every year I forget what I'm doing

[salilah]

Confession - I'm a seed addict!
I've a large wooden wine box which used to hold my seeds - then for my birthday I got two pale green seed tins - and for Christmas a third one from someone else!
So my seed tins are now labelled Feb, Mar, Apr - and seeds in the right tins - trouble is, March and April are already full, even before I start putting any Feb seeds in for succession

I keep reasonable records in a notebook - reasonable in the beginning of the year anyway, but I do tend to forget in the summer. As someone else said, good for reviewing what done, not so good for what to do.

I hope to do a big sketch in January, working out what should go into which bed when, and will try to back-stack with modules in the cold frame and on windowsills...

fun & games!
S

This year I will be using the two chocolate tin method (the big ones you get at Christmas with Rose/Quality Street/Celebrations)

Tin one been the holding tin for all seeds.

Tin Two for seeds that I can sow that month, once sown if any left they go back in tin one or if I am successional sowing they stay in the tin as a reminder.

Oh yes, I have a third tin, this contains my spare seeds for swaps.

Tried this at the end of the summer, worked well as a reminder of what to sow, only problem is I have to remember to sort my seeds at the end of the month

[Florence Fennel]

The "What I Did Today" thread is quite useful and it goes back to 2006, so I do tend to try to have a look and see what other grapes were doing on that. Like others, I have tried a little book, a diary and a spreadsheet, but I find myself spending more time on the practical stuff rather than the theory. New Year Resolution coming on?

[coreopsis]

Looks like it FF.I tried with the spredsheets as well but I must admit I'd rather plonk the stuff into the ground(work and weather permitting)and spend an hour outside than wasting the time at the front of computer.At the end of the day(or season)who cares if you put the stuff outide 15th or 20th of May?

[Florence Fennel]

Nice to know I'm in good company coreopsis. Funny that although I don't particularly "plan" where things are to go, I always find room for everything!

[HeyWayne]

I'm terrible at organisation. I attempted to use my blog to keep track of what I did/should do and when - but I'm finding less and less time to update that these days.

I keep meaning to write a small diary/notebook but I never remember. I love pens too.

[Two_Sheds]

who cares if you put the stuff outide 15th or 20th of May?

If you plant by the moon it matters a lot

A diary is useful if you are doing any kind of trial, eg one variety against another, one method against another.

If you only ever plant the same thing year after year, then a diary is of less use

[marigold007]

I find it useful to scan the vine once a month or so and see what everyone else is planting or asking questions about. There always seems to be a seasonal veg to sow when I look. Then, sometimes, I google what can be sown in X month. Can't say I've missed sowing anything this year.

[Snadger]

If you plant by the moon it matters a lot ....................

If you plant by the moon it pays to take a torch!

[Comfreyfan]

I've found that moon planting (in a loose kind of way!) helps me be a bit more organised - and there's a strong geeky part of me that loves going through websites and calendars, working out planting plans and making lists.
The records tend to be scraps of paper which are stuffed in the front of various books, but they do remind me how to best plant up the beds for each crop.
Seeds are stored in tins/boxes (one per bed/greenhouse) in order of when they need to be planted.
I made a lovely plan of my brassica bed this year because I inter-planted it very cleverly as I thought, then covered it with my new enviromesh - everything grew huge and across everything else in a right tangle and now until it's ready for harvest I can't tell what's growing where! Best laid plans and all that!

[zazen999]

If you plant by the moon it pays to take a torch!

The old ones are the best.

[HayleyB]

I've a lock and lock system similar to the chocolate tins, although I have three one for later in year (Autumn), one for spring/summer sowings and one for March/April. Somehow I still end up sowing some things too late or find seeds that haven't been sown. I must be more organised.....

[kiwirach]

i have managed to keep a diary this year.....after the car keys its the next thing i grab when heading to the allotment. i found when i needed a sit down from digging, weeding, cutting grass etc, i'd grab the diary and note down anything that needed recording.
i'd like to be more organised in the seeds sowed/germinated/harvested list, cos i think that would be useful to know.....what percentage of seeds sowed would get to harvest!.
i need to get better at knowing when to successionally sow, and how to store my seeds in a way that i remember to plant all i can (if i want to!). i need to ponder on the tins system!.

[SarzWix]

I just cut up a cereal box to make dividers for the seed basket, with months written at the top of each. Sort everything into the month of it's first sowing, then if it needs re-sowing the next month, move it back into the next section. Once things are done for the year, they get moved over into a seperate tin. It's worked well for me for the last 2 years, don't often forget to sow things.

[pdblake]

I'm so bad at forgetting what to so and when I've written my own software to keep track of it all. I tell it what seeds/sets I have and what the sowing/planting/harvesting times are etc and it tells me when I need to sow and plant, what to harvest and what I can put there next. I've got it giving me a monthly job list or an entire year plan.

[sarraceniac]

I'm so bad at forgetting what to so and when I've written my own software to keep track of it all. I tell it what seeds/sets I have and what the sowing/planting/harvesting times are etc and it tells me when I need to sow and plant, what to harvest and what I can put there next. I've got it giving me a monthly job list or an entire year plan.

I could get my eldest to do me something similar. But he knows I would forget to put the data in and would be left looking at a blank spreadsheet or database.