For years, I was the kind of gardener who simply planted things and did my best to remember locations and conditions. My results were fine, but there were times when I unintentionally dug up bulbs and lost track of where I had applied compost and manure to the beds and in what amounts. As my garden grew, there was more and more to remember and more and more to forget.
The first year I lived in my current house, I grew the most unbelievable corn – I had so much of it that my family couldn’t eat it all and I ended up giving half of it away. This did not upset me – quite the contrary. I enjoyed giving the extra corn to my friends, co-workers and neighbors. Unfortunately, I didn’t make a note of the specific corn seed I used that year and have been on a search for those same outstanding results ever since. That corn was so good it was ridiculous.
I also lost track of where I had moved my daffodil bulbs when I renovated the garden. We were working so fast that they got scattered all over the garden and until they bloomed the following year, their location was a mystery to me. Unfortunately, during that time, I ended up planting other bulbs too close to the dormant daffodils and things became a bit of a mess the following spring with lots of transplanting required.
The past couple of years I decided to take the advice of many gardeners more experienced than I and started to keep a garden journal. I have seen the light, my friends.
Reading through my 2009 journal today, it was fascinating to see how my plans evolved throughout the spring and summer and how many details were in the journal which I would have otherwise forgotten. I also used it for notating ideas for future designs, sketches and plantings as they occurred to me, ideas which I’m sure would have otherwise been lost.
A garden journal is especially excellent for making note of which types of vegetable seeds you’re planting (their technical or patent names), so if you have spectacular success with a certain plant, you’ll know which seed and company produced it, so you can use that same seed again. This is especially handy when dealing with a plant like corn which has literally hundreds (thousands?) of varieties.
What I learned from my journal this year:
I started my pepper seeds too late (indoors). Next year I’ll start them 3 weeks earlier so the plants are more mature and disease resistant when I plant them in my garden. Here in Pennsylvania we had an unusually cold and wet season (also recorded in my journal) and blight attacked my peppers and tomatoes. If the pepper plants had been farther along when the blight hit, they might have produced more fruit.
The specific type of creeping thyme I planted in that little strip between my sidewalk and the street (coccineus and pink chintz). This will certainly help when I add to those plantings next year.
I planted some periwinkle I picked up at a spring nursery sale and totally forgot about it. I planted it by my quince tree on May 13 and weeds in this relatively untended part of my garden overtook it. Today I cleaned up that area so I could see the periwinkle.
The corn seed I used this year was Burpee’s Super Sweet “Sweet Perfection Hybrid”. Results were okay, but not outstanding (could have been due to wet weather as much as anything else), but I’ll use a different seed next year and compare the results. I kept specific notes about the germination, pollination, taste and harvest date.
The beans I planted were Burpee’s Bush Snap “Greencrop”. These produced magnificently and I’ll use this seed again next year.
The date the rabbits decimated every pepper plant and spinach leaf (June 10)
Dates I applied compost tea on plants (6/6 and 7/5) and the results which followed (clearly perked them up)
The dates I planted each phase of Daikon Radishes for winter cover crops. Results to be determined.
The most important things you should keep track of are:
- Type of seeds/bulbs/annuals, including technical names of the plants as listed on their tag, bag or seed packet.
- Where exactly everything is planted
- Germination rate of vegetable seeds (how many days until the first leaves appeared/how many of the seeds produced crop)
- Quality of the fruit or vegetable
- Significant weather events
- Soil test results
- Were the fruits or vegetables ready on the scheduled harvest dates as listed on the seed packet? If not, by how many days were they off? Best guess as to why?
- Ideas for changes in your designs for the following year.
- Dates of applications for organic controls of pests and diseases. Were they succesful?
In a nutshell, every time you do anything significant in your garden, anytime the weather does something significant, anytime your plants show a significant change (improvement, growth, lack of growth, disease, infestation, etc), record it in your journal, because it will be an important reference source for the following year and years to come. It’s a great educational tool.
Mine looks just like this!
By the way, I don’t use a laptop to journal as some do. I’m old school and prefer writing in a small book I can carry around with me into the garden where I can take specific notes as I’m studying the plants or daydreaming. So if you’re like me, make sure that your journal has a durable cover and quality paper because you’ll undoubtedly subject it to lots of dirt, UV rays and water.
I'll do my best to answer it.
