The first section of my journal is a set of fact sheets listing important things like average first and last frost dates and information about my climate and zone. We tend to forget these things from year to year, and rush to plant on the first nice day--then rush to panic when a sharp frost sets in. The reminders in my journal save me from over-eagerness.
I follow this with a calendar. This is invaluable. The very first thing I mark down is that average first frost date. To be on the safe side, I mark my first real planting date for two weeks later. Average means just that--it could be an earlier last frost--but it could come later. Using the later date, I can then get out all my seed packs and figure out when to plant--if it says two weeks before last frost date--I mark my calendar with the names of ideal planting time is two weeks after--I mark the seeds that prefer this date in the appropriate square. And so it goes, until I have scheduled planting dates for all my seeds.
My next section is a batch of graph paper. I know what I am going to be planting--but I'm not always sure where. Last summer I drew maps of all my gardens on graph paper, marking in any shrubs or perennials that I hope will still be there after winter. This also shows me blank spots in the garden, so I can plan now exactly where my seeds or new plants will go. This map will also be of great help come spring, when I try to figure out whether that lush patch of growth left of center is a flower I want, or a weed that needs pulling. I am not the finicky, precise type, by the way--my plans are not in exact scale, but mere approximations. It works.
In between each garden diagram I have tucked photo album pages, so that I can see all the blobs and dots from my diagram in living, breathing color. It's especially interesting to compare pictures from year to year, to see how the garden is growing and changing.
