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The Garden Notebook

© Deborah Turton

Organic gardeners are experimenters. We try different varieties of plants; we experiment with mulches, watering routines, nutrient sprays, etc, all in an effort to grow healthy, productive plants. To this end, a garden journal is a great help to the organic gardener. Face it, most of us are too busy to remember where we left the car keys, much less when we mulched the potatoes last year.

There are several different ways to create a journal. Right now I'm very low-tech with my pencil and paper. This is nice because I can easily draw pictures of where I'm planting and I don't have to fire up the computer to record information. Unfortunately, it's not easily searchable.

I've also used a calender. Calenders are convenient because the date is always there and you can look at an entire month. They're inconvenient because the squares don't have a lot of room for writing. I've also used a regular word processing program. I did this for about three years. If you use a computer remember to backup frequently. I didn't and lost years of information. Turning on the computer can be a hassle, but a computer file is usually searchable. You'll have to decide which is best for you.

As a rule of thumb, if it pertains to your garden, record it in your journal. It's better to write something down and find you don't need it than to wonder how you grew those great tomatoes last year. To get you started, I've listed some important information to track.

Varieties and Performance.

Everybody throws out seed packets, but you need the information about which variety you grew to plan next year's garden. So, record the variety and where you bought each variety. Keep track of which varieties produced abundantly, which ones tasted great, and when they were ready to eat.

Planting Amounts

Eating is my favorite part of gardening. Therefore, it's important for me to note whether or not I planted enough of a given crop. My Royal Burgundy beans might have produced abundantly this year, but I didn't plant nearly enough of them. I also know I planted enough lettuce, but not enough squash. This type of information combined with how well each variety did will make it easier for me to adjust my garden plan for next year.

Location, Location, Location

I hand sketch my garden and record where I plant my vegetables. By recording the location of annuals and vegetables, I'll be able to easily plan my rotation. I have a hard time remembering names of plants, so it's important to me to record the name and color along with where I've planted my perennials This is especially true if I'm just placing a plant temporarily. I'm redoing my backyard, but it won't be ready until next fall for my perennials. Of course, I can't seem to wait until then to buy all my plants. I've been putting my plants in temporary locations until the backyard is ready. When I move my flowers, they may not be in bloom, so I'll need to know the colors in order to arrange them in their new locations.