Let's Plan a "TO-DO" Calendar!

Hi everyone!

IN one of our other threads, Legit made a great suggestion. She thought we needed to get a list of all the things (things we would normally forget) we need to remember. Things like when we want to start our winter sowing, when we should start our IBLF (Indoor before last frost) sowing, the best time to take shrub cuttings, so forth and ecetera.

Legit's idea was to have our discussion in one thread and have one person volunteer to make up the "official" list thread and maintain it to reflect any new goodies that need to be added. That way when our "discussion" gets off topic (which *always* happens :-D) we are't interferring with the "good stuff".

So, whaddya say?

Got things *you* would like to see on a TO-DO reminder list?

~julie~

OH! I forgot the BEST part! LOL

We will be trying to get "sticky" status for the Official list thread.

~julie~

This space reserved for my notes.

~julie~

Bump! I don't want this to get lost before someone accidently *looks* at the FORUM instead of just the threads they are watching.
:-D

~julie~

I love this idea, because my mind can wander sometimes. Sometimes it wanders right out of my head.

Thanks for peeking in, Kylee. Maybe we can get some of the others (Like Legit! LOL) to notice we're here.

~julie~

Dare I say this...
Let's send a link to this thread to Legit in a D-Mail and sort of volunteer her to make up and maintain the "official" list thread. She seems like a good sport.

I must admit I stumbled upon this thread. I know I could use a check list because I am always forgetting something. Come to think of it, we've had pretty high winds here recently. Gusts in the 50mph range two days ago and again tonight. Wish I would have remembered to get all of my iris cut down before the high winds came. Nothing is uprooted which surprises me but some of my tall pitcher plants took a beating before I got out there in my bathrobe and slippers and herded them all together in corners and up against walls.

Lovin' it,,,,,Kelly

This seems like a great idea! My brain is like a sieve these days with me taking care of 4 kids, a new kitten, a garden and running our business.
I know I'd like to see "to do" items such as:
~ when to prune certain plants (ie, clematis, butterfly bush)
~maybe a reminder of when to add fertilizer (ie, Did you feed your plants today?)
~a weekly reminder to check compost bins (keep damp like sponge, give it a turn with a fork, etc...)
~bulb issues (ie, time to lift, divide, plant)
~time to wrap certain plants in burlap or time to mulch others
~a reminder for keeping tools clean ( I always forget to wash stuff, me bad)

I know there's more things that I'd like to see on a list but I forget just now what they are, lol.

I'll add more when I remember exactly what I wanted "to do".

Erynne

OKay you guys, I 'm here!!! I should be long off to bed, I'll be a sleepyhead tomorrow, but what the heck!!! Looks like I'm not the only one burnin the midnight oil!!! EEEK I hope to hit the sack long before that!! Tell you what, I'll sort of start the month format, and see if I can get some help from Terry with the "sticky"!!

Talk about wind, holy cow, I ran my tiller from about 8:30 to about 1:30 today, edging my beds, ( that's where DH is allowed to drive with the lawn tractor wheel!!!), and I thought I was going to blow away, I had to come in to get a BEANIE for my head!!!

I have a huge ball of Morning Glory vines in my kitchen right now, because I took them down and planned to collect the ripe seeds later, but I thought if I didn't bring them in, I'd find them in Timbuctu!!!

I guess my DH really puts up with alot, all he said was, don't you think there's bugs in there?? I said, Oh, well, we have bugs in the house now anyway, ( still got Box Elder Bugs, if I was one of them, I'd want to be inside too!!)

OK Guys, does anyone winter sow in December, or do we just clean seeds for winter sowing and trade like the devil to get what we want??? Maybe mailorder some seeds??? I don't sow till after the Holidays are over, I'm still outside as long as there is not too much snow to keep me from moving things around!!!! LOL Ideas, here, and I'll post them. G'nite for now!! Legit

I'm not planning to sow mine until after the holidays.

I plan to winter sow in the last week of December. Heck I may do some on xmas as a present to myself, lol. Prior to sowing, I'm going to get really organized (this is the plan anyway,lol) and make my lists, prepare the pots & mark them.

Legit...for me it all depends on how desperate I am to get my hands dirty! Last year I did mine from the beginning of January through to the first of March. And I'll probably be doing the same thing this year. I don't think it matters much as long we get the seeds outside that *need* to have the cold temps early enough. The rest of them tend to fall into the "As soon as the ground can be worked" catagory.

And Erynne has the right idea about using any 'spare' time to get those containers prepped, labeled and the list of "what and when" ready to get started.

I just love the WS season. I feel like, no matter what, I WIN!! :-D


~julie~

Is this the kind of thing we're looking for (from marthastewart.com)?

Another handy suggestion:

Oo Ooo OOOO....Jody! I Win!! I already *do* that last one. Started by organizing my seeds in a drawer style Index card box I bought at the office supply store. It worked extremely well. (I didn't think I was capable of an original idea. hehehe)

~julie~

Julie - maybe Martha got it from you! I'm going to give it a try; I think I can handle this much organization!


This message was edited Nov 14, 2005 8:44 PM

LOL...I doubt seriously that 'Martha' would want to get anywhere *near* me...much less think *I* had a good idea. Rotflol

Seriously, stapling the seed packets to the index card is good way to organize them. I did it last year for two reasons. I wanted to organize alphabetically until I could get all the info into my database, then after that was completed I sorted the seeds into groups for Winter Sowing and IBLF (Indoors Before Last Frost) ...I broke the IBLF into groups according to how many weeks before last frost they needed to be sown.

That system made it really easy to keep track of what needed to be done next.

This year, I'm planning to use the system again...but, thankfully, I won't have anywhere near the number of packets I had last season.
:-D

~julie~

O.K.,,,I have one for Dec.

Get all holiday decorations up and wait for Santa,,,LOL

No, really,,,,,,
1. start going through seed catalogs and start planning what you want to plant in spring
2. start getting containers and seeds ready for Winter-sowing seeds. (Make Sure you have your handy dandy notebook attached to you for reference to containers and numbers)

Kelly

Don't stop guys, one of these days I will get to organizing all of our thoughts!!! Just kind of busy right now.......gotta try to plant that fern leaf peony in the snow this morning!!! Yikes! Legit

ooo, good luck with that Legit,,,at least the ground isn't frozen.

Hey, not a problem, worked like a dream, the ground is very soft! The babies are settled in for their long winter nap!! Legit

ooo, good,,,glad you didn't have any problems.

I like it when the suggestions for the list are suggested along with the month. (Do you really think we *need* to be reminded about Santa????? LOL)

I'm waiting for someone to tell me what months I'm supposed to take soft/semi-hard/and hard wood cuttings...AND I'm waiting for any help on HOW to do it! :-D

~julie~

I'm not sure but,,,I'm thinkin' cutting's would maybe be a Feb. or March thing?
Cut a branch from my Privet Hedge, put it in water and out came the roots,,,easy peasy,,,LOL

This message was edited Nov 17, 2005 12:15 AM

January - Get garden tools ready for Spring

I'm watching, when does everyone begin to start seeds in the house, different types, different times?? Legit

I try to start about eight weeks before last frost. It depends on the seed.

Same here,,,,I just watch my seed packets,,,most are 6-8 weeks before last frost,,,,in my zone, last frost Usually isn't until the end of May,,,so indoor seed starting will be different months for each zone.

That will be a hard one to put on calander,,,unless everyone wants to post in with their last frost times and then we could work from there?

Kelly

It could be listed something "Z4 Plant indoors before last frost."

Jo

Yeah, that could be put in for Late Feb. into March?

That's a good question...seed starting times *is* going to vary a couple weeks depending on the zones. So it isn't going be easy setting IBLF up on a calendar. UNLESS we put a an '*' for zone planting dates.

Do we want to be listing specific planting dates for specific varieties? ...or do we want to just make a notation in the calender such as:
March 15 - (Zn-4) Start 8 weeks IBLF seeds
April 1 - (Zn-4) Start 6 weeks IBLF seeds

I keep my seeds arranged in my storage containers by the number of weeks IBLF I'm supposed to start them. When it gets close to starting time, I write the dates on the packets and put them in larger envelopes so I know which ones need to be done next and how much time I have to get things ready.

I use the Tom Clothier Germination tables to find IBLF starting times as well as the special instructions (depth to plant, germ time, etc.) Here's a link to that web site:
http://tomclothier.hort.net/

I used Tom's downloadable database as the skeleton for my own MS Access custom database. The T.C. site has been a tremendous source for the basic information for starting seeds.

~julie~

julie,

Thanks for posting that link. I'm definitely going to be checking it out.

Kelly ready to take a nap

You're welcome, Kelly. There's a lot on that site.

~julie~

What is Jan good for again?????????

Jazzmer, What do you do to your garden tools in Jan while I am cuddled up in the house keeping warm????????

Anybody, I was hoping someone could pinpoint

When to start tomatoes
When to start annuals
could be split by zones.

L

This message was edited Nov 20, 2005 7:13 AM

Legit...I'll have to look up my notes on when I started my tomatoes IBLF last year...but I *do* know that I'll be starting my green peppers about a month earlier than last year...they were scrawny little things at planting time.

Are listing plants by name or type? Some seeds take a little longer to get to maturity than others.

~julie~

Legit, my plan every year is to use steel wool/wire brush to get any rust (DH and DS like to leave tools out), get everything sharpened, and handles sanded and sealed. I'm really going to try to do it this year!

I have visions every year of doing the same thing,,,,is that like visions of Sugar Plums??????

Jody...my dreams are that my DH will *do* that for me! LOL
Seriously, I'd love to have all those things done so my tools aren't so hard to use next spring. But so far it's just 'visions'. And Sugar Plums have about the same chance in my house...NONE! :-D

~julie~