A Garden Journal How -To With Photos

August 2, 5:46 PMSeattle Garden & Kitchen ExaminerJerry & Kristy

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Click a shot of your early garden each year 

Whether you are new to gardening, do a lot of gardening or simply want to improve your gardens every year, a garden journal may be something you want to try. By keeping a garden  journal you will be able to repeat your successes and avoid repeating your failures.

A garden journal is easy to make and can be as basic or detailed as you like. Any type of notebook will work. I use a three ring notebook and place my pages in plastic protectors. This way the book and/or pages are easily wiped clean should I get soil on them and they are protected from rain and spills.

Notes, Photographs, Drawings and Product Descriptions

What you keep in your garden journal really depends on what information you want to have for the next season. Try to keep track of things that will help you such as how long the beans took to germinate, which plants did well in front of the house and where the tomatoes grew well.

Having a writen and visual memory of when things bloomed is very helpful 

Write down if an area gets an infected or if the slugs find a favorite place to hang out. And then write again if your attempts to fix things worked or made them worse. Write which flowers produced well, which ones worked well for vases and which ones smell wonderful.

Instead of relying solely on what you write down, add details with other media. Photographs are great, especially sequential ones: take a shot of the garden before you plant it, as it begins to grow and when it is in full bloom. You can also take photos of the volume of produce and fruit you get so you can judge the amount to plant the following season. It also helps to take pictures from different angles so you can see where to add or thin things.

Your garden journal photos show how the plants and kids grew! 

Another handy thing to have is the descriptions of the plants, including the final height and width they will have when mature.

You can also keep your maintenance schedule in your garden journal covering such things as pruning, fertilizing, trimming and mulching. Composting schedules are another good thing to keep track of.

The easiest way to record this is by keeping the nursery tag and adding it into your journal. This gives you a quick reference when needed and is especially helpful on perennials that you prune or divide down the road.