Start a Garden Journal Now

Inspiration, motivation and the ideal time to implement the plan do not always coincide. So what is a gardener to do? Start a garden journal.

I talk a lot about recording information on the plants, garden pests, gardening successes, and yes, even failures to help improve the garden’s beauty and your satisfaction. We start out the year or new season with dedication and as spring progresses the journal entries dwindle, the plant tags accumulate in a pot and our good intentions have disappeared.

Start now and make this a fun and easy process. Snap a few pictures or record a few notes on your cell phone, e-mail yourself updates or create a spreadsheet of things you really want to remember. Or add a notebook and pen to your tool bag and carry it with you to the garden. It doesn’t need to be fancy – just easy and convenient, so you’ll do it.

A bit more information: An avid gardener, Susan, shared this tip. She cut up her copy of one of my books, added her plant tags and notes to create her own garden reference and journal in one.

My granddaughter loves notebooks and organizing, so we slip my tags in page protectors and add any notes or images, or ideas related to the plant. A scanner and electronic file is a high tech version of this technique.