Jerry Sullivan
 Regular Plants Contributor
Chelmsford MA
Posts: 3063
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| Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 3:45 pm Post subject: The garden notebook or log, do you have one? |
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Do you remember the details of your garden activities last summer? How about three years ago? The problems you encountered or the successes you had? The Items you had to purchase or when to buy them? I have been keeping a log for 18 years. A handy garden notebook to jot down garden activities. In it you might want to keep a simple map to locate plants. Or to keep notes to remind yourself of something you noted earlier. Keep it in a handy spot. I actually have two. One for activities and one for the tags that come with the plant. I tape the tag on a page with notes about when it was planted, its location, If the plant did well or needed to be relocated. Details you will not remember years from now. In the activities log I put the date when a start seeds or when I do a task. Sometimes just simple things like how many frogs are in the pond. When a flower bloomed. With those notes I can plan my garden chores or remind myself to look for problems or just keep track of things. For me, my garden notebooks are as important as a hoe or shovel, I would not be without them.
Jerry
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SongofJoy57
Foothills of North Carolina Z = 7a & 7b
Posts: 917
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| Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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I have attempted it a couple of times, and did good for awhile . . . then I drop the ball. I need more discipline. =(
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marlingardener
Central Texas, zone 8
Posts: 2389
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| Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, I have a thick ring binder that I can add pages to, and have tabs for different subjects so I don't have to page through everything to get the information I need.
I kept one for 10 years when we lived in town, but started a new one when we moved to the farm. It's filling up fast! I think I'll make a separate binder for the vegetable gardens, which occupy the most room in the binder.
I also have a binder for the chickens, but that's a dfferent subject. It's more like a baby album--here's Rosie at six weeks, here's Ruby Begonia taking her first grasshopper, here's Lucie sitting in a nest box--well, you get the idea.
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toni
Administrator
Plants Moderator
Regular Plants Contributor
North Texas, Zone 8a
Posts: 11712
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| Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 6:24 pm Post subject: |
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WAIT!! Are we supposed to be taking notes???? Will there be a test??
If I make notes at all they are either in my GardenStew blog or in a journal. But those entries are few and far between.
I keep plant tags in a wire basket hanging out front, I depend on the photos I post in Member's Gallery to remind me of what I planted and where. I will have no problem remembering my gardening experiences from the summer of 2011 because there were none due to the heat and drought and this coming summer the garden will be put on hold for another growing season for the same reason.
I used to have a large note book with printouts from plant websites of each plant I had and filed according to which section of the yard they were in....but I got tired of doing that. It made gardening more work than fun. 
Now I get that info from the plants listed in My Garden section here....if you don't alphabetize that section, you can look back to remember when a plant was added to your garden.
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waretrop
Posts: 839
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| Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| SongofJoy57 wrote: | | I have attempted it a couple of times, and did good for awhile . . . then I drop the ball. I need more discipline. =( |
| kathyd wrote: | I try, but just like SongofJoy, tend to slack off when I get really busy with the actual gardening.  I'm trying again this year. |
Me too and I will try again also. 
Barb in Pa.
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rockhound
Tennessee
Posts: 186
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| Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:19 pm Post subject: notes |
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I used to keep daily notes on one of those big calendars with a 3-inch square for each day. If you write small it can hold a lot. But....after a few years it all gets to be about the same old so I quit.
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muddypaws
Ohio
Posts: 105
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| Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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I have decided to do a lot of logging in the winter months. I usually by then have tons of notes all strewn in a binder and during the winter months (and mostly at work-- shhhh) I get them in order and type them in nice and neat. It also keeps me thinking about something fun like next year's plants while it's snowing outside! I've also been known to trudge up to the library in a foot of snow for gardening books. It usually gets a chuckle from the librarian when I check them out!
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Kay
Lincoln, Nebraska
Posts: 1114
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| Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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I wish I was more like Jerry, and had a consistent record of all my gardening endeavors. That is really cool, to have 18 years of the garden story!
I do have journals that have sporadic records of the gardens of the past. The journal I have now, I have done pretty well, I like to write down when I plant, especially trees, shrubs and perennials. It also becomes a record of the weather, which is an important part of gardening, as we all know.
I guess most of my records now are in the form of photographs. I love to see the growth from one year to the next in a picture.
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Kay
To love what you do, and feel that it matters - how could anything be more fun?
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KK Ng
Malacca, Malaysia.
Posts: 1297
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| Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:03 am Post subject: |
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I don't keep one, sometimes I'll tear my hair out when I try to recall something .... I think I am getting bald!
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Life n Memories
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waretrop
Posts: 839
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| Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:42 am Post subject: |
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KK, That is very funny. Lesson: Keep a little black notebook log and grow plants, flowers and hair well.
Barb in Pa.
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Cayuga Morning
New England
Posts: 456
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| Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 2:04 am Post subject: |
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I have tried garden logs over the years with varying degrees of success. Some are interesting to read after the passage of time.
Sometimes the logs bring back the memories of the day & other times I have no clue what so ever!
Lately I have simply been keeping a chart on my computer listing plants alphabetically (date planted, where, color, height, bloom season, & if it died). It has been helpful and easier to keep up.
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Netty
Regular Plants Contributor
Southern Ontario zone 5a
Posts: 10320
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| Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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I keep a journal too, but it is mostly for my veggie garden. I keep diagrams of what I grew where for rotation purposes. Sometimes I will take notes about the flower gardens, but they become repetitive. I have made notes of 'things to remember next year' that often come in handy. And if I find a photo of a garden or plant I really love, I stick it in there too. And Pinterest keeps a lot of my garden ideas too.
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cherylad
Regular Plants Contributor
S. Liberty County - Texas
Posts: 5278
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| Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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I thought about keeping a notebook... and that's about as far as I got! 
I did make notes on when & where the new fruit trees were planted.
I keep my plant tags in a plastic box. I have them sorted by "growing" & "died".
I depend on GardenStew for my record-keeping. "MyGarden" is the biggest reminder of all since my photos are sorted by the year & month. (Note to self... sort photos the same way on computer from now on). 
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