I am making a web application where people can create journals about their vegetable garden or flower garden. The information that these journals include can then be used by others who live nearby (it works with GPS).
These are the things i have right now:
Time until harvest, sow time, sprouting date, harvest date
Anyone else know of something i could include?
Thank you
I'd include somewhere to enter weather information other than the notes section - could track rainfall (per event, per time period), drought conditions, major weather events (storms with heavy rain, hail, strong winds - all of which can devastate a vegetable garden), last/late spring frost, first frost.
Also a pest section - insect, plant(s) affected, how the person treated (or did not treat); fungus, plant(s) affected, how the person treated (or did not treat). Same for birds and small mammals (children?)
It may be helpful to have a place to record where the seeds (or seedlings) where purchased and price paid.
If you're going to include flower gardens, then you could put in things like: plants acquired/where purchased/hardiness zones, along with the usual varietal information. You could also have a place to record plants that died/did poorly and those that did well. I think the place purchased could be very helpful since this is a local app.
What a great idea! You could include a notes section. For instance, it may be helpful for someone about to plant squash to know that the neighbor down the street had success in the native soil with BonBon but not with Gold Rush. Maybe a section on critters as well?
I would have two "journals". One about the plants, and one (which I think it maybe more important) about the work I do. Sow will be on both, but I'll do watering and a lot of other works. I would like to know how much work I put for my tomatoes, and as a reminder for the next year.
For me, checking what I did on previous years, is the most important thing. More than what the people which live near me are doing now. (but what they did in the past, and what plant they successfully sow is important).
I recently began putting my seed packet envelopes in a three ring binder using the same plastic sheets others store baseball cards in. This way I don't have to waste time writing down information that has already been recorded. In addition if a certain seed from a certain catalogue works better than another I have the specs right at my finger tips. I also have them organized by plant type, brassicas; cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel's sprouts together, flowers together, squash together etc.
What I plan on recording is what I plant in each bed this season. That way I can avoid over planting one crop in a bed. I will also record planting dates and temperatures. I am right on the line of zone 4 and 5 in Maine and our springs can be wildly unpredictable. It will be nice to have my own weather data that is sight specific and not general like you will find through the national weather service. I hope this helps.
Good Luck!
