Journalling Your Garden Season

Keeping a Garden Journal Should be Fun!

The first hurdle to get over is to avoid looking at journaling as a chore or an assignment. A garden journal is a tool to be used as best fits the gardener who wrote it.

If just the details are for you…

Some gardeners may want only to record details. In this case, a tablet of graph paper may be all you need, with columns set up for dates, high and low temperatures, weather conditions, and maybe even barometer readings.

If making it reader-friendly is for you…

Include your opinions as well as your observations. If there is something strange going on, include it.

If tracking changes with photos is for you….

Another plus of having journalling on the computer is the ability to insert photographs of the garden as it progresses each month. It not only allows you to see what is planted and where for the current garden, but it gives you a good comparison from year to year, season to season.

There are many dedicated gardening journals on the market, but a notebook can be just as effective.

If you like to draw, you may want to start out with a sketch book and make quick, informal sketches or draw plans of the beds.  There are also books with blank pages that are water-resistant in case they get splashed.

Even a calendar with large spaces for the days can work. You can be as brief as you like (planted peas in NW veggie bed) and yet record all the necessary information in one place. A calendar could also be a means to record a quick reminder for a day when you have the time to sit down and detail your observations.

The important part of starting a journal is to be as consistent as possible in your entries.