Why You Should Keep a Garden Journal
The only constant in the garden is change. It’s not just the drastic changes from winter to spring, but also the smaller differences that you see every week. Sometimes I’m amazed at how a section of my garden can change in just a day. With all these changes, it’s impossible to keep track of not only what the garden looked like, but how you felt about how the garden looked at the time. Feelings cannot be discounted, because they are what you will want to remember at the end of the season when you make decisions about changes for next year. As I work, I constantly make mental notes about individual plants or parts of the yard, but it’s impossible to remember them all.
A garden journal, however you organize it, is the best place to keep all those observations and notes from this year so you can refer back to them in the future. My journal is the most valuable gardening tool I have.
How to Organize a Garden Journal
In reality, how you organize your garden journal doesn’t really matter. The goal is to simply have a place to record all your important observations as the season progresses. If you like traditional organizers, there are many fun options for planners or journals with daily prompts and sections. But if you’re like me, you’ll just need a blank piece of paper and a pen. There are many simple journals with grid pages so you can easily jot down thoughts and sketches. This is the perfect excuse to stroll through the office supply store and find a journal that feels good in your hands and will get you excited about gardening.
The journal lives inside rather than in the garden, and I find keeping it next to the sofa useful because I can pull it out whenever something comes to mind. Since it is nearby, I sometimes force myself to sit down and think about the state of the garden and take some notes. The proximity of the magazine means I can use it when ordering seeds or making other planning decisions.
What to write in your diary
You adapt to a system that will work for you and record relevant information. What I’ve found most helpful is to just let the journal be free-form, but I’ll have an observation page for each season. In the summer, I might just remind myself that a particular pea I planted tasted bad, or “more melons next year!” This is where I note which areas of the garden need more color or whether a plant needs to be moved or divided. In observations or notes about new trellises I’d like, things like “elderberry hanging over neighbor’s fence in August” come up. If I find a plant I like at the nursery, I’ll make a note to find seeds for it next year.
Since I prefer to use my journal free-form, I also use it to sketch out plans for garden boxes or trellises that I will build. Sometimes I make rough plans for the layout of my beds in my journal.
In my journal I record how much compost or mulch I use per season so I can plan for next year, or how much fertilizer was applied where and when it was applied. I often mark large plantings such as trees or shrubs so I can refer back to them if necessary. Sometimes I leave notes about what’s grown, like “four tomato plants = 18 pints of tomatoes” so I know how many to grow next year.
In the dead of winter, when I’m planning my summer garden, I make a list in my journal of everything I want to grow, start breaking it down into smaller varieties, and buy seeds.
Every year I record when my tulips and snapdragons finally bloom, and when my corn and sunflowers sprout. These are weather cues that help me keep track of how my garden responds to the seasons. You will also find these guidelines for your own garden.
A written journal can work in conjunction with a visual journal.
Keeping these written notes is not the only way to record what is happening in the garden. I also often take photographs while walking around the garden. These images work in conjunction with the journal as reference material. When it comes time to plant the tulips next year, I won’t be able to remember where they need to go to place the ones already in the ground, but a photo may help with placement. I probably won’t remember what the bean vines looked like next year when I build a new trellis, but I can refer to the photos. If I’m worried that my tomatoes have the same fungus as last year, having photos I can look at will help me make a decision.
Once you have a journaling system in place, you will discover how incredibly useful it is to have these observations nearby for caring for your garden.