Selfsufficientish.com

hi everyone, i'm just about to start growing fruits and vege and would like to keep a diary or journal, but am not sure what or how to record stuff!.

if you keep one, would you mind sharing what sorts of info you record.
(i also posted this question on INEBG when i couldnt get into SSish earlier this evening!! sooo pleased its all fixed cos i like it here bestest!)

many thanks.

An excel spreadsheet for seeds with expiry dates, a separate one for planting and harvesting and general tasks, and a blog to keep track of my to-do list. If I trusted to memory, I wouldn't even be wearing underpants!

I do a spreadsheet too, one sheet showing variety, date sewn, date planted out, date harvest began & ended. This year I added how many seds sewn so I can see when I do too much/ too little (expiry date is also a good idea, must add that)

Another sheet shows the plan of the plot, what is sewn where.

Then I have a diary sheet, bit like a blog I suppose, and I note what I do and weather too.

This year I have also got a notebook so it's easier to record where I do it and put it on the computer later.

I do have a last spread sheet called commitments, I give myself green challenges over the year. Eg install water but on shed etc

Good luck!

I just keep writing in my diary. As an ex/part time surveyor, I have always carried a Day Book - an A4 hard backed note book. Surveyors are pretty thick individuals and have to write everything down! Odds on if you see someone in a suit on the street with a Black and Red A4 book under their arm, they are a surveyor.

When I quit working properly, I changed this to an A4 hard backed day to a page diary - I keep surveying notes in it, egg numbers, pig feed quotas, and seed planting/pricking out/potting on/planting out/harvesting dates.

I find it easy to look back and see what I was doing the year before. I try and also put some bits on my blog which I also use to look back at.

I also like taking photos with dates on them as things are growing - its an easy way to look back and compare current growings to see if they are behind or ahead of previous years.

an organised girlfriend is how I keep records. Actually, i have started to keep records too. A plan of the alotment then a just a page with planting times, germination, costs of seed, harvest time and any problems.

Thurston Garden wrote:I just keep writing in my diary. As an ex/part time surveyor, I have always carried a Day Book - an A4 hard backed note book. Surveyors are pretty thick individuals and have to write everything down! Odds on if you see someone in a suit on the street with a Black and Red A4 book under their arm, they are a surveyor.

My OH is an ex surveyor too but is not organised!! I guess he must be the exception to the rule.

This thread is really very interesting - I like the 'commitments' idea too.

thanks for everyones replies so far....there definately some things to mull over...chief of which is a day to a page diary...much better way to record things i think.

would love to hear more ideas if you've got them....thanks.

Shirlz wrote:My OH is an ex surveyor too but is not organised!! I guess he must be the exception to the rule.

He MUST have had a day book - it's obligatory!! Ask him...bet he did

ok ok... he DID have a day book

Every surveyor does

I have a 5 year garden diary which I forget to fill in quite often! It is interesting now that I am in my 4th year here to look back and see when certain spring plants came into flower. I note the weather as well as what is in flower, and often note any new plants I've bought just in case I lose the label and will know what it's called in the future.

As far as the veggies go, the first few years I noted every single thing I sowed or planted and the date, the name of the variety of veg and how many rows of them I sowed.

I didn't bother last year as it wasn't really necessary.

I'm finding this an intersting thread too. See I didn't note enough last year and now I'm not sure how much seed to sew as I knew I had enough carrots but didn't know how many seeds I Had sewn, for example.
I also enjoyed them and forgot what sort I had!

I've just found a really good ancient book (mainly hand sritten with feather!) It has a year round planner for lettuce so you get contstant salad, fancy giving that a go (the slugs will be ahppy if nothing else!)

Page per day is a bit much for me, I really don't do that much...feeling a bit lazy now!

Peggy Sue wrote:I'm finding this an intersting thread too. See I didn't note enough last year and now I'm not sure how much seed to sew as I knew I had enough carrots but didn't know how many seeds I Had sewn, for example.
I also enjoyed them and forgot what sort I had!

this is one of the reasons i want to keep a journal....i'm only growing for me, so need to keep some kind of record so i dont go to mad on the sowing front!!.

I have a notebook where in the front I plan what's going to go in what box and what I'm growing this year, what to plant when etc, and record it all with the date, and in the back I have a list of varieties of things I'd like to try (e.g. what apples I'm going to grow when I get my orchard) and how much of stuff I use: I've been recording how many cans of tomatoes we've used this winter so when I eventually have room to grow more tomatoes I'll have an idea of how much I'll need to preserve.

This is only my first year of growing stuff not on a windowsill, and it's all in pots so easier to keep a handle on than a 'proper' garden or allotment, so I don't know how well it'll work as a strategy in the long-term. In fact, now I've written it down, the canned tomatoes things looks a bit obsessive-compulsive.....

hedgewizard wrote:If I trusted to memory, I wouldn't even be wearing underpants!

Thanks for sharing! (You got an excel sheet for your undies, too? )

Anyway: I have a spreadsheet for all my seeds, with columns for ideal sowing/planting times, and next to that columns for actual sowing and planting times...