Who'sl listing their winter sowing seeds in their journal?

My seed list for winter sown '07 is still a work in progress. I know may of you have detailed databases and spreadsheets that you are currently working on. Just curious as to how many of us are also using our DG journals to list our seeds. I have been up all night cross matching my seed inventory to the wintersown.org lists. It's still a work in progress.
I initially copied the lists from Trudi's site into my diary and then printed and highlighted the ones that I have on hand and also the seeds that I'd like to have. Boy, was that ever a print job. 84 pages. Talk about paper waste! Oh, well, first time winter sowing and I'm all about the fine details. I'm learning from reading this forum.

Let me hear from y'all. We can learn together!
edited: my journal's not private, for now at least until I can get the hang of it for sharing of ideas.
Deborah♥

This message was edited Jan 22, 2007 1:58 PM

I am wanting to try this. Is now the best time to get it started or can you wait until Jan? I am such a newbie! I hate buying annuals when I know I can buy the seeds for only a fraction of the cost. I would try a few new perennials too. Deborah is you list here on Dave's?

Yes, Teresa, go to my diary first and you'll see the lists that wintersown.org has provided. There's a list of perennial, a list of annuals and a list of herbs. There's also a list vegatables on the site, but I didn't copy that one into my diary. The link in the above post takes you to my actual list of seeds I will winter sow. It's a combination of both perennials and annuals through the s's. I'm not through completing my diary yet. There are several entries both my own list of seeds that I have and the list of seeds that I copied from wintersown.org. Welcome to view!


I'm winter sowing, Teresa. I look forward to it from reading other DG'ers great experiences from years past.

Deborah♥ edited to redirect way to get to my diary.

This message was edited Jan 22, 2007 2:01 PM

I tried the first link and it just said I was viewing the list, but there wasn't one there.

Where can you get a few free seeds? What was the link? I want to try this.

bluegrassmom,
Go to http://www.wintersown.org/ and scroll down toward the bottom of the page. For free seeds, you will need to send a SASB envelope. Glad to see that you are going to try WSing. It's fun and good for the soul during the coldest part of the winter.
Digs

Digs, I took your advice you gave me awhile back and looked through wintersown.org again and found the list of ws seeds. I don't know why I didn't see it before. I suppose the first time was just information overload. I'm still going to pick your brain though.... when I get all my "seeds in a row".

Deborah♥

My brain needs picking now and then. Helps me remember things that I could be doing. We still have plenty of time to sow our seeds. In fact we need to wait until we know we are actually having winter. Today it's warm enough to start many annual seeds. Don't think it's going to be cooler by Dec. 21 either. Call me and we'll chat or better yet, after the holiday rush, I'll ride down to see you.
Digs

Cordeledawg,

I think I am going to try to get m yseeds into my journal-- I start out great, but then get bogged down in the middle. I just now, today, noticed that you can find a plant in plant files and click it into your journal (or trade list or whatever) I thought I had to do all that typing which was NOT how I planned to spend my winter vacation!

Now that I know how easy it is, I might just give it a go.

Suzy

Suzy,

Transfering from plant files is an excellent idea. Since I already had my list in a word file, I copied the common name into the journal. However, there was still alot of confusion. Coming from plantfiles sure makes it easier, I agree!

Do you know if you can sort alphabetically doing it that way?

Deborah♥

Yes, it's just like any other program -- you click on the header on how you want to sort...I just sorted my primluas by species.

When you copied over, were you able to do a whole long list, or did you have to do it one by one?

I will pretty much do anything if I don't have to type.

Suzy

Suzy, when I transfered my seed list from a word file to my journal is was one entry at a time. Not only was it one entry, more like three to four entries per seed; ie, common name, then genus, followed by species, and lastly, cultivar or in some instances, color. What a pain. I like your way the best. I'll try going from plantfiles from now on.

Thank you!

Deborah♥

Oh, well, I hope it works as well as I am claiming. I haven't done very many entries! I was wondering how you sort on Genus and then species. The one I tried it on, only had one genus and it was easy to sort on species.

When you sort in Excel, you can give it two or three parameters -- sort 1st and then sort 2nd. The journal does NOT appear to have that sort function.

Suzy

I think you're right about that. DG journal only sorts by one column heading. No secondary sorting but you can change it at any given time just by clicking on another heading. If anyone knows for sure and if my assumption is incorrect, please let's hear from you.

Deborah♥

I don't understand a word you're saying, LOL, so I'm resorting
to a pencil and a notebook, whenever I remember to do so.

Mahnot, whatever you are doing, you're doing it right. From what I've read, you are an accomplished gardener! Keep on keeping on.
Deborah♥

I read this thread when it was started, and it's been a big help.
Mahnot, (or anybody else), when you're on a Plantfiles page, way at the bottom, past the comments, there's a section that says 'Your Actions'. There's a line that says add this plant to your journal. From there, you have to select a category for it - mine are Annuals, Perennials, Trees, Shrubs, and Biennials. Other people have Vines, or Cactus, or whatever. After that, you select a 'Status' for it - mine are stuff like 'growing in garden', 'planting fall '06', 'ordered for spring '07', and 'wintersowing 06-07'.

BUT (and it's a big but .. snort..) I think you have to set up the journal FIRST. I'm not sure about that though. It's a little tricky, and the journal feature will do a lot of things that I haven't gotten to yet, but it makes keeping track a lot easier. To set up your journal, click the Journal tab at the top of this page. . . there's instructions, and a Journals and Diaries Forum. It's near the co - ops forum.

Anyway, try clicking on my (or anybodies) user name, and you'll see that user's site. You can click on their journal or diary and see some really neat stuff! I won't mention any names, but check some of them out, if you haven't already. Lots of them have pictures and the whole nine yards. I have only one or two pictures...

If you look at mine, click on annuals, or perennials, and I think they're in random order. At that point you can click genus, and they'll be alphabetized, automatically. Or click Status, and plants will come up in groups, like 'Growing in Garden', "wintersowing ' etc. like above. If you look at my list for winter sowing, bear in mind I'm not planting dozens of some of them... just a few! I hope. . .

Pssst - Cordeledawg, I will send the check in the mail
tomorrow, OK?

Claypa - LOL, "just a few" yeah, right !
Thanks for the help, but I'm hopeless when it comes to the computer, LOL.
I haven't chewed gum since I got one. I'll give your suggestions a try, but
I'm not selling my pencil and notebook yet.

Mahnot, good deal. If I'm not mistaken, when I first signed up on DG back in July I think I remember seeing a picture of your patio with a gorgeous container planting.

I haven't exactly decided what I'm sowing....I have listed what I've purchased so far this year from stores, eBay and catalogs. I've also listed the seeds I've recieved from some of the swaps that I've participated in from end of last year to now.

It will be a more time consuming task to list what seeds I have prior to those---very time consuming. I'm a seed hoarder and I also harvest my own on top of that, oh, and I harvest from random public places if I see something I like that is producing seed. So pathetic:LOL:

I wish I had thought to include my seed source into my journal.

Deborah, when I clicked on your link and went to your list, I could have edited or deleted your files; why does it show that way??? Also, I planted the same Blue Bell Forget-Me-Not's and had nice bushy plants, but with microscopic blue flowers...I kept waiting for them to grow larger flowers, but it didn't happen. My husband was sure it was a row of weeds. How did yours grow?

Oh, Tammy I didn't know it could be revised by anyone through the link I provided. Hope nobody ever gets mad at me LOL. Do me a favor and go to my journal without my link to it and see if anyone could alter it just by viewing it and let me know. In the mean time, I'll try it out on someone's journal as well. I may need to just reference my journal instead of linking to it in future posts. Wonder what Dave or Terry would have to say about it giving me a problem down the road.
Those blue bell seeds were given to me fby a DGer. It's description may or may not be true to type if I transferred the bontanical reference from plantfiles. I have heard that some plants' second year blooms are larger than the first, I don't know due to lack of experience though. Thank you so much for the heads-up.

Deborah♥

Those links up top will take each person to his or her own journal, somehow, that's how it's set up.

You are exactly right, Claypa, and I have elected to keep both my journal and diary open to the public for the time being. I may mark it private sometime in the future but for now, it's a learning tool for me as well as a work in progress.

Deborah♥

Deborah, the only way that shows options to edit or delete is thru your link above.

Oh good news! maybe I'll go and edit the above link and let folks ienter into both my journal and my diary thru the front door (DG), instead of the back door, this thread. Thanks!

This message was edited Jan 22, 2007 2:05 PM

Claypa,

I tried looking at your journal -- are you sure it's public? Nothing shows up when I click your user name, whereas when I click Cordeledawg's it offers her diary, journal and whatnot.

I want to view some journals of people who have wintersowed before (not newbies) in zones 5/6 to see what they're doing to make sure I don't forget somehting that needs to be done. LOL!

Suzy

I was messing with it, let me make sure it's 'on'.

I haven't winter sown before, but I had a dear friend with the nicest garden in town (in zone 5) who winter sowed everything, so I have seen what it can do. One day in february, there was two feet of snow, maybe 20 degrees and she pulled a torn up sheet of plastic. I said "what's that" and she says "next year's garden". She meant spring, but it seemed like a year off. I was floored. Thousands of little tiny seedlings. . .

I don't have any details in the journal, really, so far it's just a list of seeds I'm planting. I just go to the plantfiles page for each seed and click 'add to your journal'.
There's a few things on my list I might not sow until later, but have a look anyway.That Asclepias you mentioned in another thread, I'll save some for later, etc. Some stuff I'm not sure about either. But I have NO problem with that 'leap of faith' Trudi talks about!
If you see something questionable, though, let me know

~snort! cough! If *I* see something questionable? Heck, I was counting on YOU!

It's not that I'm not a faithful follower, exactly, more like I prefer to stagger my workload.

Your journal is up again...thanks! Reminded me to WS my 'Elstead' Actaea. With all the plants I am wintersowing, I will have to erradicate a lot of English Ivy to have a home for them!

Thanks,
Suzy

Hey, guys...here's a dumb question. I have lots of stuff in my journal (not WS yet). But how do you get to the diary?? I looked and looked.

I'm going to start putting in my WS plants as I get the seeds sown.

gram

Gram, I can find your diary no problem...mine is closed, but there's nothing in it anyway. I should try it again some time

claypa, i can find my diary and read it. I just don't know how to get to it to write in it again.

On the right side, there should be a box that says 'Tasks' where you can add, edit, delete, etc.
Mike

Newbie needs confirmation--I am currently sowing the following annuals, as they are on Trudi's list of hardy annuals to WS. Ihttp://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/wtrsow/2002091746008623.htm

l am in zone 5; if someone has any input on my annual list, please feel free......

Zinnia
Linanthus (mountain phlox)
Poppy
Viscaria (Silene, Lychnis)
Nasturtium
Portulaca
Petunia, Wave
Bachelor Buttons
Cosmos
Sweet Peas
Snap dragons
Malope

Mike, thanks. I get it now...senior moment (s) LOL

Well, good gram. What I can't figure out is how to change the order of the entries, so that the newest are on the bottom.

TammyIp, all I can tell you is that I've planted poppies and cosmos already, and zinnias and petunias are getting planted soon, too. Now I have to go look up Linanthus, Viscaria, and Malope!

Mike, thanks for responding. I visited your journal and diary; you've done a lot of WS-ing! Were there any particular plants from last year that were a problem?....or did you change any of your WS methods when planting this year? How early did some of the annuals germinate?....cosmos, zinnias, petunias?

Sorry, but this is my first year, too! ( see post on Jan 26th) Some of the annuals like poppies and cosmos reseed by themsleves, and are pretty reliable. Most annuals will wait until it's warmer to germinate. I save some seeds from most plants to sow later, just in case.

You're fine on everything you listed except these, which I am unfamiliar with:
Linanthus (mountain phlox)
Viscaria (Silene, Lychnis)
Sweet Peas
Malope

This is my first year, too, but I've had all the ones you listed reseed here, so I figure that makes you safe. LOL!

I thought Sweet Peas rotted if you planted them too early, but I'm not even 50% sure of that statement. Just throwing it out for conversation.

The problem with wintersowing petunias and to some extent snapdragons is that it takes them so darn long to come into bloom! Same with Impatiens. Yes, they will wintersow and bloom and prosper, but I want my flowers in May, not July. I'm going to check the timing on them by wintersowing a jug each, but I am still planning on sowing a flat of each inside under lights. If they bloom by Memorial Day, I can live with it.

Suzy