Plea to our members

[NightHawk]

We have noticed a dramatic fall-off of member participation in the Forum recently and I am making a plea to you all.

We all have other commitments that take priority.  It is appreciated that, for various reasons, it is not always possible to take the time to just sit down and write down your thoughts and post them on a Forum.

This particular time of year is no exception.  Our gardens need tending, we're planning or are already on our holidays, to name just two.

George is VERY busy updating his Gardening and Finance software, plus looking after his own garden, so doesn't have much spare time left over to get onto the Forum as much as he would like.  That is where I usually step in to try and keep the Forum as active as possible, and inspire our members to do the same.

Through our participation in posting topics ultimately results in better feedback to George for any software enhancements we would like to see.  This then has a knock-on effect of promoting more sales as word gets out to anyone visiting our Forum as Guests   They read the postings and their interest is captured.

We have seen a marked interest of sales for George's Bank Genie software, which has also resulted in a few more postings from those members.  These postings have been restricted to the use of the BG software though, which is a shame.

Encouragement is given to post on our Forum on any topic that is of general interest.  They don't have to be restricted to just gardening or finance.  Just reading through all the sections available to post about will give you some idea as to the range of subjects suggested.

Member involvement leads to a stronger and happier community spirit.  We have a very knowledgeable group of members who are very keen to help others with any problems that may arise.  Two of our most popular topics are about Photography and Computers.  From the gardening perspective we like to see what our members' gardens look like, so being able to take photos and post them on the Forum is very much encouraged.  Not everyone is confident about that, and this is where our knowledge comes in.  To be able to interact with the Forum and post various items, obviously involves using a computer  , so advice on getting the best out of that experience is where our 'experts' come to the fore again.

Apart from a very small handful of 'regular' members active on the Forum, we are in desperate need of more members supporting us.  I can't stress that enough.  We really do need you!

Anyway, if you just want to tell us what you did in the garden at the weekend, any nice places you have visited or whatever else interests you, please post it.

Please support your Forum.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Laurie.

[36A-Doncaster]

I'm a Bank Genie member, a Quicken refugee, and have been discussing with George some ideas as to how he might improve what is an excellent product by adding a few more features. Unfortunately, my participation in the forum has been limited by time constraints and I have been in touch with George when I do have time. As a semi-retired person who runs a financial services consultancy specialising in agricultural commodities I am already finding that my time is becoming so limited that I don't have much spare for my hobbies which, at 67, I should be enjoying. As for the gardening, that is my good wife's arena but her computer capability just about runs to turning her laptop on and off. I hear what you say and I'll try and get on the forum a bit more frequently if time permits.

[newplantguy]

Hi I have not been on the Forum lately pressure of work in the new plant business now that I have to work for my self I will see if I can find more time

[ideasguy]

Great innovative idea Laurie - and a good response already.

Two little things to add to the plea!
When you visit, log in "Forever" to avoid problems when posting (your time may expire).
Also, when finished your visit, don't log out. By staying logged in, your user name remains in the list of who has been logged in, and it allows others to see that its not an empty house

As David has said, we have been communicating "behind the scenes" by email but its great to see member participation.
I always invite those I'm in contact with to register on the forum.
Sadly, only a few do

Welcome back Paul I hope your new plant business is flourishing!
I'm very pleased with the new plants I received from Blooms - the result of your good work.
For those who need an introduction, here's a link to your web site:-
http://www.gooderhamhorticulture.com/

[NightHawk]

Thanks for adding those extra pointers George.  New users especially may not be aware they can stay logged in indefinitely and show to everyone else that the Forum is very active by the tell-tale 'online' green monitor icon next to their login name.

The responses we've had so far to my posting confirms the reasons some members are unable to get onto the Forum more regularly.  All we can ask is that they come in as often as possible.  This would be very much appreciated.

[johnryden]

I have been using a gardening social networking site MyFolia to keep my garden journals, etc.  You can see my garden on MyFolia using http://myfolia.com/gardener/johnr.  I do, however, use FlowerGenie as a database of my garden and under George's tuition have begun to put my plants into IdeasGenie and try to use the more advanced features of that program.

What I will try to do in future is cross-post my gardening journal to appropriate areas on this forum and try to put together some topics on using FlowerGenie and IdeasGenie as I go along.

Good luck

John

[ideasguy]

That would be very much appreciated John, and I'm delighted to see you posting here.
Just taking a break from the garden and will look at your myFolia later.

14 members as I write Laurie, and some others have logged out.
Barmy sunny weather here (yes in IRELAND!!!!) so making the most of it. It has lasted all week
Will post some photos on first wet day to share in this revival!

[roiphil]

for some strange reason i tend to post more when its raining  , mornings i catch up on pc work and xmas tree jobs  plus grandson duties in the afternoon being the chief baby sitter, evenings more pc catching up, yesterday we went into tralee to get grandson another birthday present  4 hrs later i cut the field with the topper on the tractor as i will be planting more xmas trees in august (which is not far away), then i swept the lawn to get rid of dead grass, as daughter informed us that next sunday we are having his party up here, bouncy castle and all that  before i knew it it was cool enough to water plants in pots, sometimes the days just fly by

[NightHawk]

Thank you to all the members who have taken the time so far to post.

Keep the momentum going everyone, it is very much appreciated.

P.S.  John, I'll also have a look at your 'myfolia' site later on (more likely tomorrow as it's a bit late now  ), but thanks for posting the link for us.

[NightHawk]

I've looked through your myfolia site John and was amazed at how massive your garden is.

Now that you have brought your garden to our attention, I think it would be a good idea if you start off a new topic dedicated to your own garden.

A few of our members have done this already and it gives everyone else a chance to comment, which keeps all relevant posts in the one place.

To do this, go to the list of Categories available and scroll to Our Gardens.  Then click on the Board My Garden, then start of a new topic and give it whatever heading you want.

You could start that topic off by putting the link to your 'myfolia' web site again, and invite comments from other members.

Good luck with that 

[trishs]

Hello!  I'm still alive! 
I'm sorry I just haven't had chance to post here for a while, although I did visit and read posts a couple of times, but there was so much I could have written about and so little time I just didn't know where to start! 

I think last time I posted I was ill.  I had to psyche myself up to be fit enough for our annual visit to Leipzig.  Not only deciding upon and accumulating a selection of suitable goth outfits for the festival and doing all the packing but also getting the entire garden and various plants ready to be left for a week.  It's a tricky time to go away and leave things.  It's always over the Whitsuntide weekend;  sometimes this is before the end of May, as it was this year, and other times, like next year, it will be in June.  I only have a kind neighbour (who isn't a gardener) to look after things for us so I have to work out how best to leave the various plants in our three greenhouses, so that she can manage.  Overnight frosts and high daytime temperatures are all possible so it's a nightmare to plan for.  Fortunately the weather here was mostly poor but not frosty while we were away so everything survived quite well, including our four feral cats and four aged sheep, and the dog who was in kennels.

Then of course I've had to recover from the trip, unpack etc and get on with all the potting up and on etc.  The huge turn around has now finally been accomplished and we lifted all the spring bedding and planted out the dahlias instead yesterday.  I still have masses of tulip pots and 'dead' pots to work through but at least the frantic activity is over for the time being.  It's been hard to keep up with cutting and eating the rhubarb and asparagus too but this settled spell of lovely weather has allowed us to get things done in an enjoyable way   Of course there's a horrendous amount of weeding to catch up with further down the garden still but most things survive until we get round to rescuing them!

As some other members have mentioned, we too also have grandchildren duties and look after them one afternoon a week.  Hopefully I'll be able to contribute again but it could be autumn winter before I have time to get back to cataloguing our garden

[NightHawk]

Thank you Trish for taking the time to post this.

You definitely have been very preoccupied with many other things.

Illnesses are also a very big concern to us.  We have several members in their more 'senior' years, and when we haven't heard from them in a while it raises a red flag.  In extreme cases, e.g. if the member lives alone, George will try to establish contact by other means; i.e. email or telephone just to make sure they are okay.  We respect our members privacy, so this is a last resort attempt at contact.

Fortunately, this is rare but we still have the welfare of our members to look out for, especially those for whom we have established a close bond with over many years.

Anyway, it's great to hear you're still with us Trish and we look forward to hearing of your exploits when time permits