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'm not surprised to see that you also have some record-keeping habits! My initial motivation this year was similar to yours. This is our first year starting seeds (vs. directly sowing everything), and for the veg garden I wanted to be able to track the full cycle from seed tray to greenhouse to bed to harvest.
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!
Flexibility is the key, I think. Over time, the need for a journal and the specific things you choose to record might vary. In my case, any time I tell myself "I don't need to write this down I'm sure I'll remember ... " I know it's time to record it in the journal LOL.
LOL you know me too well, Terri. I have on a couple of occasions considered creating a spreadsheet but decided to use one of the worksheets instead. I still have plenty of other spreadsheets to manage other parts of my life. 😀
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!
Don't be too hard on yourself Dan. Just start where you are. Perhaps you could treat the gap in your diary as part of a future trip down memory lane. You could make a note in it somewhere i.e., "diary lost at bottom of tote bag". What was frustrating this year will be funny next year!
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'm not surprised to see that you also have some record-keeping habits! My initial motivation this year was similar to yours. This is our first year starting seeds (vs. directly sowing everything), and for the veg garden I wanted to be able to track the full cycle from seed tray to greenhouse to bed to harvest.
I love the garden journal idea. What a great way to remember what works.
And what doesn't work, too!
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!
Flexibility is the key, I think. Over time, the need for a journal and the specific things you choose to record might vary. In my case, any time I tell myself "I don't need to write this down I'm sure I'll remember ... " I know it's time to record it in the journal LOL.
So exciting to watch this come into being. The only thing that surprises me about this is: where are the spreadsheets?!? 😊
LOL you know me too well, Terri. I have on a couple of occasions considered creating a spreadsheet but decided to use one of the worksheets instead. I still have plenty of other spreadsheets to manage other parts of my life. 😀
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!
Don't be too hard on yourself Dan. Just start where you are. Perhaps you could treat the gap in your diary as part of a future trip down memory lane. You could make a note in it somewhere i.e., "diary lost at bottom of tote bag". What was frustrating this year will be funny next year!