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By Kelly Wood
pic by Rhoda Peacher
I am a list - maker — I include it .
I get a little compulsive , sometimes ingest to make inclination of my lists , just to keep myself straight . I like the face of a list — it stages what you want or require to do in a prissy , tidy , well-situated - to - read way .
I really like to cross affair off of lists as I finish them . I ’ve been known to drop a line something on my tilt after it ’s completed , just so I can have the gratification of scotch it off . ( My husband caught me doing it the other Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . ) I get a nice sense of achievement pick up it at the end of a long , wearying day .
I use charts and lists for almost everything on my farm .
It lay aside my sanity , especially in the spring and former summertime , when thetiming of planting , harden off , transplantingandprotectingis of farthermost importance .
They ’re also life-sustaining in fall when I ’m so preoccupied with harvesting and preserving that it ’s easy to blank out about plant for the cool seasons .
If I had employees , I would start them off with a chart of what needs to be done and trust on that to be their manager for much of the fourth dimension .
Phenological Signs
source : The Old Farmer ’s Almanac , University of Wisconsin Extension
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These days , gardener and granger can prefer from several options to help schedule the study and jobsthat must be handle .
Whether you prefer estimator syllabus or literal paper forms fasten to a clipboard , send on a wall or drop away into your pocket , there are way to machinate yourgarden provision dutiesinto a format that will work for you and , more significantly , get you into your garden faster .
Phenological SignsYears ago , before paper was easy obtained and computers were nonexistent , people used the sign of nature to let them have sex it was sentence to found their annual edibles .
This is called phenological planning , and it was a mainstay of the annualOld Farmer ’s Almanac .
masses sometimes chalk these up as “ old wives tarradiddle , ” such as , “ When the white oak folio are the size of it of a black eye ’s ear , it ’s fourth dimension to institute corn . ” ( See “ Phenological Signs ” for more . )
However , I feel some of them to be useful herald of what the weather is going to do . I stay convinced that the animals and plants can better smell out natural timing than humans can , and it behooves us to take our cues from them .
I began to practise phenological planting several years ago — I have cornel , forsythia , daffodils and lilacs spread around to act as indicators . The dandelions are there , too , but not by choice .
Nature ’s lunar planting method acting dictates that the moon ’s gravitative pull has an effect on certain part of a plant and can benefit its germination and growth .
I have a friend who religiously uses her “ Planting by the Moon Calendar . ” It differentiate what solar day are best for seeding , direct planting or transplanting . It also reassure her that there are sure days that are n’t optimal , thus assuaging her guilt about not doing any garden piece of work .
Computer ProgramsWith so many programs for our computers these days , any software storehouse near you should hold garden - preparation software .
I have an Old program call Sprout , which allows me to make a view of my garden and then “ plant ” it on screen . When it ’s all implant , you could print write up , such as a shopping listing of seed quantity to take along to the nursery or a calendar of when to imbed and when to expect harvest , all based on your planting architectural plan .
This year , I shared in a computer reminder system of rules .
A friend put all the dates that she had for plant sure harvest into a basic computer calendar program . She asked several other gardeners to write her for one class with the escort that they institute their crop , and she recorded those , too . The calendar program pops up a reminder when certain thing call for to be done — you may even program it to send you an e - ring armour alert . This is a great method for people who use their computers day by day .
daybook and DiariesI’m skilful at keeping records of some affair but fall inadequate on details of others .
I operate right with boxful that can be replete in with concrete value . For those of the same judgement , A Gardener ’s Journalpublished by Lee Valley is slap-up — a 10 - year perpetual journal , it provides areas to record planting details such as temperatures and weather , and there are five or six lines to jot other details .
You ’re able to look back easy over the premature year and see what was happening on your farm at that same time .
When you use garden journals , it ’s great to record mundane particular .
I used it to register when sure trees start to bloom over the last few year , assist me organize phenological planning .
By recording things that are otherwise commonplace , you might be give yourself clues down the road for pattern you did n’t know existed . Some of those details might not be as dull as you think at the meter — it ’s fun to look back and read about what was croak on in our life back then .
Specialty ChartsI made a exceptional magnetic chart to do my crop rotations — I got a piece of furnace sail metallic element at the ironware store and sheet magnet from TAP Plastics .
I expend several 24-hour interval each summer with a pile of Word of God on companion planting , germination techniques , cover cropping and my magnetic board , moving things around , look up to retiring plans and face up right fellow traveller and things to avoid combining .
I chart it all out on the board , and then , when I ’m sure , I save it ( in pencil ) on a paper sheet that has a schematic of my garden on it .
An elaborate poster I catch for Christmas details all the entropy you ’d require to know about rise annual produce in one big picture . It come laminate , and I put grommet at each corner so I can move it seasonally from my industrial plant - way bulwark in the winter and spring to the paries of my shed in the summer and gloam .
Homemade ChartsThe plain volume of daily details can make body of work on a farm overwhelming . I often see myself en itinerary to one labor getting waylaid by another , whole forgetting what I was doing in the first berth , only to fare upon the tool , detritus and half - done job 60 minutes later . I need specific chart and lists to keep my bearings .
I use Microsoft Excel to make my own charts and put them into a nice , tidy signifier , including columns for the date and crops . I portion geometric columns and course for whatever information I think I ’ll want .
On my minuscule farm :
My Seed Planting ChartsI recently composed a chart for seed planting that hasspaces for particular date , character of seed , approximateamount , bedthey were planted in , spacingif necessary , and a farseeing line for “ sprouting or emergence details . ” I salt away the chart on the refrigerator door where I keep my source .
Every time I put away a seed packet , I see the chart and forthwith write down the details before I leave . I like to have clipboard charts in my garden shed to fill in as I go .
I havetwo different “ what - to - plant - when ” chart . They ’re laminated , and I and keep them near thegarden : 1 ) bytwo - week incrementsand 2 ) ageneral guide for each calendar month .
The lamination protect them and can be written on with a wax pencil . Anything that will be changed or supervene upon , like the paper transcript of my magnetic board architectural plan , father a rag protector with the open side down . That way I can clip it on my fencing for reference , hold on out the rainwater , but still make change and amendment as the time of year pass on .
Keep Paper and Pencil HandyIf I do n’t have my individual chart with me , I discover it help to have a piece of paper and pencil .
At my best , I carry a belittled tablet with me in my overalls or alongside my shaft in my barrow . Sometimes I ’ll scribble something on a receipt I find in my sack . This is a problem when I give the drier and ascertain shards of a list mix in the lint trap . I vex for days about what I had written and am now block .
rule of thumb for Chart Use
1 ) Always write in pencil . It does n’t melt down in the rain , and it can be erased ; not that it would have to be — some fact ca n’t be changed .
It was indeed tomato plant that I picked , but as before long as I ’ve written down that I fuck off 23 pounds of Lemon Boy , I can be guarantee that it either was n’t Lemon Boy or that my husband beak four additional pounds and took them to the kitchen for dinner party .
It ’s no big tidy sum to baffle out details , but when it fall to the closing of the year and I ’m trying to fit up how many pounds were yielded for the amount of source I planted , I ’m happy to have it well readable .
2 ) Keep the chart visible in your piece of work country . If you put it in a folder or tuck it into a draftsman or shelf , it plausibly wo n’t be used . I even attach a pencil on a drawing string to some charts so it ’s there when I need to make short letter .
3 ) Check your chart often , or make using them a part of your turn . If a chart secern you when to imbed semen in the spring and you only look at it every three or four weeks , you ’ll lack some important dates . If it ’s a chart that need to be fill in for your records , verify using it is part of the routine . I land out my weight chart every metre I bring out my graduated table .
4 ) Make the record interesting — make them appeal to you so you ’ll want to utilise them .
I made a notebook with tabs for each harvest I spring up . alternatively of writing the name , I pull out a tiny picture of the veg itself . If you do n’t like the appearance of the chart , you ’re not move to use it . The important affair is to regain the method that works for you .
All of this record keeping serves to help me as a humble business owner outside of a typical office surround .
If it were needed , I have an elaborated paper lead for all of what I ’ve done for the last seven years . In any business setting , that can be invaluable ; although , I sometimes finger a piddling deluge with chart and clipboards and get tired of carry a invariant lean .
I bid I had the brain that my husband has , being able-bodied to remember things reliably and pronto , but I ’m well trouble , and there are so many details on a farm , I ca n’t keep them all straight without my reference materials .
I care getting e - mail planting update ; they convey my garden work to the forefront of my mind — until I get aside from the computing gadget , go below and see the dishes that still ask to be cleaned up — and find my packet of seeds from last week on my desk , and put it by the back door where my garden clog live .
perhaps I ’ll just start a list of what needs to be implant . I ’ll go get newspaper publisher from my desk drawer — oh , there ’s that box of clobber that needs to go to the cellar . And while I ’m down there I ’ll assure the washing . I think I heard the automatic washer toot …
