Pet scrapbook? Puppy pics? Oh this could go south really fast, I like it.

The border issue was mentioned earlier, but I don't think it was resolved. I guess we should look into that more before we get too far.

Some sort of pet book is an interesting idea, but I think it might be best if we stuck to a specific subject instead of multiple subjects. Gardening and pets don't have a lot in common.


My first thought was, "Is a gardening scrapbook just going to tease her?" lol But I agree, I think she'd still appreciate it. Hopefully she can use it. If she has a lot a balcony space, that'd be good.

I don't believe we have to include pics (and if we do, the last thing we need would be to have all of us sending in pics of pets with ourselves in the background), but some genuine and interesting stories/tips/facts that we know of. And we don't have to limit ourselves to puppies. Some of the interesting behaviours of pets will still strike a chord with fellow pet owners (no matter what species) and bring smiles.

And I did not suggest just a pet book by itself, as I don't believe all of us here are pet owners. A combination (gardening + pets) will allow all of us to contribute (one or the other), and gives a little variety to make things maybe more interesting.

And look, I'm sorry if my idea is silly and I cannot come up with something better. We are all fellow fans of Summer here and all of us have the common goal of coming up with the best and most memorable gift for Summer. I can certainly understand the frustrations and worries that are being shared here. But at this point I do not believe sarcasm or negativity will make things better.

I am still hopeful though. The cookbook project from last year turned out quite nicely. Hopefully we will end up with something as decent if not better.




That is fine. It was just a suggestion. I genuinely could see gardening and pets as an interesting combination. However, at this late in the game, I can see it being difficult. (If only we knew of Summer having a puppy earlier... )




I had the same worry at first when she mentioned her current lack of backyard. However, after attending the Q&A the same afternoon and learnt that she has done a fair bit of reading about farming, I believe she will still enjoy reading the book and appreciate it.

For the book. I guess we go for standard a4 size again. I try to find some examples for a template. But anybody can check out some gardening related books. Good way to find a good layout.

Yes, I'm still here. I'm finally free from my soul-sucking thesis (and I mean that in good way, I hold no resentment against it ). I'm happy to try coming up with a draft template to 'get the ball rolling' so to speak. That way we can all edit/modify it until we produce a final template we're all happy with. I just kind of need to know what kind of book we've decided on (gardening, animals/pets, gardening and animals/pet together).

Other than that, I'm happy to give anyone a hand with formatting their information as before once we have a template.


Thank you very much Chief! Although, I must admit, I didn't realise I was coming across as a female. I'm beginning to think it must be the way I write (also I mean no offence to any of our female members).

Congratulations! Coming from my own experience I know exactly how you feel. I spent over 5 years on mine while juggling with teaching for the faculty to make ends meet. What a relief when it was all finally done and dusted!




The pet thing was only a suggestion. And judging from the (lack of) reactions (or other suggestions) I would say the original idea of a gardening scrapbook is still the way to go.

Just wondering for the template, how detailed are we planning on making the book? Is it going to be comprehensive with information like soil conditions, planting and maintenance details (e.g. watering, sun/shade conditions, pruning/trimming tips), etc.? In other words, kind of like a gardening guide. Or is it going to be more like a personal book of our favourite plants/flowers/vegetables/trees with not much technical details. Sort of like what Chief suggested (below).

Also about the seeds packets (ignoring the logistics involved and the possible issue with customs as Kyle mentioned for the time being), will these be included as a separate item to the book itself, or are we going to place them within the book? Personally I would rather have them as a separate item if we do plan on including seeds at all else the book might get a little bulky. Plus it would safeguard against customs since they would only need to remove that particular item rather than having to take them out of the book after (they might even confiscate the whole thing ).

This is just my opinion though, so what does everyone else think?

Speaking of which, we could also/instead include pressed/flatten flowers/leaves/etc. that have been sealed in some kind of plastic sleeve. Although once again, the same issue with customs.


Thanks! I also thought it was a funny coincidence that your situation sounded very similar to mine. I was also contracting for the uni. while studying

This is just my opinion, but I was wondering if we should go simple. If we go detailed, it makes it a little more difficult for people who don't garden. It also gives people who don't speak English regularly more information to collect and translate. Also, hopefully someone can answer this: Would this information be printed on the packets? I haven't bought a seed packet in forever, so I'm genuinely curious. If it is, it'd safe us a lot of work.

Keeping the packets separate so the book doesn't get too bulky is a good idea. Although we should still resolve the customs issue as even if they do only confiscate the seeds and not the book, it still makes the book sort of pointless. It'd be like buying someone a popcorn maker but not including any popcorn kernels to start them off with. You always include a little something to start them off.

I agree with Chief about keeping it simple, it will definitely make it easier for everyone. I was leaning towards going for a simple template as well but I decided to post the question just to be sure. Also you're right Chief, usually this kind of information is printed on the seed packet itself so we shouldn't need to worry about it too much.

Hey everyone, is this roughly what we wanted in the template?

I apologize for it being broken across two posts, is in zip archives, and image compressed. Unfortunately the forum doesn't allow you to attach any files greater than 200kb, no more than 3 attachments per post, and doesn't like .doc or .pdf extensions. I have attached a link to the original .doc files if anyone wants to download that instead to play around with (second post, also includes the PDFs). It's not that big, only around 1.22MB. Note the PDF files are mainly for people who just want to browse what the template might look like or can't view the DOC files for the time being.

Just to clarify, I was thinking in terms of a two page spread for each plant, so one side would be mainly for text (the 'text' page) while the opposite side would be mainly for images (the 'image' page). I've put them in separate files in case we want to alternate the text and image pages for each consecutive two page spread in the book (i.e. 1st double pg - image pg, text pg | 2nd double pg - text pg, image pg | 3rd double pg - image pg, text pg | etc.). Hence each page in the files show a different version of what the template for that particular page could be. We could also mix and match different versions if it looks ok.

Finally, note not these are only examples (working progress), so feel free use them as a starting template to modify and improve them until we eventually produce the final version (refer to next post).