I'd like to say I use a fancy record keeping system, but I don't. In the beginning of the season, I use an excel spreadsheet for the order of planting based on the frost date. Then I plant 9 square feet of things when their time comes. I put the date and the plant on a plastic tag I get from the garden store. When things get their first true leaves, I plant another 9 sq. foot patch. And keep going this way through the season. If something doesn't germinate, I plant something else there when I need the spot. When I plant, I plant peas or beans in the worst looking patch of soil, or in an area I've had problems with flea beetles. And I usually put beans or peas in where I took something else out. I do keep a simple journal of the work I do each day. But I never look at it. Fancy systems are fun for their own sake, and I guess there is a lot of use for them. Another thing I do is take pictures pretty often. These also serve as a good journal. At one time, I was putting them in a word file, but I'd rather go out and putter in the garden than play with the computer. I keep meaning to carry a small notebook with me to jot down ideas, but never remember to.

That's an interesting link, Galina. I've used the USDA's descriptors & SSE's guidelines to design my own descriptor form, plus a couple worksheets that I use to collect data for the year in progress. The USDA's system is very complex... and doesn't come with a "user's guide" such as the one in your link. Or at least, I haven't found it yet. I've never described this, since the 2-sided form is rather lengthy... wish I could just post it. The form often has more than one item per line, sometimes with selections which can be circled. There are also plenty of blank lines to record observations. The basic outline follows: Front page: Cultivar/Source Data - Common name & variety (I use SSE's guidelines, such as "Bean/pole/dry Calypso") - SSE number + other accession number (such as USDA or Gatersleben) - Family + species - Possible alias or similar - Source/year + year grown Culture - Date/days: Sow / Germination / Flower / Seed - Transplant? (select plastic cell, peat pot, rooted cutting, hotbed, other) - Spacing: plant / row - Culture: (select climbing, caged, trailing, row, pot, greenhouse)(could add raised bed to this) - Spacing/culture correct? (yes/no)(if "no", remarks on line below) - Blanks for mulch / irrigation / isolation method - Organic? (yes/no) + blanks for fertilizer / chemical applications - Lines for Culture remarks Plant Description + Photographs? (yes/no) - Blanks for height / spread / growth habit - Sections of lines for describing: Root: Stem: Leaf: Flower: Fruit: Seed: Reactions to environmental stress: Disease observations: Insect/animal observation: Back page: Harvest Evaluation - Date/days for vegetable maturity (green + ripe, or shell for legumes) - Total plants (or row feet) + Quantity + Weight - Vegetable yield per plant/row foot + Quantity + Weight - Seed Yield (total weight) + Weight per 100 seeds (grams) - Seeds per ounce + avg. weight per plant + avg. seeds/plant - Lines for harvest remarks Culinary Qualities (This is where I enter flavor, texture, ease of preparation, etc. Methods of preparation & specific use tested are mentioned, such as salad, boiled, grilled, sauce, chili, soup, etc.) - Sections of lines for describing: Raw: Fresh cooked: Dry (either seed, or dehydrated): Shell quality (legumes only): Frozen: Canned/pickled: General Comments: Lines for anything which was not covered, or needs further explanation. At the very least, I always include: - Any other varieties of the same species grown nearby & distances. This will help to identify the parentage any crosses which might appear in following years. - A summary of the weather for the growing season, and its effects. - Any other factors which might have influenced plant growth or seed purity, such as shade, soil variations, late planting, or damage to isolation methods. This is the main descriptor page; there are addendum pages (much simpler) that can be used to record the differences in performance in successive years. There is also a worksheet that I use to list all varieties, their planned location, whether transplants are needed, and to record all date information: plant/germ/flower (flower color is recorded also)/harvest (green)/harvest (ripe)/harvest (dry). I generally use one of these worksheets for each of the main families (Leguminosae, Solanaceae, Cucurbitaceae) plus miscellaneous. Dean, you'll be getting a package from me shortly, with the seed we discussed previously. I'll enclose a copy of the descriptor sheet that I use, plus the worksheet I use to record dates.

Being from another country, this idea may be out to lunch as far as the U.S. is concerned, but for those in Canada, they may need to keep a record of regular or occasional payouts made by mutual funds, which payouts must be considered income in the year received. If their mutual fund makes payouts in cash, those amounts are added to income in the year received, and taxed then, and that is the end of it. But with many mutual funds, they tell us of the amounts declared as income year by year - but those amounts are re-invested. When one sells an asset, one must account for the capital gain, i.e. deduct the cost of purchase from the amount realized on sale to learn the amount of the gain, on part of which one is taxable in the year of sale. When I bought a stock that pays dividends, usually they are paid in cash, so I must declare them as income in the year received and pay tax on them ... but the amounts paid out are not added to the asset. When I sell such a stock, the total amount invested is the amount that they cost me in the first place, so I deduct that amount from the amount realized when I sold them, to find the capital gain, on which I am taxed in the year of sale. Some stocks allow me to re-invest the dividends to purchase more stock (sometimes at a discounted price). When I choose to do that, when I sell the stocks, the amount that they cost me is not only the amount of the original purchase, but includes the various amounts reinvested over the years. Which means that I must have a record of all of those transactions, including each of the amounts renvested, in order to calculate the cost price(s) to deduct from the proceeds of sale, in order to calculate the capital gain. If I neglect to do so, and claim only the amount of the original purchase, I lose the credit for all of those amounts invested later, on which I paid tax at the time, so I need to pay tax on those reinvested payouts again, thus pay tax twice on those amounts. For example, I bought a stock 44 years ago, that has paid dividends for each one of those years ... which was received in cash, so I dealt with those amounts at the time, but they did not buy any more of that stock directly, so they have no effect on the amount that I paid for those stocks. If I had had some of those dividends reivested, I'd have needed to have kept track of all of those reinvested amounts, in order to calculate my actual total cost, thus my capital gain. As many mutual fund owners choose to have their payouts reinvested at the time, to buy more funds, they need to keep track of each of those amounts, to calculate their actual cost of the asset. Sometimes brokers or management companies keep track of those amounts, or order to calculate the average cost per share ... but it is risky to count on such records having been kept ... or being complete (especially if funds were merged with others, as often happens, especially with funds that have a bad growtth record). Lose those records ... and you may well pay tax twice of those reinvested amounts. ole joyful

I have no idea what tests were or were not performed while I was hospitalized, nor how to find out, so I couldn't possibly argue about it with a doctor or insurance company. My file was several inches thick for 20 days in hospital in 2005. Often, bills were submitted by a practice, but paid to a particular doctor such as Pathologists and oncologists, infection specialists, hospitalists, etc. - mostly MDs, none of whom I ever met and whose names I never knew until they were paid. The same thing happened when my husband was hospitalized three different times in 2005 and 2006, and when my 35 yo son had a heart attack in a different state in November. I cannot imagine how one could find flaws in billing or match EOBs to paid claims. Or, frankly, why. I was just happy to be alive, and spent months recovering. I had no strength for such tedious work, and no interest in it. If we are ever audited or questioned about our medical bills, we will have to rely on their computer-generated bills.