Several years ago I purchased an Amaryllis bulb and forced it indoors. It bloomed beautifully, and was a great inspiration to me. The following year when Amaryllis time came again I couldn’t remember who I’d gotten the bulb from nor when I started forcing it. It was then that I decided to keep a garden journal.
There are many tools in gardening, shovels, hoes, rakes; think of your garden journal as another great gardening tool. Gardening is about 80% experience and 20% luck; if you record your experiences from year-to-year you can hedge your bets. Recording your successes and failures and recognizing what happened will make you a better gardener.
My garden journal is a composition notebook. Use whatever makes sense to you, a sketchbook or scrapbook etc. Then just record the things that are important to you. You can put whatever emphasis on it. If you’re interesting in wildlife you can record the weather and animal sightings. If you’re interested in budgeting you can record your costs and what the garden produced. If you’re interested in art then you can paint or draw whatever plants strike your fancy. The possibilities are limitless.
I personally like to strike a balance between artistic and functional. I enjoy drawing and making watercolors. The more scientific side of me likes to take notes on weather, and wildlife. I find that a limited time for writing keeps me on track. I usually write before work or after I’ve come in from the garden, while things are fresh in my mind. However, I have also been known to spend hours on it during lazy Saturday mornings. Dedicate as much time as you deem necessary, and remember that the more information you provide yourself the more knowledge you’ll gain about what works for your garden.
With gardening it helps to note the details, like where you planted those tulips bulbs or when you fertilized your tomatoes. What makes a garden journal a tool is noting the details and then reading through your journal every now and again. Those details can come together and perhaps help you realize trends in your garden. For example, let’s say you try a new variety of cucumber and it yields more than other varieties you’ve tried in the past. This is when your journal becomes a tool - noting that difference and recognizing it will make your garden more productive the following year as you choose varieties that are better suited to your unique site. If nothing else your garden journal is a book dedicated to your garden, your own personal guide tailored to your exact location. On a more practical note, it immensely helpful to have all the information about your garden in one place, so when you’re planning crop rotation or picking a variety of pepper you don’t have to turn the house upside-down to find your notes from last year, they’re all in one place.
On cold winter days when the rain is beating the house, there are few better feelings then opening up your garden journal and reading a section from June, recalling the warmth and bounty of the season.
Tips for Garden Journaling:
1) Note when you started seeds and when you transplanted them into the ground.
2) Note the varieties of plants that work best in your garden.
3) Note what works and what doesn’t so you can stream-line processes in the future.
4) Taking notes on the weather conditions can be immensely helpful for finding trends. Plants have specific responses to temperature, moisture, and sunlight – the better you understand those responses the better garden you will become.
5) Personalize it – a garden journal is an expression of you and your garden. Take pictures of your champion pumpkin, or stunning flower bed. Take pride in your garden and the work you put into it.
6) If something dies record the cause, so that in the future you can avoid that problem.
7) Keep invoices from seed orders and other itemized receipts in your garden journal. This is a record not only of the money spent it is also a record of the varieties used in the past, even if you didn’t have time to note them. Instead of keeping hundreds of seed packets keep one seed invoice.
