Keeping a Garden Journal

There are several things that you can do to prepare for the growing season while you wait for your seedlings to mature. For instance, now is the perfect time to start keeping a garden journal! 

​A garden journal is simply a written record of your garden. It’s a bit like keeping a lab notebook in high school science class. Writing things down helps you to keep track of each year’s gardening information for future reference. Your journal will also help you to identify what worked and what didn’t work so well so that you can adjust your approach and get better results next time.   ​

You can make your journal as creative and artistic or as minimalist and utilitarian as you want. It can take the form of an actual notebook, a computer document, or even a bunch of papers that you keep in a folder. Whichever method you choose, I recommend that you keep your journal as organized as possible so that you can find things easily later. For example, keep the information for different years in separate sections.  

So, what should you write in your journal? The answer is: anything you feel is important to remember for future gardening. As you go through the growing season and come across information that you don’t want to forget, write it down right away!  

Here are some other things to consider including in your journal:  

• A chart of the varieties you planted, their brand/source, the number of seeds of each you sowed, and the number of seeds that sprouted. 
• A calendar recording the dates you started the seeds of each variety indoors/sowed them outside/transplanted them and the range of dates in which you harvested the fruit of each variety.  
• A diagram of your garden layout - this will help you rotate your crops in the future and to remember where you planted any perennial (permanent) plants so you don’t accidentally dig them up next year.  
• A log recording the gardening tasks you complete each day (ex: May 5th - Added compost and mulch to in-ground bed; June 10th - Fertilized tomatoes in containers with Epsom salt solution; October 25th - Cleared garden bed in preparation for next year) - this will help remind you when to do these tasks next year. 
• General notes and observations - you can organize these into categories such as Starting Seeds, Transplanting, Watering,  Fertilizer, Weed/Pest Control, Specific Plant Concerns, Harvesting, etc.  It's also important to recap successes and failures, as well as suggestions of what to do differently next time. 
• A list of your gardening expenses and, if applicable, your earnings from selling extra produce.  
• Ideas you would like to try in the future, such as a list of plants you want to grow or sketches of a trellis you would like to build.  
• Photographs of your garden – you don’t have to keep these in the same place as your journal, but I do recommend taking photos or videos and saving them for future reference.  

​Keeping up with your journal will give your garden the best chance of success by helping you to anticipate future problems and take action to prevent or address them. This, in turn, will reduce frustrations and make growing food much more enjoyable. Not to mention, looking back in your journal and seeing your garden’s growth over time is really empowering, and the act of writing itself can be very therapeutic. Have fun with it!   

As always, if you have any questions or tips to share, please comment below!