Saturday, April 25, 2015

Garden Record Keeping

Greetings fellow gardeners!

Now that pretty spring weather has arrived, I am getting excited about my 2nd  summer of growing vegetables at Green Meadows.  I recently purchased a book at Costco called “Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast.”  The book has proven to be quite helpful and an interesting read.

Garden Journal by Christine Claret, Home Depot Associate
for crafty instructions to make!
http://gardenclub.homedepot.com/make-a-garden-journal-plan-learn-grow/
One section of the book discusses the importance of keeping records about your garden.  Garden journals can be used to help those of us with feeble memories, recollect methods and strategies that have proven successful in the past.  Likewise they afford us the opportunity to avoid repeating past mistakes that resulted in disappointing harvests.  Information collected in your journal can be as thorough as you desire.  According to Wallace, Thomas Jefferson kept extensive garden journals recording everything.  Some information to record can include:  sowing dates, planting dates, garden maps, plant varieties, soil amendments and quantities, fertilizing methods, pest impacts, watering habits, and garden chores.  The list could go on and on. 

You can easily create your own garden journal using a good old fashioned spiral ring notebook or you can purchase one from amazon or gardening supply stores.  I conducted a brief internet search and found a free printable garden notebook online.  The link is below.  If you don’t use the notebook at this link, you can at least get an idea of how you may want to organize your own journal.

Happy Gardening Everyone!

Susan Bed 16

Free Printable Garden Notebook from Frugal Living – About.com


Wallace, Ira.  (2013).  Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast. Portland, Oregon:  Timber Press.