What purpose does a garden journal serve?

I've never kept one and was thinking about keeping one this year. What purpose do they serve and what are you supposed to put in them?

I helps me keep my facts straight, as my memory is not 100% reliable. I love looking back at journals from previous years. They remind me of weather conditions for the period, what my obsessions were at the time, plant failures, successes, cultural practices. I write once a week, 10-20 sentences. I've been known to skip weeks and I don't allow myself to feel guilty about it. It does help to keep it short, that way it is never a daunting task for me.

I also keep a very disorganized library of pictures, and each year one of my resolutions is to organize the pictures, but I've yet to do that...

I put dates when I started plants and how many I started.
During the growing season I write input on how well plants are doing in the gardens. I also keep a diagram of the flowerbeds. I keep the tags from when I bought new Perennials and the date. Then in later years I can see what I have grown and what I would like to have more of.
Really,it is anything you want to put in, It is fun to go back and see what yu have been doing in past years. This a sample pic I put in
Aleta

This year I posted a journal on DG. I use it to ID plants, record info and links about specific plants and post my photos. That way, I have plant photos stored when I might otherwise neglect saving them. The computer may crash but the photos should survive in Daves Garden. I have also cast about using DG's diary. This coming growing season, I hope to record plants (acquired or gifted), bloom seasons, failures and successes. Should I chose to, both journal and diary can be printed out. http://davesgarden.com/journal/j/sj/podster/0/ I think it will be interesting to see the transition over time. pod

thanks for all the tips

To me podster mentioned the best reason, bloom season or bloom time. If you know when plants are likely to bloom you can group colors that work better, or stagger bloom times so there's plants flowering at different times. Especially spring bulbs, if you time it right, combinations can be striking

Claypa ~ Interesting you mentioned that. I am watching for a phenomena I've noticed in years past. It seems colors of the plants I have, bloom in sequence. It starts with the whites... it will move on thru yellows and then come the purples. Hope to document it this year and see if it was my imagination or for sure... pod

that's an interesting theory Podster. Out of all 44 irises I planted in July, my purple one bloomed first in December. I have others with blooms on them but they haven't opened to tell what colors they will be.

Anticipation, isn't life grand! I intend to follow the blooms and although they overlap the colors do run like that. Probably just the types of plants I am growing so I think I need to do what Claypa suggests and add some different color combos...

podster, I observe patterns also. But with me, it seems I'm pastel crazy early in the year, and move on to intense colors on the 2nd half, so my spring garden is very soft and my summer/fall garden is vibrant.

The first time I noticed this was when reading my old journals.

This message was edited Jan 11, 2007 11:13 AM

Odd, it must be the types of plants we lean to... You know the pastel colors are supposed to feel cooler and here in the heat of summer you have brilliant colors, interesting. I have noticed a few with intense color that love the heat of summer. Crocosmia is one that delights me when it gets steamy.

I didn't do it intentionally. Had it not been for reading my old journals, I wouldn't have discovered my tendencies.

I hate writing in my garden journal, BUT... I love reading them, I started my journal back in 1993, to read some of the things I wrote...
Bachelor buttons... YUK hate em, scrawny and weedy lookin.. never plant again!
Then read from 2004... BB really pretty this year.. yes would plant again... need to enlarge BB bed!
Thats just one of the many contradictory statements I have made to myself...
Point is you do learn so much from yourself... you knew it along, just sort of forgot. Glad I don't listen to me.

Oh and even though I hate writing... I make myself do it.
Fran

Mine has been a real example to me of how tricky the mind is, like frans. It has kept me from making the same mistake over and over!

podster, I have been wondering what the DG's Journal is for and you are the first member profile that I have found using it. Nice job. Do you also keep a paper journal? I'm going to start a paper journal this season and maybe augment it by keeping photos in the digital (DG) journal. Podster is right about saving your own disk space, pictures are real memory hogs.....along with music and audible books.

I have a 4-day weekend starting today and plan to begin germinating some seeds, setting up a new compost system, weeding, trimming, moving some plants around that are in the wrong spot - - - oh and time to sit and read for a bit each day. Whew!

Mary ~ thanks for the journal comment but no, I don't keep paper also ~ no time thanks to DG. I spend way too much time here. : ) I intend some day to print it out, maybe? The journal was a winter gardening project that I was determined to do and although not completed I really had fun doing it. I won't lie tho I was inspired by other DGrs journals. If someone had plants or gardening ideas that caught my attention, I looked to see if they had a journal. Some styles of keeping a journal are different so gave me ideas. Same with gardening some styles of gardening are different and thats what give us ideas... pod

Interesting thread.

I started writing down the plants I had and just kept it up. I use it the most to see where I moved a plant to, but It holds all the information. I keep another with the bloom times and the bed it's in, and another with just the plant name and page. I recently made a spread sheet so I can rearrange the cells to be alphabetical by plant name, latin name, where I got it from, or if it died. I think it's fun.

Now, I've never noticed what colors bloom in order. That is interesting. Spring does tend to be the soft colors, with hot colors in the summer, and the rich colors in the fall. I'm going to look for that this year.

Hi Billyporter ~ glad to see ya. Are you counting down the days to spring?
In my last post I said "The journal was a winter gardening project that I was determined to do and although not completed I really had fun doing it." After I posted, I thought boy did that sound less than intelligent! A journal will never be done as long as a gardener is still gardening. Sorry for the gaff... pod

Hi Everybody!!!

I've never been good at being consistant with the paper journal but I'm putting more effort into my online one here at DG. It's easy to pop over there and make a note or post a picture and pop back to the excitement in the threads. Remember I said I was doing better not great.

Jeri

Jeri, yours is one of the journals I toured and you have some great landscaping and gardening info. Worth a trip to this DG journal!

Thanks Podster, I've been a member since August. I've learned so much and met some of the nicest people. This was the best money I've every spent.

I agree, it is like a magazine subscription you can get a new copy of every day or two. Well worth the price of admission!

Noobie ~ You can "cut 'n paste" things you want to put in the DG journal. For example, one succulent journal I went to: the gal would buy online and cut and paste the plant description and care info into her journal. Even dates acquired and prices if you want to...

I also like to put links in the DG journal. Links to other websites for research on types of favorite plants, links to the Plant Files, links to a particular forum that has some good info. All for assistance to my feeble mind... : ) pod

Hi Podster, I love the link idea, that is cool! I haven't done anything with my journal here. I keep my notebooks up to date because I'm not always on the computer. I get so caught up in the forums I don't even update the diary.

I am so counting down the days and mentally enlarging beds. I have flowers ordered that I have no idea where they are going, and some, a spot to put them just fell into place. I love it when that happens!

Hi Jeri11, I signed up last March and will be a member till they quit. I love it here! I'm off to see your journal!

If anyone is interested in a Journal to record in - check out this website
www.aGardenersJournal.com

I don't keep a journal as such, but for some yrs. have kept a log of iris blooms (date of bloom start). Iris plants are our specialty. It is good to know of yr. to yr. when plants bloom. I do note on the bloom time if a plant has been lost or discarded.
we always wonder if a plant has been not flowering for awhile & the log is a good check.

A log is a great idea. I notice from year to year, the time frame is different on blooming. I am sure due to weather.

Hiya Billyporter! Glad to see you around and not frozen solid under drifts of snow. Am sure you are looking forward to spring.

One other reason I like to stash photos of newly acquired plants in the journal. Seems like some plants aren't growing and after a period of time, I can look at the original size and shape of plant and know if the care is correct. Just another thought.

Hey Podster, nice to see you too! It snowed this morn, but nothing stuck. I walked thru the last snow making a zen pattern, but it was just to get more sun to the grass so it would melt :))

My first entry for blooms is, as usual, ''Crocus up an inch'' :)) It's been as early as March first and as late as the first week in April. Next should be the Blue Flag, then the Daffodils. I haven't got a lot of spring bloomers. I need to work on that!

Zen