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Cloudy skies. Low 44F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

Cloudy skies. Low 44F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.

Last summer, my husband and I bought a new hydrangea bush and planted it in our backyard. Both of us were hoping to take good care of this beauty so it would last a long time. A few days after it was planted, I fertilized it. Somehow, there was a slight breakdown of communication between my husband and me, and a couple of days later, my husband fertilized the new hydrangea bush again. Needless to say, that plant was over-fertilized and did not survive the rest of that summer. As the summer progressed, there were still some signs of life at its roots, so we are watching to see if it survived its dormant period over the winter and comes back this growing season.

What was our lesson (besides communicating more clearly with my partner)? It was to try to keep a garden journal. I have previously kept a record of my garden expenses, and I have a map of “what we planted where” for a couple of areas of our yard. It is time to augment this practice and put all of our garden record keeping together.

Keeping a garden journal can be part of the whole garden process. It’s a place to keep records, sketches, plans, notes, maps, photos and anything else that relates to your garden. It can document and celebrate your successes and can help you learn from your mistakes. Those who have kept a garden journal have said, “You’ll find yourself referring to it from year-to-year with a sense of achievement and satisfaction.”

This is the perfect time to set-up your garden journal. The spring gardening season is just about upon us, so if you start your journal now, you’ll be ready for the growing season.

There are many types of garden journals. It can be as simple as a plain spiral notebook, or there are commercially prepared garden journals that can be ordered online. I like to use a notebook to which I can add pages as I need them. I like it to have pockets or an envelope, so I can save the receipts for plants that I bought, and I can keep the plant tags so that I can find them if I want to refer back to know a particular plant’s needs. I think the whole garden journal needs to be sturdy enough (with perhaps a waterproof cover), for me to take it outdoors to sketch in it, and to record data as I look at my garden’s progress. I need to keep our garden journal in a place in our house where it is easy to see, so we will remember to use it.

It is helpful to divide a garden journal into sections with divider pages and perhaps pockets with each. A few of the possible sections of your journal could be: “Seeds and plants” so you can document when seeds were planted and save the seed packets there. “Expenses” so you can save receipts, and keep track and stay within your garden budget. A “Calendar” section will help you stay on track and calculate harvest dates. If you record the last spring and first fall frost dates each year, it can help you avoid losing plants to frost in future years. “Maintenance” is where you can make notes about all the things that it takes to have a successful garden: weeding, watering, fertilizing, pruning, controlling pests, harvesting, etc. A section for “Sketches” can help you document where you planted what from year to year.

What do you write in a garden journal?

1. A sketch of your garden layout from season to season.

3. A list of successful plants and those to avoid in the future.

5. A list of plants you’d like to try, along with their growing requirements.

6. When you started seeds and transplanted plants.

8. An accounting of what you paid for plants and supplies to help keep you within your budget.

9. It can be good to have a plant hardiness map inside the cover, to remind you of appropriate planting times.

No matter if you just plan to grow a few vegetables in containers, do a bit of flower gardening, or landscape your property with some bushes and trees, a garden journal can help you be more efficient, less wasteful, and feel more successful as a gardener.

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