A garden journal is not a necessity, but it is fun. You can buy pretty books for this purpose or use this free template to print your own. You can also use a loose leaf binder with any of the following sections:
- Precipitation chart: Recording rainfall with a rain gauge is important. If the total is less than an inch in a week, you may need to do some watering, especially for new plantings. (Don’t try to use a glass rain gauge when the temperatures are below freezing- the glass will break!)
- Planting diagrams: To keep track of what you planted where!
- To-do list: For example, remind yourself to prune your roses on St. Patrick’s Day or to transplant a tall plant to the rear in the fall.
- Journal: Jot down notable events, success and failures for the season. It is fun to look back on what happened in previous years.
- Individual plant records: So you can keep track of how large plants will get, when they bloom, what type of light they prefer, etc.
- Vegetable timing records: When you plant things, what ripens when, etc.
- Plant guarantee: Check out our guarantee. Be sure to save your receipts!
- Seed packets, plant markers, etc.: here’s a great way to keep your plant tags organized!
- Week-by-week bloom record: If you keep track of what was blooming in a given week (though this varies some from year to year), you can get a rough idea of which plants will go well together.
Excerpts from a Handbook for Gardening in NOVA
Written by Margaret Fisher & Friends. This book is for sale at several of our locations and can be ordered on-line through Amazon.com. It is full of quick, easy to read tips on gardening in the Northern Virginia area.