I've been watching your post to see the answers you might get. None so far. I think journaling about one's gardening is a very logical rational thing to do and the records to look back on would be very useful. But I would never keep it up if I started it. It sounds too much like "homework." I think the fun part of my gardening efforts is that it isn't rocket science, it isn't very important in the big scheme of life, so I can just mess around and play with the plants. Journaling would make it a "big deal." I do hope my "poor attitude" doesn't deter anyone else from trying it tho.

I keep an Excel spreadsheet type deal with the plant info on the columns. It is helpful to refer back to for the names & the year I planted them, etc. I can't remember the names of sll the camellias, roses, etc. So this is a helpful tool.

But otherwise, I keep a spiral notebook to jot down my thougths & 'dreams'. It is only for fun stuff. I keep it very informal.

I totally agree with the 'laissez-faire' in the garden. After all, if it becomes like work, then the fun is gone!

I mean, we are talking dirt here!

Hi! I also posted this on the house plants board and that one got more responses if you are interested. Here's a link.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg071258393798.html?13

I mainly just want to keep track of what I have, where I got it, and what I've done to it. KWIM? Anyway, I found this garden journal software that you can download for 30 day free trial. It's $20 and I think I'm going to get it. It's very cool with features for cataloguing your seeds, plants, weather, etc plus you can put pictures in it. Here's a link to that if anyone is interested. It is by far the best one I've seen. I keep a notebook to jot everything down in but wanted something more organized. I have about 40 different cuttings rooting on my screened porch and and trying to parent some african violets from leaves.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and I totally agree that when it becomes work it's not good. LOL I just want to record the basics. I mean I have plenty of books and online resources if I need to know the care of anything.

Michelle

http://www.mygardenjournal.com/index.html

A formal journal is hard to keep up. I tend to misplace things, or forget.

I 'journal' by keeping the photo from the bag of bulbs, the identifying stake or tag from a flat or pot, and invoices from mail order, in a basket or box.

I have a pretty spiral notebook where I keep notes. Sometimes. I have a purchased book that has space for notes where I SOMETIMES make entries. It's helpful to have large spaces so the next year and the next differences in performance can be compared.

I make photos and keep them on a DVD. I've found keeping them by date makes it easier to go back and see what was blooming when. By the end of July, you definitely will not remember how your garden looked at the first of June.

I've made spread sheets with lists of bulbs I planted, or meant to plant, or dug and discarded. I make little sketches of changes I want to try.

There's a web page where my garden photos are posted along with significant things I want to remember, like what annuals do well in sandy soil. Lots of categories, a few photos in each.

It isn't important how you record so long as there is something somewhere so you can look back on your successes and failures.

Nell

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden

I've recently begun to keep a journal when it became apparent that I was beginning to forget important details about things I've planted, mistakes I've made (lots of those!), and so on.

At first I tried a straight chronological approach such as day/month/year and what I did then.

Got about twenty pages into it and decided it would be difficult to find specific information again if I could not recall an approximate date.

Now I'm trying it like this:

Broad general categories such as fruits & nuts, vegetable gardening, ornamentals, grounds general, soil amendments, and so on.

Within each category I have subcategories:

Fruits & Nuts
.....Blackberries
.....Blueberries
.....Citrus
.....Minor fruits
and so on and so on.

Same for Ornamentals
.....Camellias
.....Daylilies
.....Annuals

When I make an entry in a given category or sub-category I date each one. Now if I want to find when I planted the Shi-Shi Gashira camellia, or what I fertilized the pecan trees with the year I planted them I can go pretty much right to it.

I may change the format yet again, but so far this one seems to be working. I'm doing the same thing for the family poultry now too.

Doing a journal electronically is probably the easiest as it's the most amenable to change, but I've chosen to keep a hand-written one using a bound composition book. My reason for doing that is that when I need to record something my computer isn't always turned on, or someone else is using it, and so on. With a bound journal it's always available and I can pull it off the shelf anytime to jot down a quick note. Equally important, maybe even more so, I can read the thing laying in bed in the evenings which I can't do with an electronic journal. ;-)

I couldn't have done this ten years ago. Didn't have the patience, but I'm more amenable to that kind of thing now. I've even stopped being embarrassed about my horrible penmanship. So long as I can read it that's all that matters.

Wish I'd started it three years ago when we bought the place...

.....Alan.

Thanks for the link to your gardens site! Love your page! I'm going to check out something like that too and see which one I like better. I like the database style of the software but you can't attach pictures to the files so that's a bummer. I may do better to make a website or do a blog.

And I'm definitely more on the computer than by hand. I type about 80 wpm so it's just faster for me to type it in than to write it out by hand. Plus I can easily print to read it in bed!! LOL

Michelle

Nell & Jean's tour of their Foxes Garden was so interesting & pleasant. Cur looks like a comforting companion.
Journals...I don't keep a journal, but do keep records in a binder. Records include supplier info., and as much information that I can find about a planting and those I'm considering. I use a calendar to keep track of when to fertilize, prune, etc. I measured out my yard, using markers every three feet, and transferred these measurments to make a diagram on graph paper. This diagram helps in planning. I'm in the beginning stages of landscaping.
Pat

Just want to expand on something Nell wrote. "It isn't important how you record so long as there is something somewhere so you can look back on your successes and failures."
My gardens of the past are in memory only. Sure would like to have a pic of that chrysanthemum garden wannabe show mums planted years ago and what happened when the mums were over-fertilized (long stemmed, bitty flowers) to remind my helper who loves to fertilize. (sigh)
Pat

i've tried a few different things but this year I'm just jotting notes down on a regular old calender purchased just for that use. The good thing is that those little blocks aren't intimidating to me. The bad thing is they don't have enough room. Mainly I've been recording when things are planted and when they bloom and have had a hard time keeping up even with that.

The best solution for me is to hire a personal secretary to walk around behind me in the yard and record my mutterings and observations. Otherwise, I don't think I'm ever going to be a diligent journaler regardless of how much value I see in it and how much I wish every year that I had done a better job the year before. I never have been good at the desk jobs!

I like the 10-year Garden Journal published by Lee Valley Tools. It has space for jotting down daily notes as well as pages for listing ornamentals, vegetables, trees, as well as pages for drawing maps of your gardens.

The Daily pages have room for 10-years' worth of comments. I like being able to see what I wrote on the same date in previous years.

In addition, I keep a spiral bound notebook that I use for writing about successes, failures, observations, etc.

A nice "take with you to the garden" journal consists of using a recipe box (I prefer the 5"x8" size) and use two types of dividers (Alphabetical A-Z and Monthly Jan-Dec). I then file a card for each plant/tree/shrub by name of plant and also include plant detail/care/other information, where/when/price purchased, and where planted in the alabetical section. I also can place a photo protected by clear tape on the back of the card. In the monthly section, I file general cards noting "TO DO'S" that I would like to accomplish that month so I don't forget seasonal needs (fertilize, prune, etc). One could also add additional sets of alphabetal A-Z dividers in possibly different colors to use to further divide different groups (annuals, perennials, trees/shrubs, etc). You can also use the monthly section for other monthly reminders you may want to remember (birthdays, anniversaries, or special "to do" reminders). Hope this is helpful - Works for me!

I keep a photo journal. When I plant something new I take a picture. That way I have a record with photo that I can look back at and see how well something is doing, or not.

It may seem like a geeky solution, but when I had jobs where I had to take a lot of notes, I created an index in the back of my notebook.

So it didn't matter that I had entered in everything as I encountered it, I could just say that X is on page 27 or on date 4/1/08

So cross-reference the notes you took, that way you won't have to rewrite.

Michelle,
I use My Garden Journal and love it. I've had it for 5 years and it's easy to keep up. I've also changed computers a few times and haven't had any problems with their customer service helping me getting the software on the new computer.
I use it and a day planner - the kind with a week on 2 pages. I use the planner for day to day information and the software for plant, seed, wich list and weather info.
Barb

Funny, nobody came along and mentioned BLOGGING a garden journal.

I recommend Wordpress, though my more frequent Garden Blog is on Blogger.
Wordpress allows making pages separate to the blog, which you can then link on the Main Page.

Nell

Here is a link that might be useful: Secrets of a Seed Scatterer