Wisdom - I feel quite chuffed now herbaceous - we all have wisdom in one sphere or another - and it is a great feeling to think that we can pass this on to the next generation - who although may not be interested in the garden right now - will one day remember what we have told or shown them. When I was small my parents encouraged all their children to grow things - we each had a small patch of land - and could use the seeds that were kept in a tin in the potting shed on our patch. I remember my dad growing most of our fruit and vegetables and we did the same when our children were growing up - I am STILL waiting for them to take up the challenge and get growing for themselves but I am in no doubt that one day they too will do the same.
Be patient Guernsey, I too grew up with my father and grandfather feeding the family. I get the best feelings when I eat something that I grew and know was grown OK, my children grew up with that too and my daughter has a garden at last in her new house. She said to me the other day "I'm turning into you Mum, I had a whole conversation with my neighbour about compost" so hang in there and it will happen.
Anyway, never mind the next generation you are all giving inspiration to all generations, long may it continue.
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
Tried the paper diaries and reminders as gifts from friends, start well and then gather dust on my shelf.
Also the free wall planners from GW etc, unread on doors.
This year I started using a free app for iPhone and iPad called Evernote, you can make notes on your phone when you're in the garden of things to do or ideas for later and just add in notes / free text, or photos, or pics of a paper design (like my veg plot drawn to scale so when I'm out there I know what to plant where) and group them together for easy reference by subject or months etc. Then when I come in it syncs my updates and new notes back to my iPad so the 2 systems read the same. Also if you see something out at the garden centre or in a magazine you can take a pic and add it to your notes.
Loving it so far. Simple if you just want to type in notes and add pics, I suspect it does much more but who cares....it's the first thing that's worked for me as my iphone is always with me when I'm gardening or out.
I make a mental note of what works where and why, what situations different species prefer in terms of sun/shade ,acid/alkaline, dry,moist or wet etc. I often think it might help to write it down but never seem to get round to doing that.
I love the chaos of nature so regimentation is usually absent from anything but do like rough grouping of species together.
The experience of other gardeners here has helped me make many a decision and you make a valid point herbaceous as to interaction...gardening can be a solitary pursuit but so many good people on these boards make it less so.
Initially I used to draw plans and make notes but years later my eye sight is pants and I cannot read my own writing so.. I'm winging it and got to say its working very well with the aid of the smashing people on here...
I keep an annual gardeners diary which also has pages on what to do what month so I don't forget.
I have a spreadsheet on excel which lists what plants I order and from which company (it helps me to remember who supplies good plants). It also tells me where everything is planted in the garden so that I do not dig things up or overplant.
Lastly I take regular photographs as it shows me combinations I'd like to repeat, things that don't work and where things are. It's also lovely to look at on long winter evenings.
I only started gardening a few year ago. I've been taking notes on Spreadsheets, like month by month jobs, seeds to sow, inventory of plants and seeds. I used to have a notebook but it was not easy to look back.
Last winter, i had a look at garden diaries and decided to make my own. Every month i do pages for seeds to sow, jobs to do (which gets longer and longer as the days pass...), what's looking good in the garden, harvest and general notes. Everything that i'd like to change for next year gets a big cloud bubble around. It makes me happy ?
Posts
Wisdom - I feel quite chuffed now herbaceous - we all have wisdom in one sphere or another - and it is a great feeling to think that we can pass this on to the next generation - who although may not be interested in the garden right now - will one day remember what we have told or shown them. When I was small my parents encouraged all their children to grow things - we each had a small patch of land - and could use the seeds that were kept in a tin in the potting shed on our patch. I remember my dad growing most of our fruit and vegetables and we did the same when our children were growing up - I am STILL waiting for them to take up the challenge and get growing for themselves but I am in no doubt that one day they too will do the same.
Be patient Guernsey, I too grew up with my father and grandfather feeding the family. I get the best feelings when I eat something that I grew and know was grown OK, my children grew up with that too and my daughter has a garden at last in her new house. She said to me the other day "I'm turning into you Mum, I had a whole conversation with my neighbour about compost" so hang in there and it will happen.
Anyway, never mind the next generation you are all giving inspiration to all generations, long may it continue.
Tried the paper diaries and reminders as gifts from friends, start well and then gather dust on my shelf.
Also the free wall planners from GW etc, unread on doors.
This year I started using a free app for iPhone and iPad called Evernote, you can make notes on your phone when you're in the garden of things to do or ideas for later and just add in notes / free text, or photos, or pics of a paper design (like my veg plot drawn to scale so when I'm out there I know what to plant where) and group them together for easy reference by subject or months etc. Then when I come in it syncs my updates and new notes back to my iPad so the 2 systems read the same. Also if you see something out at the garden centre or in a magazine you can take a pic and add it to your notes.
Loving it so far. Simple if you just want to type in notes and add pics, I suspect it does much more but who cares....it's the first thing that's worked for me as my iphone is always with me when I'm gardening or out.
I make a mental note of what works where and why, what situations different species prefer in terms of sun/shade ,acid/alkaline, dry,moist or wet etc. I often think it might help to write it down but never seem to get round to doing that.
I love the chaos of nature so regimentation is usually absent from anything but do like rough grouping of species together.
The experience of other gardeners here has helped me make many a decision and you make a valid point herbaceous as to interaction...gardening can be a solitary pursuit but so many good people on these boards make it less so.
Initially I used to draw plans and make notes but years later my eye sight is pants and I cannot read my own writing so.. I'm winging it and got to say its working very well with the aid of the smashing people on here...
Last edited: 11 June 2016 16:04:03
I keep an annual gardeners diary which also has pages on what to do what month so I don't forget.
I have a spreadsheet on excel which lists what plants I order and from which company (it helps me to remember who supplies good plants). It also tells me where everything is planted in the garden so that I do not dig things up or overplant.
Lastly I take regular photographs as it shows me combinations I'd like to repeat, things that don't work and where things are. It's also lovely to look at on long winter evenings.
Blimey Yvie. No wonder your garden's lovely.
You're saying that once I've made all the plans and drawn all the maps I'm meant to look at them again. Aaah!
I think I get it now.
I only started gardening a few year ago. I've been taking notes on Spreadsheets, like month by month jobs, seeds to sow, inventory of plants and seeds. I used to have a notebook but it was not easy to look back.
Last winter, i had a look at garden diaries and decided to make my own. Every month i do pages for seeds to sow, jobs to do (which gets longer and longer as the days pass...), what's looking good in the garden, harvest and general notes. Everything that i'd like to change for next year gets a big cloud bubble around. It makes me happy ?
And obviously loads of pictures...
Last edited: 11 June 2016 16:46:46