem to not grow very compatible suitors for Lilium Sarabande, Sarabande was generally not a very good parent for me to use (not necessarily so in other instances).
So to verify, if I had to search all my years of notebooks and THROUGH each one to find each instance........YIKES! That could take forever.....
But my computer folder system for yearly data is thus:
-- Years (folder)
-- -- -- 2016 (folder)
-- -- -- -- -- 2016 Seed Propagation (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2016 Hybridizing (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2016 Vegetative Propagation (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2016 Schedule (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2016 Plant Collections (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2016 Acquired
-- -- -- 2015 (folder)
-- -- -- -- -- 2015 Seed Propagation (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2015 Hybridizing (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2015 Vegetative Propagation (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2015 Schedule (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2015 Plant Collections (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2015 Acquired
-- -- -- 2014 (folder)
-- -- -- -- -- 2014 Seed Propagation (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2014 Hybridizing (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2014 Vegetative Propagation (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2014 Schedule (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2014 Plant Collections (spread sheet)
-- -- -- -- -- 2014 Acquired
-- -- etc. through the years
A quick search in the Years folder brings up all the spread sheets with Sarabande listed. I open the Hibridizing ones, use the find function to highlight the corresponding lines, and Voila!
And as the years accumulate and amount of data increases, a method to search becomes even more necessary. I remember the first couple years of my data collection: I hadn't formed a good system yet, and now I have to wade through a lot of "unwanted" information there to find what I am looking for.
