how did you start keeping a journal/diary

Hi Im new to gardening and although I have kept all of the information lables of all the plants I have bought I dont know how to organise them and try to remember where I planted them all :cnfs: I need help how did you start keeping a journal/diary when you started and didnt know all the plants by instant recognision.

 

Will love to see how this thread is answered. I've been gardening for 20 years, have several gardens.
Did cross my mind once to have a journal, but did not start it, and too late now in my opinion. I seem to just remember where I planted all the plants and bulbs but some of the names I've forgotten.

I would think, you'd have to have a diagram of each garden, and it gridded out with numbers, then that number section would list the plants in that grid area. Just a suggestion.

 

Hi Diane and welcome to the board,
I take digital pics of my garden at least once a month and this gives not only a reference of where the plants are, what they are but also the coulor, how well they did this season and which ones to transfer to another location. I also use long marker sticks to record names and species. The first year I did this with the markers in my last garden, I used the wrong type of pen and when I went to check out a p[lant, the sticks were all blank..Doh

 

Hi thanks for the response red star and gingernut it make me giggle about the blank markers tee hee !

the problem is i am the most forgetful person i know...... and without putting a hugh map of my garden on the wall and sticking all the plant labels on it im not sure how to gardeners record things although it would resolve the decorating issue !!!!

 

I use all those methods - to better / lesser extent and success.

I take digital photographs quite frequently, usually two or three times a month - just walk around the garden photographing everything.

Where plants have a label I photograph the label, then the plant, and when I download I rename the image file name to include the label's name, and then delete the label photo. Same when I go to a plant show, or show garden, and see something I like.

I store all my digital photos in folders that start with the date the photo was taken (my camera does this automatically when it downloads) and I rename them to indicate what is in the folder - so 2009_08_08_Garden or 2009_08_08_HolidayInXXX, or with the name of the people who were staying for the weekend - which makes it somewhat easier to find things in the future.

When we moved in we had a digital survey done of the garden; they recorded the exact location of all plants [of reasonable size!], and I have marked up that plan as things have been planted (and when I remember)

You could try using Shoot Gardening Site's garden designer for that - I tried it and didn't think it was going to work for me, but it looked quite good (haven't reviewed it again for at least a year)

I keep a note of the start / end flowering date of all the plants - I update that periodically from my Photos of the garden. Its interesting to see how it varies from year to year, and when, in the Winter, we start discussing "Shall we move XXX to be net to YYY" I can look back and see what the relative flowering times were.

I scan [into the computer] the planting instructions for anything that has useful after-care information on it (if it just says "Plant in such-and-such soil" I don't bother, but some of the more unusual plants I buy sometimes come with leaflets with more information). I keep them as PDF files (again, the file names reflect the actual plant to make it easy to find things).

I have a spreadsheet with Sowing, Planting out, Start/End Harvest dates for Veg, so I can plan better next year.

I have a Notepad file of ToDo tasks, particularly for things that I do every year - so I get the trampoline in, and all the hose, after half-term in the Winter term ... and I have a note of how much Tomato fertilizer, lawn fertilizer, etc. I have used so that I can try to buy a season's worth at best-price during the Winter.

 

Er...........I don't, and I also don't know lots of plants by recognition-I suppose I am the antipode of Kristen who ( and a few others on here) is very forgiving and persevering and often tells me which plant is which. The only strength I have ( if it is one) is that I understand the needs of a plant based on years of half forgotten knowledge. That and plants are very forgiving. It seems a big task at first but it isn't once you get into it.


The only thing nearing organisation is one of those little hexel hardback journal books which fits neatly into the inside pocket of my gardening coat-along with a substantial number of betting pens (the little blue ones) tucked away all over the place.

 

I've kept a gardening diary since 2 September 1972 since that was the year I got my first garden. In general, I wanted to know what succeeded and what didn't. This meant I wanted to know when I sowed seeds, what type of seeds they were, when I sprayed insecticide, or applied fertiliser, when I picked crops, etc.

In the early years, I had relatively few plants and most importantly, a wise old neighbour so it was easy to learn about them and to remember it. I've tried to add a bit of kowledge each year.

I've sometimes made rough drawings of my vegetable patch (I've now got two raised beds) to show the locations of my veg so that I could achieve basic crop rotation.

For me, the garden diary has been a vital tool, every bit as important as a good spade!

 

Thanks all

Your ideas are all great I will be taking photos, make drawings, buy one of those little hexel hardback journal books and pull out an old 2009 diary i havent used as well as uploading images on to my computer. once again thanks so much for your help.

This may seem excessive but more the better it will all help Me (Miss Forgetful) keep my garden in check :yho:

 

I donâ??t have a diary of my garden, but I do have a plan and take frequent digital images whenever I can. I also hang on to plant labels, though Iâ??ve lost one or two along the way, something I find annoying.:dh: Next year, I plan to revamp my front garden, but it'll be done according to whatever's in my head at the time.:lollol:

 

"This may seem excessive but more the better"

I don't think it is excessive, you cannot know what data you don't need - OTOH discovering in a year or two that you wish you had recorded such-and-such, or taken photos from so-and-so an angle, cannot be repeated easily, and represents time lost.

You can, of course, stop recording some data as soon as you decide you have enough, or it was not needed anyway.

Its amazing what I notice when I flick back through photos of previous seasons ...

 

Hi kirsten

"I don't think it is excessive, you cannot know what data you don't need "

yeah i agree i may need some of the info in the future.