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- The Seed Program (tm)
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- Version 1.1
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- Michael Wolter
- 4271 Carlisle Rd.
- Gardners PA, 17324
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- Copyright (c) 1995 by Michael Wolter
- All rights reserved
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- Copyright and Disclaimer
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- The Seed Program is copyrighted 1995 by Michael Wolter. All
- rights reserved. It is not public domain nor free software.
- Non-registered users are granted a limited license to use this
- product on a trial basis. If you intend to use The Seed Program
- on a regular basis, you are expected to register. For information
- on registration, refer to Appendix A in this manual or the
- ORDER.FRM file on disk.
-
- A registered user is granted a single-user license to use
- this program on any one machine at any one time. A registered
- user is permitted to make a copy of the program for backup
- purposes only. Distribution of the registered version of the
- program is not permitted under any conditions. The shareware or
- evaluation version of the program may be copied and distributed
- without restriction as long as all the original files are
- included and are not modified in any way.
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- Trial Users of The Seed Program must accept this disclaimer of
- warranty:
- The Shareware evaluation (trial use) version is provided AS
- IS. The author makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or
- implied, including without limitation, any warranties of
- merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.
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- Registered Users of The Seed Program must accept this
- disclaimer of warranty:
- The author warrants the physical disk(s) provided with
- registered versions to be free of defects in materials and
- workmanship for a period of ninety days from the date of
- registration. If the author receives notification within the
- warranty period of defects in materials or workmanship, and such
- notification is determined by the author to be correct, the
- author will replace the defective disk(s).
- The entire and exclusive liability and remedy for breach of
- this Limited Warranty shall be limited to replacement of
- defective diskette(s) and shall not include or extend to any
- claim for or right to recover any other damages, including
- not limited to, loss of profit, data, or use of the software, or
- special, incidental, or consequential damages or other similar
- claims, even if the author has been specifically advised of the
- possibility of such damages. In no event will the author's
- liability for any damages to you or any other person ever exceed
- the lower of suggested list price or actual price paid for the
- license to use the software, regardless of any form of the claim.
- The author specifically disclaims all other warranties,
- express or implied, including but not limited to, any implied
- warranty of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular
- purpose.
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- 1. Introduction .............................................. 1
- 1.1 Program Description ................................ 1
- 1.2 Differences Between the Evaluation and Registered
- Versions .......................................... 1
- 1.3 System Requirements ................................ 1
- 1.4 Installing the Program .............................. 2
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- 2. Using The Seed Program .................................... 3
- 2.1 Fields and Records .................................. 3
- 2.2 Crop Records and Seed Records ...................... 3
- 2.3 Setting the Frost Dates ............................ 3
- 2.4 Starting a New Year ................................ 3
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- 3. Components of the Program ................................ 5
- 3.1 Menus and List Boxes ................................ 5
- 3.2 Function Keys and Online Help ...................... 5
- 3.3 Entering New Seed Records .......................... 6
- 3.4 Modify Existing Seeds .............................. 6
- 3.5 View Growing Hints .................................. 6
- 3.6 Planting Schedule .................................. 7
- 3.7 Inventory Report .................................... 8
- 3.8 Exiting From Seeds .................................. 9
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- 4. Setup Program Options .................................... 9
- 4.1 Entering Frost Dates ................................ 9
- 4.2 Program Settings ................................... 10
- 4.3 Packing the Seeds Database ......................... 10
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- 5. The Seed Data Entry Screen ............................... 10
- 5.1 Crop Name ......................................... 11
- 5.2 Variety Name ....................................... 11
- 5.3 Seed Source ....................................... 11
- 5.4 Number of Seeds ................................... 11
- 5.5 Reorder Amount ..................................... 11
- 5.6 Year Packed For ................................... 12
- 5.7 Planting Times ..................................... 12
- 5.8 Growing Hints ..................................... 13
- 5.9 Edit Notes ......................................... 13
- 5.10 Days to Germinate ................................. 14
- 5.11 Days to Maturity ................................. 14
- 5.12 Plant Spacing - In Row ........................... 15
- 5.13 Plant Spacing - After Thinning ................... 15
- 5.14 Plant Spacing - Between Rows ..................... 15
- 5.15 Plant Spacing - Intensive Spacing ................. 15
- 5.16 Planting Depth ................................... 16
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- 6. Contacting the Author ................................... 17
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- 7. Registering the Program ................................. 17
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- Appendix A: Seed Program Registration Form ................. 18
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- 1. Introduction
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- 1.1 Program Description
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- The Seed Program is a database system for garden seeds. Use
- it to help organize your seeds -- keep track of what seeds you
- have purchased, where they are from, how old they are or what
- seeds you need to buy. The program will print a planting
- schedule for the seeds you have entered, so you know exactly when
- and how to plant all of your seeds. The database includes
- extensive information for a wide variety of vegetable and herb
- seeds. Available information includes proper planting procedure,
- care for the crop, organic methods of combating pests and
- diseases, and the proper harvest and storage of the crop. The
- Seed Program can also serve as a garden journal for you to enter
- notes about your experiences with specific varieties of garden
- crops. In addition to the planting schedule, a variety of
- reports are available to allow you to access the information
- supplied with the program or the information that you enter. In
- general, reports can be displayed on the screen, sent to your
- printer or sent to a file on disk. The Seed Program is designed
- to be easy to use, for gardeners with any level of computer
- experience. Context sensitive help is available throughout the
- program.
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- 1.2 Differences Between the Evaluation and Registered Versions
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- Registered users of The Seed Program receive an upgrade to
- the latest version of the program that includes the full crop
- information database. The evaluation version contains only a
- subset of crop information. The registered version also features
- the ability to modify the crop information database directly, so
- that changes will be reflected in any new seed records that are
- created. Entirely new crop records can also be created by users
- of the registered version. The registered version of The Seed
- Program does not display the registration screen that is shown
- for several seconds as the user exits from the evaluation
- version. When the registered version of the program is purchased
- and installed, no information that has already been entered in
- the evaluation version is overwritten. Any seed information that
- has already been entered is preserved exactly as it is.
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- 1.3 System Requirements
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- The Seed Program requires approximately 350K of available
- memory and MS-DOS version 3.1 or higher to run. Because of the
- large number of program, data and index files that the program
- must have open to run properly, the program requires that the
- "files" setting in the config.sys file be set to 32 or higher.
- To check your "files" setting, use the following MS-DOS command:
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- type \config.sys
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- If your system does not have a config.sys file, you may
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- copy con \config.sys
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- <Control-Z>
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- (Note: "<Control-Z>" is entered by holding down the <Ctrl>
- key and pressing the letter "Z" then releasing both keys and
- pressing <Return>.)
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- You may also use "Edit" or your favorite text editor to
- create or modify your config.sys file.
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- 1.4 Installing the Program
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- It is recommended that you place all files for The Seed
- Program in a "C:\SEED" directory, or some other unique
- subdirectory on your hard disk. Consult your MS-DOS manual for
- instructions on creating subdirectories. Files in ".ZIP" or
- other archive files should be extracted using the proper utility
- program. Use the "cd" command to set your default directory to
- "\seed" or wherever you installed the Seed Program files:
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- cd \seed
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- The program should then be run by typing "seed" to execute
- the "seed.bat" file:
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- seed
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- 2. Using The Seed Program
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- 2.1 Fields and Records
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- In explaining the use of The Seed Program in this
- documentation, two general database terms are widely used:
- "fields" and "records". A field is a single piece of information
- stored in a standard way. The planting depth of a seed,
- represented as a number of inches, is a piece of information that
- the program stores for every crop in the database. This value is
- an example of a field. A record is made up of a collection of
- fields. A seed information record contains a number of different
- fields, including variety name, seed source, year purchased and
- many more.
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- 2.2 Crop Records and Seed Records
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- The Seed Program's database is divided into two types of
- database records. Crop Information records contain general
- information on a type of garden crop, such as beans or tomatoes.
- The program comes with this information already in place for a
- variety of different garden crops. Seed records contain
- information on a particular seed variety that the user has
- purchased and entered in the program. Seed varieties such as
- "Brandywine Tomatoes" or "Dragon Lingerie Beans" are examples of
- possible seed records. When first installed, the program
- contains no seed records, since there is no way to know what
- particular seed varieties the user has purchased. When you enter
- a new seed packet into the program, most of the information from
- the crop information database is copied from the crop information
- database to the seed record. The "growing hints" (text
- information relating to the crop) is not copied into the seed
- record in order to conserve disk space, but all other information
- is copied to the seed record and may be modified without changing
- the original crop information record.
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- 2.3 Setting the Frost Dates
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- One of the first things you should do when starting to use
- The Seed Program is to set the correct last and first frost dates
- for your particular area. See the section called "Entering Frost
- Dates" below for detailed instructions. The program is shipped
- with the proper frost dates for the author's home in South
- Central Pennsylvania, but your region's dates will probably be
- different.
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- 2.4 Starting a New Year
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- The Seed Program will automatically check the system date
- when the program is started, and will detect when the current
- year is different from the years associated with the planting
- dates in its database. When the year changes, the program will
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- prompt you for whether you want to update the seed planting dates
- for the new calendar year. You may select "yes" to make the
- changes or "no" to postpone the planting date update. It is
- helpful to make sure that the MS-DOS system date is set
- accurately.
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- 3. Components of the Program
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- 3.1 Menus and List Boxes
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- The Seed Program is menu oriented and designed to be easy to
- use. The main menu is displayed when the program is first run.
- Most of the major tasks that the program can perform are
- displayed on this menu. Use the up and down cursor arrow keys to
- select one of the commands from this menu. The selected command
- is highlighted. A line of text at the bottom of the screen gives
- a more detailed description of the function that is performed by
- the selected command. Press the <Return> key to execute the
- selected option. As a shortcut, you may also press the first
- letter of a menu command to execute that command. Pressing the
- <End> key on the PC keyboard (usually above the cursor arrow
- keys) will take you immediately to the last command in the menu.
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- The "Setup Program" option on the main menu displays a sub-
- menu with a set of program options. This menu works in the same
- way. This sub-menu contains the option to select a color or
- monochrome monitor and contains the option for setting your local
- last frost and first frost dates. These dates are essential for
- the program to be able to print a planting schedule that is
- tailored to your particular climate, so this is one of the first
- things that you will want to do when running The Seed Program.
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- Certain parts of the program require you to make a choice
- from a list of options. When you enter a new seed record, for
- example, you must choose from a list of available crop records
- (or choose "unlisted," the last option.) The crop names are
- presented in the form of a list box that behaves much the same as
- a menu. Unlike a menu, the list box typically contains more
- options that will fit on the screen at once. You can use the
- arrow keys to highlight your choice, press the first letter of
- the option you want, use the <PageUp> and <PageDown> keys to move
- through the list a screen at a time, or use the <Home> and <End>
- keys to move to the very top and the very bottom of the list.
- When you have highlighted the option you want, just press the
- <Return> key to select it.
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- 3.2 Function Keys and Online Help
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- Certain commands are applicable throughout the entire
- program, and are made accessible by use of the function keys.
- The bottom line of the screen is reserved to show what function
- keys are currently active and what function they perform. This
- list of function keys will change depending on what screen or
- menu is currently being displayed.
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- An example of a function key that may be used from any part
- of the program is the help key, <F1>. The Seed Program features
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- context sensitive help. This means that when you press the help
- key, you will be given information that relates to the particular
- part of the program that you are currently running. If you are
- in the process of printing a report listing all of the seeds in
- your database, for example, pressing F1 will display information
- concerning your options in this part of the program. Help will
- explain the things that you are seeing on the screen at that
- moment. This makes the program much easier to use, and makes
- this detailed documentation unnecessary, in many cases.
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- 3.3 Entering New Seed Records
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- The first option on the main menu is for creating new seed
- records. When you select this option, a list of available crops
- is displayed on the screen in a list box. Use the up or down
- cursor arrow keys to highlight the type of seeds that you are
- going to enter. Press the first letter of the crop name you
- are looking for to move the highlight bar to the first crop name
- starting with that letter. You may also press the <Home> key to
- move to the first crop on the list, or the <End> key to select
- the last entry in the list.
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- Press the <Esc> key to return to the main menu if you do not
- wish to enter a new Seed record or if you have finished entering
- new seeds. If the crop type that you are entering does not
- appear on the list, press the <End> key to select "(not listed)"
- -- the last item on the list.
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- Selecting the proper crop name from this list will
- serve to copy the appropriate crop information into the Seed
- record that you are creating. Information such as planting
- times, seed planting depth, and spacing will be set to standard
- values for the crop you are entering, but may be changed to other
- values if you wish.
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- 3.4 Modify Existing Seeds
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- Use the up or down cursor arrow keys to select the Seed
- record that you wish to view or modify. You may also use <Page
- Up>, <Page Down>, <Home> and <End> to move around in the list, or
- press the first letter of the name of the crop you are looking
- for.
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- Note that only existing Seed records that you have already
- entered are displayed in this list. To enter a new Seed record,
- use the "Enter New Seeds" option on the main menu.
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- Press the <Esc> key to return to the main menu when you are
- finished.
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- 3.5 View Growing Hints
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- This option of the program provides a short cut for viewing
- the growing hints in the Seed Program's crop information
- database. This is the information that is usually available when
- you have entered a seed record for a particular crop. This
- option from the main menu will allow you to view the growing
- hints without actually entering a seed record for that crop.
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- Select the crop you wish to view from the list displayed on
- the screen. Use the up and down cursor arrow keys to highlight
- the name of the crop you want. You may also press the <Page Up>
- and <Page Down> keys to move through the list more quickly, or
- simply press the first letter of the name of the crop that you
- are looking for. Press <Return> once you have selected the crop
- you want. Press the <Esc> key to return to the main menu.
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- 3.6 Planting Schedule
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- This main menu option will print your planting schedule.
- Your schedule will list, week by week, the seed records that you
- have indicated to have included.
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- This screen allows you to specify a number of options for
- the planting schedule. The first option allows you to indicate
- whether your planting schedule should include only plant names or
- plant names with full planting information, such as the depth
- the seeds should be planted and the proper spacing. Use the
- right and left cursor arrow keys to select the type of schedule
- that you wish to have printed or displayed, and press <Return>.
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- The second option allows you to indicate where the planting
- schedule should be sent -- to the screen, the printer, or a file.
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- If you choose to have the schedule sent to the screen, the
- schedule will be generated and displayed in a window similar to
- the help windows that appear in the program when you press <F1>.
- You will be able to use the <PageUp> and <PageDown> keys to
- scroll up and down through it. Selecting the "Printer" option
- will send the schedule to your PC's printer. The "File" option
- will send the schedule to a DOS text file named SCHEDULE.RPT,
- this will usually be located in your \SEED directory. The text
- file can be loaded into your word processor or other software.
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- Use the right and left cursor arrow keys to select the
- proper destination for your schedule.
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- Next you must indicate the starting and ending dates for the
- schedule. If you only want to have a schedule for a single
- month, or the planting season is part way over, you may use this
- option to limit the schedule to a particular time of year. Be
- sure to enter dates for the current year, or no information will
- appear in the schedule. Enter the dates that you want to appear
- on you planting schedule, or press <Return> to accept the default
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- dates that are displayed.
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- When you press <Return> after entering an end date, the
- program will generate your planting schedule and send it to the
- destination you have chosen (screen, printer or file). This may
- take several seconds if you have entered many seed records in the
- program.
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- The program has gone through all of the seed records that
- you have entered. Wherever you have indicated that you want a
- planting date to be printed on your schedule, the program has
- calculated the appropriate date and sorted these "planting
- events" by date for this schedule. A "planting event" could be
- an indoor planting, an outdoor transplanting, or a direct outdoor
- planting date in the spring or fall. Note that the only planting
- events displayed are those that fall between the start and end
- dates that you indicate when you generate the schedule.
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- If the schedule is blank, there are a number of possible
- causes. Have you entered and saved any seed records in the
- program? Select "Modify Existing Seeds" from the main menu to
- check. Have you marked a "Y" in the "Appear on Schedule" field
- of the seed entry screen? When you select a crop from the Seed
- Program's database, the program will automatically place a "Y" in
- this field for the recommended planting times. If you enter a
- seed record that is not in The Seed Program's crop database, you
- will need to enter the planting times and place a "Y" in the
- "Appear on Schedule" field in order to have those crops show up
- on your schedule. Finally check the start and end dates that
- appear on the screen when you generate the report. If there are
- no planting events that occur between these two dates, then the
- planting schedule will not contain any information.
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- If you have chosen to send the schedule to the screen, a
- window appears with the schedule data. Use the <Page Up> and
- <Page Down> keys to show the different weeks and months that are
- included in the schedule. Press the <F10> function key to
- return to the main menu when you are done examining the
- schedule. To print the schedule, select "Planting Schedule"
- again from the main menu, and indicate that the schedule should
- be sent to the printer rather than the screen.
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- 3.7 Inventory Report
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- This main menu command will print an inventory listing of the
- seed records that you have entered in the program. This report
- will usually show the crop name, seed variety, seed source and
- the year that the seed was bought or packaged for.
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- The first option allows you to specify which seed records
- you wish to have included in the inventory list. The first
- choice, "All Seeds" will include all of the seeds you have
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- entered, regardless of whether or not you have included a number
- in the optional "Number of Seeds" field at the top right corner
- of the seed data entry screen. The second choice "# Seeds > 0"
- will cause the inventory report to include only the seed records
- that have a number greater than zero in the "Number of Seeds"
- field. The last option will direct the program to list seeds on
- your inventory report only if the number of seeds entered is less
- than the "Reorder Number" that also appears on the seed record
- entry screen. Use the right and left arrow keys to highlight the
- type of report that you want and press the <Return> key.
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- The second option allows you to indicate where you want to
- have your inventory report sent. You may view the inventory list
- on the screen, print it, or send it to a file named "invent.rpt"
- in the "\seed" directory on your disk (or whatever directory you
- have installed The Seed Program in).
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- If you choose to send the inventory report to the screen, a
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- window appears that allows you to view your seed inventory list.
- This will either be the entire list of all the seeds in your
- database, or some subset of the total database, depending on the
- choices you make while generating the report. Use the <Page Up>
- and <Page Down> keys to display the contents of the inventory
- report, one screen at a time. Press the <F10> function key to
- return to the main menu when you are through examining the
- report. To print the report, choose "Inventory Report" again
- from the main menu and select the option to send the report to
- the printer instead of the screen.
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- 3.8 Exiting From Seeds
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- The last option on the main menu will allow you to exit from
- the program and return to MS-DOS. In the evaluation version of
- the program, a reminder to register is displayed for
- approximately four seconds and you are offered an opportunity to
- print the registration form. The author apologizes for this bit
- of nagging, but this software is made possible solely through the
- support of registered users and it is necessary to remind users
- of the evaluation version of the importance of registering the
- software.
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- 4. Setup Program Options
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- The options on this sub-menu allow you to change various
- program settings that affect the behavior of the program.
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- 4.1 Entering Frost Dates
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- The frost dates are probably the most important program
- setting. This screen allows you to tell the program the length
- and timing of your growing season. The last and first frost
- dates for your particular area will be used for the calculation
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- of all planting dates for the seeds that you enter into the
- program. This, in turn, determines where in your planting
- schedule all of your seeds will appear.
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- For the last spring frost enter the average date of the
- last time in the spring that you have an overnight frost. The
- best date to use for your particular geographic location would be
- one that you have determined yourself based on a few years of
- keeping track of frosts. If you have not made note of this
- information, or are new to your area, ask nearby gardeners or
- consult garden books or gardening articles in a local paper. In
- the United States, you may contact your local County Extension
- Office for this information.
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- For the first frost date, enter the date of the average
- first fall frost for your location. This will be the time of
- year that you most often see the first damage to tender crops
- such as tomatoes and peppers. This date is used mostly in the
- calculation of fall planting dates.
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- 4.2 Program Settings
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- This option on the setup menu allows you to change two
- program settings that affect the appearance of screens and menus.
- The first option allows you to indicate whether you have a color
- or monochrome (single color) monitor on your computer. The
- program is set to display screens and menus in color by default.
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- The second option allows menu help messages to be set on or
- off. These messages appear at the bottom of each menu that the
- program displays, and reminds you which keys can be used to
- select an option from a menu. When you first install the
- program, the help messages are set "on." Once you become
- familiar with the program and the keys that are used to navigate
- the menus, you may turn these messages off here.
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- 4.3 Packing the Seeds Database
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- This is a database maintenance option that allows you to
- recover disk space from deleted seed records in your seeds
- database. The pack option should only be run occasionally, after
- a number of seed records have been deleted. It is entirely
- optional, and will not change the information that is displayed
- by the program.
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- 5. The Seed Data Entry Screen
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- The seed data entry screen is displayed when you choose the
- main menu options to create a new seed record or to modify an
- existing record. Use the up and down cursor arrow keys or the
- <Return> key to move from one field on this screen to another.
- Press the <F10> function key to save any changes you have made
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- and return to the previous menu. The last line on the screen
- indicates the other function keys that may be used at this point.
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- 5.1 Crop Name
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- The first field on the screen is the crop name field. If
- you have created the seed record by selecting the name of a crop
- from the program's crop database, the name of that crop will
- appear in this field. You may change the name that appears in
- this field by typing a new crop name in, but if the name you
- enter does not appear in the program's crop database, there will
- be no growing hints to view for this seed record. If you have
- chosen an unlisted crop, you simply type the name of the crop in
- this field.
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- 5.2 Variety Name
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- Enter the name of a particular variety of seeds in this
- field. For example, "Red Sails" is a variety of Lettuce. This
- field may be left blank if the variety is unknown or if the seeds
- are not for a named variety. The variety name is capitalized
- after entry.
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- 5.3 Seed Source
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- Enter the name of the source that you obtained the seeds
- from. This may be the company that packaged the seeds, the mail
- order company that the seeds were ordered from, or just the name
- of the person who gave you the seeds. The name is capitalized
- after entry.
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- 5.4 Number of Seeds
-
- This is an optional field in which you may enter the number
- of seeds you have, or the number of packets you have for this
- variety. If you do not want to bother even making a rough
- estimate of the number of seeds that you have, just leave this
- field empty.
-
- This number can be used along with the reorder amount (the
- following field) to obtain a list of the seeds that you need to
- buy or reorder. This option of the inventory report will list
- all of the seed varieties for which the number in the "Seeds:"
- field is less than the number in the "Reorder:" field.
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- 5.5 Reorder Amount
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- This optional field contains the "reorder amount." An
- option of the seed inventory report will allow you to produce a
- list of seed varieties for which the reorder amount is higher
- than the seed count. This field may be left blank.
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- 5.6 Year Packed For
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- Enter the year that the seeds were packed for. This
- information will help you keep track of the age of your seeds, so
- you will know which seeds should be used up soon, and which seeds
- should probably be replaced, because they are too old. The year
- entered in this field will usually be the current year, so the
- program will automatically place the current system year in this
- field. If you need to enter a different year, simply type the
- new year over the current year and it will be replaced.
-
- 5.7 Planting Times
-
- The fields in this section of the screen are used to record
- the planting times for the seed you are entering. The four rows
- represent four types of seed planting that are most often used
- for various crops: Spring Inside (used for seeds that are
- started indoors and later transplanted), Transplant (for the date
- that plants are transplanted out in the garden after having been
- started indoors), Spring Outside (for seeds that are planted
- directly outside), and Fall Outside (for seeds that are planted
- in the fall or late summer rather than the spring or late
- winter). The first three of these planting times are associated
- with the last frost date in the spring. The Fall Outside
- planting line is associated with the first frost date that occurs
- in the fall.
-
- Each of these four planting times have three fields of
- database information that are associated with it. The "B/A
- Frost" field indicates whether the seed should be planted before
- or after the frost date. The "Weeks B/A Frost" field stores the
- number of weeks before or after the frost date that the seed
- should be planted. When you enter information in these two
- fields, the program uses this information, along with the frost
- dates you have entered through the "Setup Program" option, to
- calculate the correct planting date. This date is always a
- Sunday, since the planting schedule is organized on a weekly
- basis. Planting dates are always approximate, and will change
- slightly from year to year depending on the weather, so the
- planting week provides the correct level of detail. The third
- field "Appear on Schedule" indicates whether the current seed
- variety should actually be printed on the schedule for the date
- displayed.
-
- For most crops, all four lines are not used. An example may
- be helpful: tomatoes are typically started indoors and later
- transplanted into the garden. For tomatoes, the first two
- planting date lines would be used: "Spring Inside" and
- "Transplant." Tomatoes, needing a long growing season, cannot be
- planted directly outdoors in most climates, and definitely cannot
- be grown as a fall crop, so the third and fourth lines would be
- left blank. Carrots are not started indoors and transplanted
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- because of their long tap root, so the first two lines would be
- left blank. Carrots can be plated as either a spring or fall
- crop, so the third and fourth lines could both be used for
- carrots.
-
- When you create a new seed record and select a crop name
- from the list, recommended planting times and dates from the crop
- database are automatically provided. This information can be
- changed as you enter the seed record, and the registered version
- of the program allows the crop information database itself to be
- modified. The planting times provided with the program are
- intended only as general advice, since gardeners often have
- strong individual preferences. Some gardeners start growing
- their tomatoes just a few weeks before planting so that young,
- actively growing plants can be placed out in the garden. Other
- gardeners start tomatoes during the winter and transplant them
- several times indoors in order to have large, robust plants to
- transplant into the garden when the weather warms. Such
- gardeners will want to customize The Seed Program by modifying
- the planting dates. The suggested planting dates that come with
- the program will be most useful to beginning gardeners, or to
- gardeners trying out new crops.
-
- 5.8 Growing Hints
-
- The growing hints are advice for planting, growing and
- harvesting a crop. The hints take the form of text, stored in
- the crop information database and are displayed in a window
- similar the windows used for on-line help.
-
- Enter a "Y" in the "View Growing Hints" field in order to
- view the growing hints for the current crop. If the crop you
- have entered does not match any crop the program's crop database,
- there will be no growing hints to view. This may be the case if
- you did not select a crop when first entering these seeds, or if
- you changed the name of the crop after selecting it. You may
- also view the growing hints by pressing the <F5> function key
- from the Seed information screen.
-
- Use the <Page Down> key to display successive screens of
- text, and the <Page Up> key to go back to view previous screens.
- The up and down cursor arrow keys will move the text display one
- line at a time. Press the <F10> function key to return to the
- seed information screen.
-
- 5.9 Edit Notes
-
- Enter a "Y" in the "Edit Notes" field to view or make
- changes to your notes for this particular seed record. You may
- also edit your notes by pressing the <F6> function key from the
- seed information screen.
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- Use this screen to record any information about this
- particular packet of seeds. Use your notes to keep track of when
- you planted the seeds, how good the germination rate was, how the
- crop performed, when you harvested the crop or how well you liked
- its flavor. Any information you wish to remember in connection
- with these seeds may be entered here.
-
- From the notes screen you may use the up and down arrow keys
- to move the cursor up and down a line at a time, or the right and
- left arrow keys to move right and left a single character at a
- time. Holding down the control key while you press the right or
- left arrow keys will move the cursor a word at a time. A number
- of other text editing commands are available. These are
- summarized in the following table::
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- Home Move to the beginning of the current line
- End Move to the end of the current line
- Return Move to the beginning of the next line
- Control-Home Move to the first line of the current screen
- Control-End Move to the last line of the current screen
- PageUp Move to the previous screen
- PageDown Move to the following screen
- Control-PageUp Move to the beginning of your notes
- Control-PageDn Move to the end of your notes
- Tab Insert a tab
- Delete Delete the character the cursor is positioned on
- Backspace Delete the character to the left of the cursor
- Control-Y Delete the current line
- Control-T Delete the word to the right of the cursor
- Control-B Reformat the current paragraph
- Insert Toggle between insert and overwrite modes
- F10 Save changes and exit
- Escape Discard changes and exit
-
- Note that pressing the <Esc> key will exit from the notes
- screen and throw away any changes you have made since entering
- the edit notes screen! Press <F10> to exit from the edit screen
- and save your changes.
-
- 5.10 Days to Germinate
-
- This field holds the average number of days it takes this
- type of seed to germinate -- to start growing and appear above
- the surface of the soil.
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- 5.11 Days to Maturity
-
- This field stores the number of days to maturity for a seed
- variety. The days to maturity is usually indicated in seed
- catalogs or on seed packets. In most cases, this will be the
- number of days between the time that the seed is planted in the
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- soil and the time when the plant or its fruits reach harvestable
- size. This information is useful in planning planting times and,
- in areas with a short growing season, is useful in deciding
- whether some crops are appropriate for your area.
-
- For certain crops that are almost always planted indoors for
- later transplanting, such as tomatoes and peppers, the "days to
- maturity" number that is recorded is the number of days from the
- time the transplant is planted in the garden until the time of
- the first harvest. Most seed catalogs follow this convention.
-
- 5.12 Plant Spacing - In Row
-
- This field shows the distance apart (in inches) that seeds
- should be planted when they are being planted in traditional
- rows. In many cases, this distance will be closer than the final
- separation distance of the full grown plants, and the plants will
- need to be thinned after they have begun to grow.
-
- 5.13 Plant Spacing - After Thinning
-
- This is the distance that should separate full grown plants
- grown in traditional rows. This spacing will give the plants
- sufficient room to grow when they have reached full size. Many
- crops are traditionally planted closer together when the seed is
- first placed in the soil, and later "thinned" to the proper
- distance by some plants being pulled out and discarded. This
- procedure of planting seeds close together and later thinning
- prevents gaps from appearing if some seeds fail to germinate.
-
- 5.14 Plant Spacing - Between Rows
-
- The distance (in inches) that should separate rows of a
- crop, when it is being grown in traditional rows (as opposed to
- "wide beds"). This distance should be sufficient to accommodate
- the size of the fully grown plants. In some cases, you may want
- to adjust this distance to take into account the width of a
- rototiller or other method of cultivation.
-
- 5.15 Plant Spacing - Intensive Spacing
-
- These two fields ("Plants / Sq. Feet") are used to show the
- proper plant spacing when using "intensive" or "wide bed" growing
- techniques, rather than the traditional single rows. This style
- of gardening is also sometimes called "square foot gardening."
-
- The idea of this gardening method is that traditional single
- rows are designed more for commercial agriculture than for the
- home gardener. Traditional single rows and spacing may leave
- room for tractors and other mechanical equipment. The gardener
- who will be cultivating with nothing more cumbersome than a hoe
- can successfully plant crops much closer together. This leads to
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- a more efficient use of space (more produce from the same sized
- bed), less weeding and less watering.
-
- Usually, this spacing is expressed in a certain number of
- plants per square foot. In such a case, the first field shows
- the number of plants that can be grown in a single square foot.
- Some bulky crops, such as some squash, will require more than a
- single square foot, in which case a "1" is entered in the first
- field and the second field is used to indicate the number of
- square feet that are needed for a single plant.
-
- 5.16 Planting Depth
-
- This field shows the proper planting depth for seeds in
- inches. This should be considered an average planting depth.
- Gardeners may wish to plant seeds deeper in warm, dry weather to
- conserve moisture.
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- 6. Contacting the Author
-
- You may contact the author of The Seed Program via e-mail at
- the following internet address: "wolter@dickinson.edu"
-
- You may also contact the author by writing to the following
- address:
-
- Michael Wolter
- 4271 Carlisle Rd.
- Gardners, PA 17324
-
- We encourage you to contact us with any questions, comments
- or suggestions that you might have.
-
- 7. Registering the Program
-
- Registered users receive an upgrade to the latest version of
- the program. The registered version includes additional crop
- information records and the ability to make changes to the crop
- database, in addition to the ability to maintain the seed
- database in the evaluation version. No seed information that has
- already been entered in the evaluation version will be
- overwritten when installing the upgrade to the registered
- version. Register today, by mailing in the form on the following
- page.
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- Appendix A: Seed Program Registration Form
- -------------------------------------------
-
- Date: _____________ Ref No: SP-110-3200
-
- Name: ___________________________________________
-
- Address: ___________________________________________
-
- ___________________________________________
-
- ___________________________________________
-
- Phone: ___________________________________________
-
- Disk Size: [ ] 5.25" [ ] 3.5" DD [ ] 3.5" HD
-
- Payment by: [ ] Check [ ] Money Order
-
- Where did you learn about the Seed Program?
-
- _____________________________________________________
-
- What type of PC do you use? _________________________
-
- Do you use Microsoft Windows? [ ] Yes [ ] No
-
- Do you have any comments or suggestions concerning The Seed
- Program?
-
- ____________________________________________________________
-
- ____________________________________________________________
-
- ____________________________________________________________
-
-
- Registration Fee $25.00
- Shipping & Handling $ 3.00
- -----------------------------
- Total $28.00
-
- (Canada and Mexico add $2.00, other countries add $4.00)
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Mail this form with your payment to the author:
-
- Michael Wolter
- 4271 Carlisle Rd.
- Gardners, PA 17324-8930
- USA
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