Kitchen Garden Forum

I remember somebody enquiring about the availablity for Software planners.
I have just come across this in the Smallholder Magazine.
Have a look and see what you think.

http://www.thevga.co.uk

I'll let somebody else try out this one. I don't see a trial version offer, without that I would be very reluctant to put my money on the line. Next step is how well the included information matches up to one's particular needs, Next consideration is can one use it on a laptop, probably, good secondhand laptops can be obtained now for £200- 300. Last but by no means least is the user going to keep inputting the relevant data, without that no electronic wizardry will be any good.
How do you find The Smallholder magazine. Every magazine I have ever seen like that has been almost totally dominated by livestock information, has that changed over the years?
Allan

Hi,

I bought this 16 months ago, and found it very easy to use, but required a bit of try and see if this works, as the instructions weren't too good.

I only got as far as planning what I wanted to grow and found a problem with the software, I enquired about this and was told that a new version was then available which had sorted out the software gliches, so I reloaded the new software (for free) and started again. However I still had a problem, in that any crops I put into the planner would take up the top lines and eventually filled the sceen and I could not scoll further to plan more than approx 20 crops. I gave up having neither the inclination or time (once April arrived) to sit at the computer all day trying to sort it out and resorted to pencil and paper!

I have since loaded another updated version (again free) but have not looked at this yet, so can not comment. Probably a project for the winter.

Hi Viv,
It says in the advert New Version 1.4: so I assume that it is their fourth attempt at getting it right.
I think you are very wise to resort to pen and paper.
I must say now that I would not buy it but I merely put the information on forum for those who had enquired before.

The Smallholder Magazine can be bought in Borders bookshop. I think it costs around £3 per month.

Johnboy

Thanks for the link. I've checked it out and decided that my garden plan and notes system using the cheapeat exercise book I can find is still the best solution for me. I keep the books in a folder along with select press cuttings and printouts from the forum - easy to access and no problems when I need to change my computer. But if someone could design a system that would make this process of recording and planning easier at a reasonable cost I might be interested.

Chris

Hi - I have used a spreadsheet to set up my veg beds. Nothing complicated but does the job for me. You could even get open source software to use instead of buying a spreadsheet package.

Open Office http://www.openoffice.org/product/calc.html

My plot plan [url]http://homepage.ntlworld.com/lisabow/allotment/seed%20list.doc[/url[/url]

There is a free spreadsheet in the software supplied with every computer that has Windows ME. Look in Word or Works. It isn't identical with Exmon that used to be the Feeebie with Windows '98 but it is compatible.Buying Exmon now seperately would cost you a fortune. Why buy software to do the same job. I have my seed list on it now, very versatile once you get to know all about it. You might be better off spending money on a tutorial for that rather than a dedicated package. Of course no software is any good without the understanding of how to get the best out of it which is going to take time and perseverence.