Keeping A Garden Journal
The Ultimate Garden Book is Your Personal Record of Garden Notes Garden Photos Garden Plans Plant Lists Catalog Orders Weather Data and More
Flower gardeners need to keep written and photographic records for future reference. The best place to do that is in your garden journal. Every good garden deserves one!
Gardening has no rules. But if I had to give one overall guideline, it would be to keep a garden journal for your flower garden. It does not need to be a formal book or an expensive book. You can use a series of loose leaf binders and pocket folders and big envelopes labeled in a way that makes sense to you, or scribble in a diary, or update a file on your computer.
What to Keep
You can put all kinds of things in your journal: plant catalog pages and descriptions, magazine articles, articles printed off the internet, a personal reading list of gardening books, brochures and post cards from gardens you visit, informational hand outs from classes and workshops you attend, plant tags, nursery and garden center receipts, tool warranties, you name it and you can put it in there because it is your PERSONAL garden journal.
Minimum "Must Have" Records
The main thing to keep: a record of what you planted, when you planted it and where you planted it.
Take Notes AND Photos
My strongest suggestion on garden journaling is that you should make notes about your flower garden and also keep a photographic record of your flower garden. Make notes as you go along, and take photos at regular intervals throughout the year. Use a disposable panoramic camera if your own camera will not take a picture wide enough. Store the notes and photos together in one place where you can find them easily for future reference.
You may want to look at them in mid winter as you make your catalog orders, or you may want to keep them in your car so you can check which variety of marigold you liked so much last year. You may want to refer back to your journal when a gardening friend asks you how many zinnias you plant by your mailbox and what kind the terrific pink ones are? Your notes and photos will help you avoid repeating your mistakes and also help you duplicate your successes.
Learn from Your Garden Journal
As time goes by, it will be helpful to look back and see how much you have learned ... and how you learned it! Not only will it be useful to know that your best marigold is a certain variety and that a particular salvia never does well for you, or a which rose and clematis pair is your favorite, but it will be helpful to have a permanent record of planting bed measurements and plant spacing distances you have used in the past (or how many plants you need on eight inch centers to fill a particular bed), along with seasonal notes such as if a year was extra dry or extra rainy, when the first fall frost killed your annuals, and when the last spring frost usually happens.
Garden Journal for Design Ideas and Inspiration
For a more design oriented or inspirational journal concept, see my Garden Journal of Ideas.
All Flower Gardens Articles So Far
Copyright May 2006 Barbara Martin
