Software of the Month Club 1998 June

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The Seed Program (tm) Version 1.1 Michael Wolter 4271 Carlisle Rd. Gardners PA, 17324 Copyright (c) 1995 by Michael Wolter All rights reserved Copyright and Disclaimer 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. 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. 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. ii 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 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 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 4. Setup Program Options .................................... 9 4.1 Entering Frost Dates ................................ 9 4.2 Program Settings ................................... 10 4.3 Packing the Seeds Database ......................... 10 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 6. Contacting the Author ................................... 17 7. Registering the Program ................................. 17 Appendix A: Seed Program Registration Form ................. 18 iii 1. Introduction 1.1 Program Description 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. 1.2 Differences Between the Evaluation and Registered Versions 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. 1.3 System Requirements 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: type \config.sys 1 If your system does not have a config.sys file, you may create one by entering the following commands: copy con \config.sys files=32 <Control-Z> (Note: "<Control-Z>" is entered by holding down the <Ctrl> key and pressing the letter "Z" then releasing both keys and pressing <Return>.) You may also use "Edit" or your favorite text editor to create or modify your config.sys file. 1.4 Installing the Program 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: cd \seed The program should then be run by typing "seed" to execute the "seed.bat" file: seed 2 2. Using The Seed Program 2.1 Fields and Records 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. 2.2 Crop Records and Seed Records 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. 2.3 Setting the Frost Dates 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. 2.4 Starting a New Year 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 3 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. 4 3. Components of the Program 3.1 Menus and List Boxes 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. 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. 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. 3.2 Function Keys and Online Help 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. 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 5 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. 3.3 Entering New Seed Records 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. 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. 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. 3.4 Modify Existing Seeds 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. 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. Press the <Esc> key to return to the main menu when you are finished. 3.5 View Growing Hints 6 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. 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. 3.6 Planting Schedule 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. 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>. The second option allows you to indicate where the planting schedule should be sent -- to the screen, the printer, or a file. 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. Use the right and left cursor arrow keys to select the proper destination for your schedule. 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 7 dates that are displayed. 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. 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. 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. 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. 3.7 Inventory Report 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. 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 8 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. 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). If you choose to send the inventory report to the screen, a 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. 3.8 Exiting From Seeds 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. 4. Setup Program Options The options on this sub-menu allow you to change various program settings that affect the behavior of the program. 4.1 Entering Frost Dates 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 9 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. 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. 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. 4.2 Program Settings 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. 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. 4.3 Packing the Seeds Database 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. 5. The Seed Data Entry Screen 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 10 and return to the previous menu. The last line on the screen indicates the other function keys that may be used at this point. 5.1 Crop Name 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. 5.2 Variety Name 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. 5.3 Seed Source 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. 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. 5.5 Reorder Amount 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. 11 5.6 Year Packed For 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 12 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. 13 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:: 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. 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 14 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 15 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. 16 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. 17 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 18