Just a suggestion, but ...

OK, so I'm sure the more experienced among us have been doing this for years, but only recently have I learnt (the hard way) to keep a note of not only what is in my garden, but also from where it came.

Last year, I bought several new perennials but I'm afraid the winter took it's toll and all but one has died. Yes, I know, it's my fault for not taking cuttings, but had I made a note of where they came from, I wouldn't now be walking around every nursery/garden centre/'shed' within a 30 mile radius wondering if this is where I got them. :dh:

 

What were the perennials? It might just have been an extra cold winter that did for them, rather than the garden centre/nursery where you bought them.

Or is it that you can't remember what the plants are and by walking around looking for them, are trying to remember!

I am a bit nerdy and make plans of the garden and lists of what I intend to do in the future...

 

On a slightly similar vein, this year I have made a log on my pc of everything I have planted, varieties, the date, where started ( as in .... outdoors/house/greenhouse ) when they germinated, when I potted on, composts etc. used, and eventually I will make notes of their success/failures/whether I would use again/whether would sow earlier or later next year, and so on. I always think I will remember this stuff, but never do. It is now quite a large document :hehe:

 

Yes indeed... nerdiness is taking me over, and I am entirely happy for it to do so!

I have a gardening diary this year (It's an Alan Titchmarsh one and was bought for me as a Christmas present) and I am enjoying filling it in with ideas, what I have done, need to do and little sketches and drawings of plans. We've had a few crisis moments this year, so I don't fill it in too regularly, just when I have the time. But that is quite fun, because I have just written in it for the first time in a month and was able to tick loads off my to do lists, and write a lot in.

I haven't been good enough to write in the names of everything I have put in, but I am thinking about starting to, as I am losing track of bulbs and things. I have invested in LOADS of stick labels which is really helping, but I ran out for a bit and that is where my problem lies!

There are pockets in the diary though, for seed packets, and I'm sticking plant labels in them when I get something new.

I have three kids to look after, and I am particularly stressed out lately, so to me the garden is my refuge. I get frustrated by lack of time to garden, and time to think about gardening, but I guess when the kids are grown up I will miss being so involved in their lives.

So, for the moment at least, I am happy to be an uncool, slightly frumpy, gardening nerd!

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not 'after' those who sold them to me, I know what they were and (almost to the inch) where they were planted - I just want some more... if only I could remember where I bought them!

 

So what are they? Maybe we can find an online retailer for you

 

I'm glad I'm not alone! I have started making notes of what I have planted and where it is - especially as I like bulbs. I have also started taking photos of the garden at different times of the year and how well or bad plants do and write myself suggestions of what I can do next time round. I've got 2 children and it is only now that they are both at school that I can indulge myself with a bit of gardening!

 

There are lots of good garden centre/nurseries in Kent and across in East Sussex (not uch use if you are on the South East part of the county) with stocls of good Perennials - they do seem to have risen in price once again so I look round for the smaller pots and grow on for nest year,
Am not good at keeping lists but I do retain all the labels from the plants I buy.

 

Hi all,

Having read this thread, I have to agree I think it's a good idea to keep records. I'm just really starting to get into gardening and it wasn't something I had considered until now.

This might be a bit too "tech" or "nerd", but for those unafraid of experimentation with computer software a Gantt Chart might be useful in planning and tracking the garden development for the year.

It allows for setting up task and resources and also setting up predecessor tasks, what resources they are dependent upon, etc. Resources can also have a number of units... (you might have 30 litres of compost, for example).

Gantt Project appears to be fairly easy to use (so far, using it for a university project).

A bit geeky, requires some patience to learn perhaps and maybe more suited for bigger projects.

Regards,

Ryan

 

I'm a bit "nerdi" in that I mirror my credit card account on a rolling Excel spreadsheet, with a column for different catagories of expenditure,

I file all my credit card receipts away with the statements. I've a column for "gardening" so it's easy to scroll up to find particular purchases and where and when they were bought.
As many garden centres give from three to five year guarantees on their plants, I've been able to find the receipts and take a dead rose, or whatever, back and get a refund. I must have done this at least half a dozen times over the past ten years.

The other thing I do is take photographs of everything when it's in bloom. I find it hard to remember "what's where" otherwise and it stops me from making bad decisions over planting at other times of the year.