GARDENING : Cultivate Habit of Keeping Records
A month-by-month record is good insurance against gardening mistakes. It needn’t be elaborate. But keep records--a notebook works fine--that show what you did and when.
Then compare this with the results and adjust as needed.
Chronicle the triumphs, mistakes and possible improvements so you know what worked last season or needs to be changed.
But keep in mind that gardening should be relaxing and enjoyable. If things become work, it’s time to re-evaluate.
Since computers are second nature in writing, I rely on a simple database. On the first of each month I print out things to do, based on previous experience in the subtropical, desert Southwest, where I garden.
For years, I used a dozen 10-by-12-inch envelopes, labeled by the month, to accumulate notes. Things like: The Queen Sophia marigolds started in April did better than those started later. Placed in the April envelope, this was a reminder the following April to plant Queen Sophia seeds as soon as possible.
My computer printout also becomes a checklist while moving around the landscape. For example, February is our prime month for most fertilizing.
So the February list will have detailed fertilizing instructions for nearly every plant, such as: Scatter five pounds of ammonium sulfate under all mature citrus trees except grapefruit, which get half that.
I load the fertilizer bags into a wheelbarrow and roll to each plant in the landscape, checking the printout for what’s needed.
Such a system probably is overkill, but it gives me assurance that past experience is applied to current gardening.
When asked, the program also will say what vegetables or flowers must be planted in a certain month; recommend annuals that produce yellow flowers no taller than 24 inches, or remind that some Valencia oranges should be ready for harvesting late in February.
Everything is based on what’s happened in my garden.
Too elaborate? Sure. A loose-leaf notebook--or the old envelope system--would do as well. But I find it easier than the alternatives.
Don’t let the idea of a database scare you. There is just one form to handle at a time, with blanks to fill in for things such as plant name, date planted, date of first bloom, date of first harvest, assessment of merit, colors, exposure, location, culture tips, etc.
While the form has space for about 50 entries, rarely are more than a dozen filled for any plant.
Each weekend, scratch-paper notes are entered onto the applicable form. So updating becomes routine.
Several commercial programs are available for gardening with computers.
Some are quite detailed. I’ve seen one that keeps track of available space in the garden; suggests planting and harvesting dates for the crops you want in it; estimates seeds needed; tells how to thin resulting plants and provides a record of when an insect pest first was sighted each year.
Others focus on when to plant flowers and will suggest color combinations, eliminating guesswork.
My first attempt at a database limited the space for an individual entry, which was a mistake. Make sure yours allows a sentence to expand (wrap to the next line) and allows changes in the number of predetermined characters.
