What software do you use for garden planning/record keeping?

Yeah, I try to buy only a few every year and then end up with a couple hundred. It's a disease, I tell ya.

Okay, Indy and Harry, how the heck do you move a rectangle once you've got it down and realize it needs to be over a bit. With Appleworks and, I think, Photoshop there's a tool that does that, but I can't figure out how to accomplish that with GIMP. What am I missing here, or isn't that possible? I've been having to clear and start over, which could take lots of time once I get more shapes on there. Zeesh, I wish there were a tutorial for this sort of thing. The ones on the site don't seem very relevant to what I'm trying to do.

Leslie

Shoot. I'm still trying to prep my mac to upload...

What are you uploading, Grownut, and I have to tell you I'm finding this frustrating! Why isn't there a simple garden plan program out there?

the x11 that you HAVE to have to run gimp. Before that the 10.4.11 upgrade. I was a lowly 10.4.10. Was there no rotate function? 90º right? I'm wondering if the computer'll crash by the time I get everything on there...computerese makes me grumpy

I have OS 10.5.5 and it seems to have come with x11. I did a search for it and there 'twas, in Applications.

I am looking for a tool that will grab a feature such as a rectangle and move it in any direction. I would think it would have to have such a feature, but nothing seems to do it. Seems like this program has a high learning curve!

Leslie - getting grumpy too, on a cold and rainy day!

I'm happy to be grumpy with you...maybe if I get mine loaded on we can grump together...

Do you have a slow dialup? I did until I got a wireless modem, and things download a lot faster that way. It's a bit expensive per month but worth it.

Nope. It's that other fast thing...which I can't remember...broadband. I really need to clean up my 'puter and get rid of big and excess files. If I knew more I know it'd go waaay faster.

Here's how I manipulate rectangles in Gimp. I open a file. I decided to open yard_plan_working.jpg. This has a lot of rectangles in it already.:) But I want to draw another one. So I click on the rectangle shape that is in the upper left-hand corner of the Tools menu. Then I click on the jpg somewhere near where I want the rectangle. Then I drag the rectange to the size I want. Now I want to move it. I put the cursor in the rectangle, and it will turn into a shape made of four arrows. I can use that to drag the rectangle around. Then I can click on it and say, empty out that rectangle by clicking delete. Or I can go up to the paintbucket, click on it to bring up the paintbucket menu, and then either mess around with the colors I want to use to fill it in, or I can just leave it and pour away. So now I've got a black square in the middle of my plot. This is where blight struck, obviously. Or it is a woodchuck hole. Then to settle that rectangle's hash, I got back up to the rectangle in Tool menu, click, and then click back anywhere on the jpg, and the select lines will disappear from the black rectangle I made. It is not more or less part of the whole image (more so when I click Flatten Image).

Here is something I made--my plan for part of the front yard. It's a lot smaller here than it is in real life. I expand it so I can read all the stuff in the squares. It's not artwork, now. Just a garden plan. I use the rectangle drawing thing to rough out the beds. For the actual plants, I make separate files that I can then just copy and paste on the working plan jpg.

I see I put bok choi instead of beans, lol!

This message was edited Feb 18, 2009 6:47 PM

How do you do off angle stuff? Say at 45º?

You go to Tools > Transform Tools > Rotate. That one lets you input the amount of rotation. It's pretty cool with all the throttles and gizmos. Reminds me of StarTrek. Way more jazzy than my old Photoshop LE. You can also do a few limited types of rotation by going to Image > Transform > and selecting like 90 degree clockwise or flip, etc.

Or if you want to change your rectangle to a trapezoid of something, go to the Toolbox on the right-hand side and find the Perspective Tool, which is all the way on the right-hand end, second row. Then you can just use that to stretch the rectangle into any shape you like.

This message was edited Feb 18, 2009 7:07 PM

Sounds exactly like my AW. good deal -If I ever get it up and running!!

At bit late to this thread.......I use Excel to track the garden planning because I like to use the calculations and functions in the spreadsheet software. It is easy to add a formula to calculate the seed starting & transplant dates based on expected last frost, travel, PTO or any other "known" events that might impact your schedule. I put the spacing in numerically so that I can multiply or divide to see if the number of plants I want will actually fit in my bed. LOL!

Another feature that I like about Excel is the Autofilter took. As long as your headers are on a single row and there are no completely blank rows in the data selection, you can use the Autofilter to select on any of the topics in your garden database.

If all that makes sense to anyone - you know you spend way to much time using this tool.
^_^

garden_mermaid,

I use spread sheets the same way. Glad to see there is another one like me.

Incidentally blanks don't really matter if you actually select the range of cells that you wish to Autofilter, verses just selecting Autofilter from the menu, they just show up as "blank" in the the Autofilter list.

With larger databases, I sometimes miss things when I try to select ranges for the filter. Most of the time I just run asterisks down one column (like the first one) and then hide the column. That keeps everthing connected.
The columns on the garden planner keeps growing because I've been adding energetics and nutritional data in with the plant variety and growing information.

garden_mermaid,

Are you using an actual database with database tables?

Interesting. Did you created the tables yourself?

It would be interesting to see how that is put together.

After my long search for software I actually considered creating my own which would have required creating my own tables.

Anyway, your setup sounds very interesting.

Harry, but can you move the little boxes around after you've tinted them, or at some other point later in the process?

I had colored them and then tried selecting everything of one color to drag it, but all I got was a dotted line that mimicked the shape of the colored area and sat a few inches above it. Not sure what that was all about but I finally got it to disappear.

And after you've copied and pasted your plant files, can you remove them to put new types of plants in the same rows?

Leslie

greenhouse_gal, I know you can do that using Layers, but I am not all that familiar with that function yet. I think you start with making a New Layer and then you can resize the rectangle and all that and can select colors in that layer. I am still learning how to use the Layer function, so what I have been doing is if I change my mind about where something while I am still editing the file, I use Undo. Otherwise, I use Cut and Copy and Paste, mostly because this was basically all that my old limited edition of Photoshop had to offer really.

wthex, I'm just using an ordinary Excel spreadsheet. If you set it up correctly, it functions as a simple database. You can use the Form view (Data>Form) to enter or retrieve data if you wish. I find the Form view easy if I'm adding a lot of new entries.
I also tend to use pivot tables a lot, so some of my data selections are in pivot table form.

Try plangarden.com

Yardwizard, we've talked about plangarden.com, but it doesn't look printable and if you stop paying your dues all of your work disappears. Do you use plangarden and do you like it? Can you take your plan outside with you to follow it? We've been looking for something with files that can reside on our computers and be there whenever we want them.

Leslie ( now trying Photoshop Elements, which I'm at least familiar with!)

Plangarden.com looks very nice from what I could see of it (my flash player is lower than version 10 and our security setup doesn't allow me to update it). The application requires an annual subscription fee and would assume ownership of my data.

I'll stick with the free spreadsheet and my privacy for now.

Elements? Interesting. Show us what you come up with.

I'm still mulling over whether I want to take the time to learn Google SketchUp or just use Office software and be done with it. I need about 20 more non-sleeping hours in the day.

Leslie, I've never used Mac but have used Gimp on Windblows and Linux. I love Wilbur! The version I have isn't the newest and there may have been some changes to moving the contents of a selection, so I will download the new one and get back to you if no one else does before. I also love broadband! Tho my purse does not :P

wthex--we have a ferret named Linus, after Linus Torvalds, but we pronounce it the English way (lye-nus) instead of Finnish (lee-noos).

OK, to move a colored box:
1. Make sure you have one layer and nothing selected (Image>Flatten Image, Select>None).
2. Choose the magic wand (top row) and click in the middle of the square you want.
3. Select Edit>Cut, then Edit>Paste. It is now a movable selection until you anchor it.
4. Click on the background of the image to anchor it.

There is a "move tool" but it seemed a bit wonky when I played with it, so this would be easier I think.

Do macs have a right mouse button now? If you want you can right click and the whole menu comes up so you don't have to keep mousing around. That's what I do, or use keyboard shortcuts.

Enjoy!
Sandy =^..^=

I haven't converted to Linux but I certainly admire it. It's made the "$100" laptop possible, which is changing lives in developing nations.

If you name your ferret Linus, you're certainly dedicated. :o)

I'll be danged, Sandy, that works! It's a bit clunky but I can move my stuff around with this! Now I don't know whether I should continue with my Photoshop Elements plan or whether I should go back to this one.

Macs do have a right mouse button now. You're right, that's easier! Thanks! How DID you figure that out?

Leslie

Okay, how do you paste multiple copies of the same image onto the page? Cutting and pasting will only allow me to place one circle or rectangle, and then I have to make and color another if I want to duplicate it. There's gotta be an easier way. Copying to the clipboard and then pasting repeatedly doesn't work, either.

This message was edited Feb 20, 2009 7:19 AM

G--G? I usually copy what I want and paste as many extras as I need at one time. If we can flatten something into one component piece on AW then all you'd need to do would be to keep picking up the pieces from the same location. (sometimes I'll take the cursor to an empty portion of my page and click once there before pasting. then every single paste lands in that general area) >>for step 3 that would be apple>paste (EDIT>paste?!)repeatedly.

Grownut, I can do that in AW, but I'm having trouble with it in GIMP. I also don't seem to be able to do it in PS Elements, but it's probably something to do with layers. I have a new version of Elements and it handles differently from my old one. Sometimes newer isn't better!

Leslie

Well dang, girl. I'm still working on gimp. Have to get the CD that came with my computer plugged in to convince it it has all it needs already. Sigh. I thought we were back at AW, sorry...:-(

The image you copy will stay on the clipboard until you copy something else. To keep pasting the same image, you first have to "anchor" the first one by clicking on the background. Then choose paste again. The newly pasted square will be on top of the last one, so you won't really see it 'til you move it.

I looked around for a photo-type garden planner so I can actually see what it will look like and came across this http://www.ideaspectrum.com/rls_photo_overview.php . It's not cheap, but I found a trial of an older version on download.com. Will report back with my findings (and maybe a picture:)

Some of my seed starting stuff got here today! Whee!

grrrlgeek -I thought about naming one of our roosters Tux. :)

indy_v - Linux will change lives here if we let it.

Linux is incredible. I read about GNU/Linux around the time it "came out". There was just an installation script that asked a bunch of cryptic questions and it would compile line after line of code. I pulled my hair out for a couple of months trying to make it work and finally did...

At that time there was not a windowing system for it, but it was in the works. When I look back at that time and now, the progress is just mind boggling.

It was, in the early days, strictly an operating system for programmers. That is just not the case anymore. The last distribution that I installed only took about 15 or 20 minutes!
I had internet access an Office suite, drawing programs internet phone software, music & movie players... The list goes on and on. The only cost was the time it took to download the installation disk, nil since we are already addicted to the Internet.

For most years that I have been using Linux, I dual booted with Windows and finally early last year decided that I didn't need Windows any more and I still don't miss it. Most of the software that I use for Work and Home is in a fairly mature state so I no longer see a need for Windows.

We have 2 laptops, mine has Ubuntu Linux my wife's has Windows Vista. We also have 4 desktop computers. 1 of them has Windows 2000 upgraded from Win98, the rest are Linux. My children all use Linux at home and Windows at school.

Sometimes my wife needs to purchase software for her teaching duties but other than that I haven't purchased any software for my own use since Windows 2000 was released. I don't miss that either :)

The photo type program only works on Windows, looks like, and I'm not sure if it lets you create a plan of the sort I'm looking for. I did figure out how to copy and paste in both GIMP and PSElements. GIMP is counterintuitive for a Mac person because cut and paste involve the control key rather than the command key, which is a Mac constant across almost all programs of that sort. The anchoring was a new concept for me, too, but I think I worked it out. I can't get the text in GIMP to rotate, though. I want to label my asparagus, raspberry and blackberry beds and have the words rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise to fit my rows, which run N to S - kind of. I am making good progress with the rest of it, though! Thanks for the help!

I looked into Linux and Red Hat years ago but figured I'd stick with the Mac system, which has a lot of Linux in it now. I didn't want to have to spend that much time understanding a new system and tweaking it. To me it felt like grinding my own pigments for oils or stretching my own canvas, and I'd rather be painting - or actually using my computer to get something accomplished.

Leslie

Hi, I've been off playing with my new toy. I ended up getting the program I was looking at, but going up to the next higher version that's actually 2 progs-1 that does the photo thing, and one that does the grid thing. We bought a couch for Valentine's Day, but it won't be here for 2 months, so I decided I needed a present now ;~> I'll attach a pic I saved in the photo program.

I had forgotten to check for a Mac version--figures that the only have a Windows version.

To rotate the text, do not flatten the image before turning it, text boxes always create their own layer and that's the easiest way to move them. It should still have a yellow and black line around it. The rotate tool is the last one on the right in the third row. After clicking on it, click in the text box. A Rotate box will come up toward the bottom of the screen. I found it easiest if you already know the angle you want to rotate, to type the number in the "Angle" box, in this case either 90 or -90 depending on which way you need it to go. When you have the angle you want, click the "Rotate" button. When you eventually flatten the image, the lines around the text will go away. You can leave all your labels in their own layers until you have them all rotated the way you want.

This is also the way you would angle a rectangle; use the magic wand or rectangular selector to select the rectangle, then use the rotate tool the same way. You can grab and turn the selection with the mouse if you don't know the exact angle you want. The Gimp will show both the old position and new until you commit by clicking rotate. If you use the rectangular selector, you can angle rectangles that already have text in them, as long as the text isn't in it's own layer anymore.

I had some trouble with the way some of the tools work too when I first starting using Gimp just because I had never used Photoshop (always used things much less complex). You may want to look at MacPorts http://www.macports.org , where they have more open source stuff for Mac, and the wilbur-loves-apple forum http://gimper.net/viewforum.php?f=19 for some Macintosh love. You're probably better off learning the windows-type commands though since OS X is a Mac interface over a Unix-type OS based system. There will unfortunately be a time when programs that already exist in a Linux version won't have the interface re-written in "Apple-ese", reducing choices even more >:~<

#start soapbox

See you're already using Linux (sort of). Linux is waayyy more user friendly than it used to be. When wthex says he installed a distribution of Linux in 15 or 20 minutes, he means that in that time he had installed an operating system and interface comparable (better IMHO) to Windblows or Mac. For free. As in freedom and as in free beer. It's a Good Thing.

#end soapbox

Keep on Gimpin'

grrrlgeek
windowing system?  we don't need no stinking windowing system!
--The Good, the Bad, and the Command Prompt




This message was edited Feb 20, 2009 11:24 PM

One of the cool thing this program does is show a "night" view. Here it is showing how the security light we're planning should look.

Sandy, that's a cool program but not what I was looking for, although I can see lots of uses for it. Nice house you have there!

I am sure that Linux is a wonderful system but having just gotten a new iMac and learned Leopard I'm sticking with this platform. I don't know anyone here who could help me with Linux....

Thanks for the info on rotating. I was flattening the images to see if that would help! Wrong wrong wrong!

Leslie

Thanks, I like it a lot, but I'd like it even more if we could use more of the ground. It's a townhouse, so we really only have a postage stamp to plant (veggies are going in containers). Yeah, the photo part isn't really useful for veg gardens, the graphing part is but doesn't come without the photo part. It's really fun to play with though.

You're quite welcome, if you have any other questions, let me know. I'll leave this in my watched threads.


we're watching (something) too!

Grrrl -I'm looking at that planting in gutters thing someone referenced in one of the recent threads. Those can hang on sides of decks above other plantings. In space no one should be using or could complain about. Wish I remembered where I saw it...

Was it this http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/949423/ ? They look way cool--gonna have to get me some of those. Let me see...I saw something else... maybe this http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/941295/ , a little ways down in the thread. I was thinking of that for putting some dwarf lettuces somewhere. If neither of those are it, maybe search the forums for "gutter". You'll probably get loads of hits though.