Plan of your plot in MS Word

[kenkew]

I don't know how many times I've sat down with paper, pencil and ruler drawing my plot to scale ( well, close to scale ). Had a mind blowing bout of common sense just now. Went into MS Word, opened up 'view' then 'taskbars' then 'drawing'. Clicked on the rectangle option and drew all my 'plot lots' near enough to scale simply putting rectangles inside rectangles. I numbered the seperate plots using Word and as I plant something I just write it in.
Best part is, once you have a basic layout on file, you can print out as many copies as you want. Great for planning and as a record of crop rotation.
Boom Boom

[kenkew]

[wardy]

Ooh you clever dick  ;D    I'll have a go at that.  Mine will be dead easy as I only have one bed at the mo.  Mind you I expect that I will have forgotten by this time next year what was in it!   ;)

I had thought of making a photo record of what I'd planted where cos I can't draw for nuts.  But doing the plan in Word sounds a doddle.

Ta

Wardy

[kenkew]

Plan of my plot for this year.

[Roy Bham UK]

 8) That is cool Ken  8) Might try my hand at it too, many thanks ;)

[Svea]

i am using excel for the same kind of excercise ;)
as is moggle, i believe

[NattyEm]

and me with Excel though no where near as detailed as moggle's!

[Roy Bham UK]

I still can't open Moggles :-[ :-\ :'( :(

[wivvles]

I had my daughter measure the whole allotment on Saturday, then she knocked in wooden pegs at metre intervals around the perimeter for reference purposes.

I then used Excel to make a plan, setting up square cells and using autoshapes to draw rectangles for the individual beds (and circles to show location of water butts etc)

Needless to say, I have altered my plan several times already...

[Moggle]

Yep, I have used excel, and tried to make it sort-of to scale and made cells square, and made one square=10cm on the plot.

Roy, I can always try to scan it and email it that way  :D

Wivvles, the wooden pegs idea is a great one!

[Roy Bham UK]

Roy, I can always try to scan it and email it that way  :D

Yes ok if you don't mind Megan 8) ;)

[GardnerJ]

you all sound sooo clever!
i tried using excel but it looked scary so i just had to use pen and paper in the end!
Jemma xxx

[Mrs Ava]

Plan!  I keep thinking what a great idea, and then I buy another packet of seeds or get given some more unusual beans to try, and say, to hell with a plan.  Maybe next year.  :-\

[Roy Bham UK]

I've just printed off some graph paper and drawn up a plan (well stole it off the the Organic Gardening book) ::) and drawn it to scale and discovered I could at a pinch get three of these rotating patches, I'm still tempted to give it a go but feel I may finish up saying like Emma...to hell with it maybe next year ;D ;D

[Moggle]

Jemma, I spend all day in front of a PC and a lot of most evenings, and usually have to be surgically detatched from it  :D I don't write anything down unless I HAVE to  ;D

EJ I am a mad advance planner, and it was something to do when I was ultra-keen and couldn't be digging or sowing.

Roy, I like the look of your plan, looks like it has plenty of room for the important permanent things like Raspberries, and Strawberries, and Asparagus  ;D (Permanent stuff goes in the middle?)

[Garden Manager]

I have done a similar thing in Excel. My garden veg plotis made up of identical sized raised beds so I just outlined the appropriate number of cells to give me a plan of the beds.

I have used this to plan my crop rotationbased on past plantings in the beds.

[Svea]

moggle, i am the exact same :D
hence the excel spreadsheet and the incessant planning - though i am flexible enough if something doesnt go to plan - we will revert to plan B,C,D etc then ;)

svea

[carrot-cruncher]

I "borrowed" my dad & got him to help me measure my plot so I could then draw up a plan.

I've used MS excel. I would post it but still haven't got to grips with posting attachments.

Basically my beds will be 12 foot long & 4 foot wide, with three foot paths between.   There'll be 24 beds but only 8 in use at any time, one lot of eight will be resting & the final lot of 8 will be undergoing improvement (adding organic matter, green manure etc).

What I found when I started knocking in corner posts for my beds is that the whole plot quickly became a lot more managable in my head.   

CC

[Garden Manager]

moggle, i am the exact same :D
hence the excel spreadsheet and the incessant planning - though i am flexible enough if something doesnt go to plan - we will revert to plan B,C,D etc then ;)

svea

Tell me about it!  Spent ages filling out the plan for this year - in the certain knowledge it will NOT work out like that!  ::)

In fact the original plan has already been revised a few times and in the light of the current 'late winter' may need revising again!

[diver]

please can someone help, I have windows xp home version and I went into microsoft works and then word but I couldn't see taskbar, obviously I am doing it wrong bu I am not really computer literate. I would love to plan my plot on the pc but don't know where to start. Is there anyone out there prepared to give very simple ( ie idiot's style) instuctions, please....

[wardy]

You could use microsoft word and then make a table (with the tables facility) where each box of the table would represent a bed.  Or you could use an Excel spreadsheet grid to help you.  You don't even have to have a plan at all, let alone on the computer.  Mine's on the back of a f*g packet  ;D


Ooh this forum is very picky - it won't let me type the word f*g.  I shall have to write cigarette  ;)