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

Suzy, excellent point. Snaps, impatiens and petunias for the most part are early spring bloomers. I'm starting these inside too especially since my petunia seeds are almost the size of dust. I suppose for an experiment if anyone has enough seed, they could sow these particular ones both ways.
Deborah♥

I sowed sweet peas, viscaria, and snaps last year in first week of Febuary and they did very well. Snaps did bloom kind of late, I don't remember the date, but the poor things had gotten buried in my WS jungle and didn't have the best growing conditions. Same for viscaria. They were very pretty when I finally found them under there. The sweet peas were early bloomers, then bolted when the heat arrived.

Karen

If we use milk jugs, we tape them closed and take off the lid?

Yes, most people do, especially taking off the lid & leaving the top open.
I don't use tape to close the middle though. I'm using A twist tie so that I have a liitle more air circulation around the middle due to my warmer spring climate.

I'm doing the same as Cordeledawg (twisties) due to my sheer laziness.

Suzy

I'm doing the twisties too:) I haven't put my seeds in the journal but I've used the diaries section to list seed purchases and seeds recieved from trades this year. I haven't taken the time to list what I had already owned prior to this years purchases...it will be very time consuming, although we may have a snowday tomorrow or rather a freezing rain day:LOL:

A snow day? What's that? I barely remember since I haven't had one in about 40 years

Karen

Well, that's when people in this part of the country freak out over almost any threat of inclement weather and tell their employers that they are going home because they aren't going to risk their lives trying to wait and see how bad it gets. Mind you, this year, brought to us by the manufacturers of global warming, we've had to date a whopping 1/2 inch of snow to date. The weather doofusii are trying to talk up 4 hours of snow, followed by 4-5 hours of freezing rain, ending with plain old rain...which if I'm not mistaken will melt everything that came before it.

I'm originally from Connecticut and I can still remember what real winter weather looks like. Huge blizzard in 78, 5th grade, out of school for 3 weeks, snow covering the cars by 6-8 inches and snowplow guys in and out of the house at all hours warming up, eating and resting. We didn't get out of school until June 23 that year because of makeup days:LOL:

.....how do you use twisties to keep milk jugs closed?

Sorry, Mike; I wasn't paying very good attention....but your garden looks great.

This message was edited Feb 1, 2007 8:53 AM

This message was edited Feb 1, 2007 8:56 AM

Tammylp, punch a little hole on the bottom edge of the top part and then a little hole on the top edge of the bottom part and weave the twistie between the two holes.

I used Christmas tree ornament hangers for twist ties just because I couldn't find enough bread ties.

This message was edited Feb 1, 2007 9:51 AM

If you don't want to do the twisties, how about just putting a couple of short strips of tape across the cut edges of the jug? I haven't done that (yet), but it just occurred to me while reading about the twisties. With the twisties, the jug is really not 100% closed around the middle as it would be if you put tape around it, so I thought you could just use shorter strips of duct tape, enough to keep the top from flipping off. Seems like it is not really necessary to have the two parts of the jug put back together.

If the jug isn't sealed up it could dry out faster. Just a thought.

Drying isn't generally a problem, at least not for me, until the weather starts to warm in spring. By then the containers are mostly open, they have to be or they'll fry during the day.

I use duct tape, only one small piece vertically on one side. Last year (my first) I used a long strip most of the way around the cut, and they were nearly impossible to open. Now it's just one small piece for me.

Karen

Yes, Karen, that is what I was thinking as well. Of course, my jugs so far are taped all around, since this brilliant idea just occurred to me. Now all I need is more jugs.

I am listing mine under journal "propogation."

Seandor

Seandor, you're off to a good start. Like your pictures of your sweet pea pots. When they germinate you can add pictures to journal and then again when they bloom. Similar to a mother's photo book of her babies as they grow.

Thanks, Cordeledawg. That was sort of my plan. I want a record of my successes so I can replicate them, and my failures so I can avoid them :-)

I am using the DG journal for listing my WS under my journal Nantucket Garden under the status of winter sowing. I list all my plants under a main category by source (see seeds and then by vendor) When I purchase seed ( or anything) I list it by the source and then track it via it's statuses ( on order >to seed >to winter sowing> to transplanted> to planted from seed> to finished or dead, oops!) and I note the date of each by using the milestone feature. So the seeds I WS today all reflect today's date as the milestone. The seeds listed under the status (seed) are the ones that I have not done anything with except purchase. I also have a status of (on order) which lets me know what I should be receiving. Clear as mud. Take a look. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I wish the source was one of the categories that appeared in the spreadsheet. My Nantucket Bed Journal is a cloning that I am working on to reflect what each bed contains as a separate journal so I can see the pictures as I add plants to a particular bed. It has been a bit of a nightmare as I am trying to do this as an after thought. But I love what it allows me to do visually. Patti

I'm beginning to think I should have put my WS in my journal. I put it in my diary instead.

I'm trying to do both. It's less typing to add them to your journal, but the diary is simpler. With the weather the way it is, I'll have time to try adding 'entries' and 'milestones', something I haven't been doing.

Anybody who hasn't looked at bbrookrd's journal has been missing out! It's certainly one of the best on DG, probably one of the best gardens, too.
As a carpenter in New England for years, I got worked up over the picture of Glads on that old door, now, Yellow Hollyhocks? I'm almost afraid to look at the rest...siiighhhh. . . .

Dangit, Claypa! Now you've got me drooling over somebody's Journal! I wouldn't have even clicked on it if you hadn't gone gaga over it.

Bbrook, I am so confused on my own Journal it isn't funny! The whole thing seems clumsy to me. I go to PF, find the plant, add it to my Journal and only by clicking way too many times on the back button and then trying to find the plant on my list, I can change the status. I don't know -- the whole thing is just clumsy. Plus I don't know the difference between a milstone and an entry, so half my Journal is one way and the other half is the other.

And YES, Dave needs to add 'source' on that spreadsheet, it's one of the most important things to a gardener, isn't it? AND have a default setting for the users choice for display instead of having to click on a header each and everytime you need to find something. (I don't like the way mine is set up with the common name, alpha sorted, as being my default because I've never heard of half those common names. I just found out I can add and delete common names, but I still am used to the Latin Achillea, Alcea and Alyssum being at the top.)

Back to Bbrookrd'sJournal.....shall I choose Vermont or Nantucket? The Veranda or the front sitting porch? :)

Suzy

Suzy

What a nice journal, Bbrookrd! Both comprehensive and organized, I can visualize your gardens and can almost get a whiff of your fragrant flowers. Both your gardens and the area you live are like Norman Rockwell picture postcards to me!
I like to include the source too. Since there's no header for it I list mine in the notes section, click on print this page and all my notes are printed out as well. Allows me to keep a hard copy in my notebook.

I now have a very big head! I am trying to recreate in this journal a lost (water damage- broken pipe) paper version of my garden that I kept for years with all my notes and pictures that I cut out of catalogs of my beds. The Journal has taken me a while to figure out and some of it drives me crazy. Clicking backwards is a pain when where I want to return to is not an option given. I was in the book business and used a very detailed program that allowed me to track my inventory and orders with many more options. So I am hoping that Dave continues to add to the journal's options. I really want a secondary sort order that will allow for example, a sort via genus then followed by a secondary cultivar sort putting all our DL or Hosta in Alpha order. My poor Vt garden has gotten very little attention, but I still love our little old house up there. We have it because I had a Bookstore in Vt as well as one in Nantucket and I spent more of my time there running that business while my DH more of his time here in Nantucket running that one. After 30 years, we sold both of them. The Nantucket one is thriving while the people in Vt ran that one into the ground immediately and went bust. They didn't see the need to keep my computer system and thus had no idea of what was in the store or what was on order or what needed to be paid for. You can see why I have a passion for journal keeping, plus since I had a very bad case of Lyme years ago, my mind is a bit mushy with details. The biggest key is in the set up. Figuring out what it is you want to know before you start. Believe me I still think I could do it better. I have added many more statuses since I started because that provides an easy view to what is happening to an entry. I have made far fewer double purchases since starting my journal. I love the cloning feature to copy plants when I divide something and then move it to a new bed. I just have to edit the location. I am starting to use the milestone feature more especially with the seeds and bulbs. I have not used the todo feature. Still learning. I have kept my diary private. But it is terrific for keeping up with coop orders. I paste my initial order and then I can edit it to reflect any of the many additions plus the payment information so I don't have to hunt for the original posts. I also post all the good advice that I copy from other members posts about propagation and care, plus recipes and life advice. I have never done this WS before and I have a tab for that in my diary which I hope will bring me green luck. Patti

Has anyone made Dave aware of the problems with the journal? I haven't used it very much because I did find it very time consuming.

Oh, sure, there's a forum for questions and answers about journals, and there have been improvements right along, since I've been a member, anyway. I don't think you could link to your journal from plantfiles a while back. Not sure about that, though.

I have begged for a few things, but I know that making changes is a slow go and quite complicated. He has made many improvements so I am sure he will tweak it as time goes on. I love having the thumbnail pictures. I would love to be a beta site for anything he wants to try. Patti