What Garden Software?
 

Hi,
My name is Ken, and I have been on this group for a few years but have
seldom posted.
I am located in the PNW marine zone 8 or 9 depending upon whom you ask.
This year my health finally deteriorated to the point where I am no longer
able to follow my chosen career (seaman) so I will be spending much more
time gardening.
As a youngster my family grew all of our family's vegetables for the year
and canned them. I am hoping to return to that practice.
I am currently fencing in an area roughly 60' X 200' and doing a fall
tilling, (unfortunately my Gravley needs attention, but that is another
issue).
What I would like now is some garden software to help design a garden,
taking into account such things as companion planting, and calculate the
necessary planting required for probable yield.
I would also like to more or less follow organic procedures.
To that end all software suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance, Ken.




--
All incoming and outgoing mail scanned using Norton Anti Virus, by the
shores of beautiful Puget Sound.

Hi Ken:

Here is a good place to start:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...=Google+Search

Bill

Kenneth D. Schillinger wrote:

Hi,
My name is Ken, and I have been on this group for a few years but have
seldom posted.
I am located in the PNW marine zone 8 or 9 depending upon whom you ask.
This year my health finally deteriorated to the point where I am no longer
able to follow my chosen career (seaman) so I will be spending much more
time gardening.
As a youngster my family grew all of our family's vegetables for the year
and canned them. I am hoping to return to that practice.
I am currently fencing in an area roughly 60' X 200' and doing a fall
tilling, (unfortunately my Gravley needs attention, but that is another
issue).
What I would like now is some garden software to help design a garden,
taking into account such things as companion planting, and calculate the
necessary planting required for probable yield.
I would also like to more or less follow organic procedures.
To that end all software suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance, Ken.

Thanks for the idea Bill.
I had searched VIA Google already, but was hoping someone would post about a
program that had used and were satisfied with.
Best, Ken.

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All incoming and outgoing mail scanned using Norton Anti Virus, by the
shores of beautiful Puget Sound.
"Bill" wrote in message
news:02W8d.341963$Fg5.54980@attbi_s53...
Hi Ken:

Here is a good place to start:


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...=Google+Search

Bill

In article ,
"Kenneth D. Schillinger" wrote:

My suggestion is not about software but a different technique. Take a
look at squarefootgardening.com it may be easier for you if you have
physical limitations. A 60' x 200' garden sounds like a backbreaker to
me. I'm into sq. ft. gardening, it's great.

--
SteveO

In article ,
"Kenneth D. Schillinger" wrote:

My suggestion is not about software but a different technique. Take a
look at squarefootgardening.com it may be easier for you if you have
physical limitations. A 60' x 200' garden sounds like a backbreaker to
me. I'm into sq. ft. gardening, it's great.

--
SteveO

I agree, Square Foot Gardening is great; it's just not where I am heading at
this time.
Thanks, Ken.

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All incoming and outgoing mail scanned using Norton Anti Virus, by the
shores of beautiful Puget Sound.
"The Guy" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Kenneth D. Schillinger" wrote:

My suggestion is not about software but a different technique. Take a
look at squarefootgardening.com it may be easier for you if you have
physical limitations. A 60' x 200' garden sounds like a backbreaker to
me. I'm into sq. ft. gardening, it's great.

--
SteveO

On Wed, 6 Oct 2004 07:05:00 -0700, "Kenneth D. Schillinger"
wrote:


I am currently fencing in an area roughly 60' X 200' and doing a fall
tilling, (unfortunately my Gravley needs attention, but that is another
issue).
What I would like now is some garden software to help design a garden,
taking into account such things as companion planting, and calculate the
necessary planting required for probable yield.

The general concensus is that there is no home garden planning or
design software worthy of recommendation. This kind of request usually
produces the "get some graph paper" answer. You are your own best
judge of how much and what you'd like to grow. Any good gardening
reference will give you ideas of how much space, water, and light the
plants will need. Don't forget to leave space for you to work in.

Frogleg wrote in
:

On Wed, 6 Oct 2004 07:05:00 -0700, "Kenneth D. Schillinger"
wrote:


I am currently fencing in an area roughly 60' X 200' and doing a fall
tilling, (unfortunately my Gravley needs attention, but that is another
issue).
What I would like now is some garden software to help design a garden,
taking into account such things as companion planting, and calculate the
necessary planting required for probable yield.

The general concensus is that there is no home garden planning or
design software worthy of recommendation. This kind of request usually
produces the "get some graph paper" answer. You are your own best
judge of how much and what you'd like to grow. Any good gardening
reference will give you ideas of how much space, water, and light the
plants will need. Don't forget to leave space for you to work in.


Any chance of talking to your county ag agent, or a local gardening club?
Local recommendations might be helpful to somebody either starting out, or
moving to a different scale than that with which they are familiar.

Patriarch,
grower of way too many cherry tomatoes...

A few years ago I looked around the software market and found it lacking;
looks like things haven't changed a lot in the interim.
Ken.

--
All incoming and outgoing mail scanned using Norton Anti Virus, by the
shores of beautiful Puget Sound.
"Bob S." wrote in message
om...
Frogleg wrote in message
. ..
On Wed, 6 Oct 2004 07:05:00 -0700, "Kenneth D. Schillinger"
wrote:


I am currently fencing in an area roughly 60' X 200' and doing a fall
tilling, (unfortunately my Gravley needs attention, but that is another
issue).
What I would like now is some garden software to help design a garden,
taking into account such things as companion planting, and calculate
the
necessary planting required for probable yield.

The general concensus is that there is no home garden planning or
design software worthy of recommendation. This kind of request usually
produces the "get some graph paper" answer. You are your own best
judge of how much and what you'd like to grow. Any good gardening
reference will give you ideas of how much space, water, and light the
plants will need. Don't forget to leave space for you to work in.

I agree with that statement. I looked into several software programs
and even bought a few. All were almost worthless. It's better to talk
to gardeners in your area to see what grows & what doesn't, then plant
as you see best. It sounds like you already know the basics.

Bob S.

A few years ago I looked around the software market and found it lacking;
looks like things haven't changed a lot in the interim.
Ken.

--
All incoming and outgoing mail scanned using Norton Anti Virus, by the
shores of beautiful Puget Sound.
"Bob S." wrote in message
om...
Frogleg wrote in message
. ..
On Wed, 6 Oct 2004 07:05:00 -0700, "Kenneth D. Schillinger"
wrote:


I am currently fencing in an area roughly 60' X 200' and doing a fall
tilling, (unfortunately my Gravley needs attention, but that is another
issue).
What I would like now is some garden software to help design a garden,
taking into account such things as companion planting, and calculate
the
necessary planting required for probable yield.

The general concensus is that there is no home garden planning or
design software worthy of recommendation. This kind of request usually
produces the "get some graph paper" answer. You are your own best
judge of how much and what you'd like to grow. Any good gardening
reference will give you ideas of how much space, water, and light the
plants will need. Don't forget to leave space for you to work in.

I agree with that statement. I looked into several software programs
and even bought a few. All were almost worthless. It's better to talk
to gardeners in your area to see what grows & what doesn't, then plant
as you see best. It sounds like you already know the basics.

Bob S.

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 19:46:24 -0700, "Kenneth D. Schillinger"
wrote:

A few years ago I looked around the software market and found it lacking;
looks like things haven't changed a lot in the interim.

Consider the scope: to be even moderately useful, software would have
to include a huge plant database and a considerable range of
climatological data. When people ask "how many tomatoes should I plant
for a family of 4," my first response is "how well does your family
like tomatoes? Do you plan to can or dehydrate what you can't use at
once?" And of course, the proper number of zucchini plants per person
is 1/2.

Gardening is a vast topic with many variables. No wonder there aren't
any simple solutions.

One thing you *can* do is keep your own records. What does well and
where; what you particularly like or don't; what's more trouble than
it's worth, etc. A plain notebook with planting dates, varieties,
yields, etc. will become more and more useful as time goes by.