Yardening end of April 2014 continuation

Catmint, my access db is separate from ATP - what you are seeing on the link is all built in to the "List" feature on ATP. Very simple to use and really flexible for how you want to categorize things. I decided to do categories for each of my garden areas, categories for year acquired, and a category for Mid Atlantic Plant Swap. Each plant can then be tagged in multiple categories. Built in filters to ATP include Have or Previous (helps tag what is alive or what didn't make it).

Now, if I want to see everything in my Cottage Garden (regardless of what year I purchased it in), I just click on that category.

Or, if I want to see everything I bought in 2013 (regardless of what garden it is in), I just click on that category.

Also, I decided I'd like to see everything I got at swaps (regardless of what garden or what year acquired), so I just click on that category.

Built in filter is Have or Previous - don't much like seeing the number that show up in "Previous", puts it in plain black and white how much I've killed off during the years...

That's interesting Aspen. I should take a look at that. Right now I use the excel 'sort and filter' option a lot to rearrange my view of the data. I also have an 'action' column that acts as a to do list-- somehow that column never empties out -- LOL

I struggle enough to have time to cover everything we chat about here on DG--
to have any other form of computerized stuff....
Database??? What's that??? my brain is my database...

Wind--re the B&B salvia not coming up---Last year--as we slid into winter,
I made a circle of plastic fencing and filled it with leaves over both my B&B S.
Just removed them, maybe, a month ago.

Do you think these leaves would have blocked air and weather so the roots never
went through the real "winter thing"? They were so tall and pretty last year--
hard to accept that they won't come back.
Have to start looking for new ones....maybe HD will get some in?

These pics re from June, 2013. They did so well--after one year already.

PS-- I know it sounds a little strange but the nerdy part of me actually *enjoys* working with my database. It gives me a chance to reflect on my yard and I kind of like organizing my plant information in different ways. And now I have the idea from Aspen to add a 'personal history' column for each plant!

Gita--different strokes for different films right? You have such a gift for combining colors and textures into different beautiful combinations. We are each Mother Nature's gift of diversity in the garden of life, right?

I want to add that the B&B was my first plants--and first time i saw Hummers.
I just put a chair a respectable distance away and sat there watching them.
Can't believe how tall they grew already by June.

In pic. #1 above--that is my New England Aster growing between them.

The same NE Aster last September...

All this DB talk has got me thinking. I'm not sure I have the time or dedication to do something like that. As it is, I photo document everything in the yard every Memorial Day weekend to track growth throughout the years. I also photo document throughout the season to capture the different things that are blooming. I think that's good enough for me. At some point, I'd like to upload a bunch of information in the plant files to contribute my part to our nifty database.

I like the photo documenting idea!

Jeff, the photo documentation is a great way to do it. I am notoriously bad at taking photos, and wish I had them. It would be great to have a visual of the progress over time. I finally bought a decent camera a month or so ago, but I still haven't gotten in to the habit of using it. I always remember too late that I missed capturing the weeping cherry blossoms, or the hellebores before they faded, etc...

289 holy cow will start new thread soon

Yeah it seems like I take more pictures every year. It's such a valuable thing to have because I LOVE looking back over the last 4 years seeing how everything is progressing. I am a huge nerd too and this is one of my nerdy things. I even photo document my parents yard every time I visit them. They live in Phoenix.

Too bad that much of my earlier gardening pictures are all in albums---
and it cost 35 cents for every print developed....so I never took more than a couple
shots of anything....and..the film itself cost around $5--depending on how many exposures it was.....

And the trips to the pharmacy to drop the film off and then, a few days later, to pick them up....

YES! That seems ancient now--but it was the way it was... Gita

Haha...yeah that does seem like an eternity. I've never actually owned a camera that needed film ;P

New thread coming up! look for this pic from last summer
Here's your linky-dink
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1359044/

Sorry this got so long!

This message was edited May 5, 2014 10:25 AM