I think it’s fair to say I thrive on record-keeping. I keep track of the books I’ve read, my knitting projects, and, yes, my gardening. Last summer I bought this Garden Journal, which packs a lot of worksheets into a pretty small footprint. Rather than imposing strict discipline, the author encourages gardeners to use whatever suits them. There are about thirty different worksheets (and multiple copies of each), including log pages for various types of plants, individual plant pages, weather logs, pruning records, diary entries, and multi-year plans.
Lovely! I too record and log, also noting weather anomalies, taping in some plant tags as an aid to remembering varieties, and as you note, recording successes and "shortcomings". The hand drawn garden plans are invaluable, aren't they! Being in zone 5b (without a greenhouse), our seed planting season is a later one than yours, so it's good to know which ones actually come to life before the vagaries of autumn arrive. I am taking great joy in watching your garden take shape, Laura.
I kept a little notebook for the first year after moving into this house and then I dropped off. And then every spring I wonder what kind of snap peas I planted or how many tomatoes I put in and where I planted that last milkweed. So, yes, I think I could probably benefit from one of these! I love the flexibility in the one you use. I might have to pick one up!
You are so organised, and everything that I aspire to be. I bought a little diary for the first time at the start of the year to try to document when flowers appeared; successes and failures; veg seed sowing and transplanting etc. I got off to a flying start, and then suddenly one day, no sign of the diary. I turned the house upside down but no joy. Fast forward 2 months and it turns up at the bottom of a giant tote bag that we keep the mattress in for our son’s travel cot. He had squirrelled it away. Anyway, the diarising can now recommence, but the missing couple of months were a fairly key period in the garden. Never mind!
Lovely! I too record and log, also noting weather anomalies, taping in some plant tags as an aid to remembering varieties, and as you note, recording successes and "shortcomings". The hand drawn garden plans are invaluable, aren't they! Being in zone 5b (without a greenhouse), our seed planting season is a later one than yours, so it's good to know which ones actually come to life before the vagaries of autumn arrive. I am taking great joy in watching your garden take shape, Laura.
I love the garden journal idea. What a great way to remember what works.
I kept a little notebook for the first year after moving into this house and then I dropped off. And then every spring I wonder what kind of snap peas I planted or how many tomatoes I put in and where I planted that last milkweed. So, yes, I think I could probably benefit from one of these! I love the flexibility in the one you use. I might have to pick one up!
So exciting to watch this come into being. The only thing that surprises me about this is: where are the spreadsheets?!? 😊
You are so organised, and everything that I aspire to be. I bought a little diary for the first time at the start of the year to try to document when flowers appeared; successes and failures; veg seed sowing and transplanting etc. I got off to a flying start, and then suddenly one day, no sign of the diary. I turned the house upside down but no joy. Fast forward 2 months and it turns up at the bottom of a giant tote bag that we keep the mattress in for our son’s travel cot. He had squirrelled it away. Anyway, the diarising can now recommence, but the missing couple of months were a fairly key period in the garden. Never mind!