Remembering what is planted where: tips?

Another idea I've seen used by a friend is to source some sheets of thin aluminium and cut the sheets into label size, then scratch the name of the plant on them. It certainly is much more permanent than marker pen and the labels don't break. Cutting up the labels is however somewhat mind blowingly boring as did help friend do some

 

I have a schematic plan of my gardens on an Excel sheet . It marks where the plant is , it name and year of planting. For the clematis I note what type it is and colour code them . As they are all "callout text boxes " I can drag them round to reposition them if I move them , or drag them to the cemetery area when I kill them !

 

Well, I just know. I stand back and ponder / view my gardens for a while taking a snap shot in my mind. Would have too many tags if I did the tag thing and then have to gather them up when I raked the leaves then put the tags back ----are you kidding me----too much work. I just know.

 

I could make a mint selling paddle stones, but knowing my luck I'd get caught collecting my supply.

 

Draw a garden plan and remember to update with new additions, and/or keep a diary or a garden journal. It worked for Derek Jarman and it works for me. Best of luck!

 

Some things I do in case helpful:

I photograph the whole garden every couple of weeks. Anything in flower I take one shot to show where the plant is in relation to others, then a close-up to see what the flower is like etc. and then, lastly, a photo of the label (whilst it still exists!) so then I have a chronological record of when things flower in the garden etc. Useful for "When did this flower last year" and "I want to move this, what else flowers when it does".

I have a list of all my plants, and I "pace" from one end of the bed and just record how many "yards" the plant position is. My list is in Excel, so if I sort by "Pace Number" and I then get a list of the plants in approximate order down the bed - the list obviously has no concept of Front/Back, but hopefully I can tell the difference between the several plants that are recording as being "X paces" down the bed!!

For vegetables, where I am growing several varieties next to each other - for example I will have 10 varieties of Tomatoes this year - I always plant them in Alphabetical order - then when all the labels are lost, and I never copied my scribbled notes back into my Excel speadsheet (presumably I am the only person so disorganised and bone idle that fails to do the Admin?!!!) then the alphabetical-order helps me out.

P.S. I copy any list of plants / seed packets etc. that I get in Email confirmations of orders into a text file with a note of Date and Supplier. I just continuously add to the end of the file, and can then use that to refer back to get exact variety name etc. when I've forgotten exactly what's-now-what.