January 1, 2009: A Garden Journal for 2009 and Beyond

I've been drooling over gardening journals today. I keep pretty good records on my computer, but sometimes I'd like to write things down where I can sit back and read and compare what I've done through the years. Most journals just cover one year. Some are so extensive they have room for ten years of records. I thought 3-4 years to a page would be perfect for keeping track of my successes and failures, so I designed a simple page (actually a series of pages) that would cover my gardening season from March 1 through October 30, with four years of records to a page. I'll print out these pages and keep them in a three ring binder at my desk.

***Click the photos to enlarge***




I also have pages for seed/plant inventories. Go ahead and drool over my seed expenses for the year.....you know you want to. I'd like to have $41.94 worth of seeds for $5.16 every year!




My third page is similar to the above, only it's for miscellaneous garden expenses (compost, tools, wood for garden beds, etc).

I'll also include plans, on graph paper, for each year's garden. Here is what I've decided to put in my east (#1 fence line) garden this spring (one square = 1 foot, MG = marigolds):




And here are the plans for my east (#2) gardens. The brown strips are where I'll lay the soaker hoses:




Not shown are the sugar snap peas that will cover 12' of the south fence, and cucumbers that will be planted along the fence on the west side of the yard.

I still have the north gardens, and the dog pen/arbor gardens to finish planning. I think I'm going to have to convince Mr. H to move that new fence about 8 feet closer to the house so I can make room for three more 4'x 8' (or longer) beds!

Happy New Year....let's make 2009 the "Year of the Garden"!

11 comments:

  1. Now I feel waaaay behind...all my planning is still in my head.

    For 2008 I tried to use the calendar that Microsoft gives you to enter my gardening events, but half the time I'd forget. My SD card is pretty much my garden journal for 2008. I'll try to be better in 2009.

    Your layouts look great. Which program did you use to create them?

    My son bought me a landscaping software program for Christmas, but it doesn't work with Vista. It wasn't too expensive, but the Vista version costs twice as much. There's so much I could say about Vista, but it wouldn't all be good, so I'll shut up.

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  2. I love to see garden plans. I don't tend to do them. I do plan out what seeds I want and I stick to a general rotation every year. But I think it has been 15 year since I made a real plan. It would really help to know how many seedlings to grow. I can see myself growing too much or too little and when planting time hits, things won't fit.

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  3. Granny - I really like your preparations. I was noticing that you'll tranplant toms on May 15th, whereas...i'm gonna do mine about 3 weeks earlier. Maybe I can beat you to the punch on the windowsill pics! Ha! Anyway, good job, and those broccoli seeds are headed to AZ.

    EG

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  4. Cheryl, I use a combination of Paint, an old Adobe PhotoDeluxe program and Irfanview to create my garden layouts on a scan of graph paper. I love to play with the layouts, I spend waaaaay too much time with them!

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  5. Daphne, that's why I always bought pony packs of seedlings rather than start my own. I hope I'm successful with the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages this year, but I'll still have to buy my tomato and pepper plants, as I won't be home early enough to get them started from seed. The "saved" pepper seeds will be an experiment, and if they actually grow I'll have to find space for them! I'm like you....if a dozen cabbage seedlings survive, I'll have to find room to plant each and every one of them!

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  6. EG, I might be able to get mine in two weeks earlier, but I have the 15th as a final date. I haven't found much benefit in planting them earlier, as they sit and wait for the weather to heat up before they start growing. I can push it a bit by covering them with gallon milk jugs though.

    Your broccoli seeds just about finish off my seed list...thanks good buddy!

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  7. Yeah, I agree with the temps....mine really took off last year, once 90 degree days arrived. I'm planning on using milk jugs for cloches, as well. You're welcome on the seeds!

    EG

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  8. Granny, if you're looking for some seedlings when you guys are driving up, if you go through my neck of the woods, I'll grow a few of them and just hand em off to you. Do you head through Portland on the way back?

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  9. Carolyn, how sweet of you to offer. But no, we come up through Twin Falls, Idaho, then over through Pendleton/Hermiston/Umatilla. I wish I were closer to Portland!

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  10. Twin falls is beautiful in the spring at least! You get a nice trip.

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