Keeping a Garden Journal

I like the idea of keeping a garden journal but my attempts so far are disappointing and unsatisfying. Having received a journal I feel it is time to give it another go. Here are some tips for those of you, like me, who plan to do better.
Any wise gardener will know the value of a garden journal. It helps you track  weather conditions, planting schemes, successes and failures, expenditures and things learned. It is invaluable as a historic record of your garden. You can write in anything but it is nice to have a book designed for the purpose. 

THREE-YEAR GARDENER’S GRATITUDE JOURNAL: PART DIARY, PART PERSONAL GROWING GUIDE by Chelsie Anderson and Donna Balzer.

This book follows the standard format of months divided into daily slots to jot down current garden activity and covers a three year period for reference. 

Where it stands out, for me, is the first two pages of the month are designated to record things you like about the month. A chance to reflect on how the garden makes you feel, birds and other creatures visiting (and humans), scents and sounds, anything, in fact, which surrounds and enhances your experience of the garden.

In these unusual times a garden journal that includes personal reflection is, in my opinion, a useful tool to make sense of our current circumstances. 

Now I have offered you my opinion, I must confess my attempts at keeping a garden journal are lamentably inadequate. I draw up a planting plan each year and a list of seeds purchased so I can keep on top of my rotation but otherwise the entries are sporadic. Perhaps I am intimidated by the large, hardcover five year tome I possess with pages and slots for all manner of things. More likely, I am undisciplined.


When others are using lock down to learn a new language, bake bread or redecorate I am going to do my very best to master the art of keeping a garden journal. Have I said this before-oh many times. This time I think I have found some help

https://gardentherapy.ca/start-keeping-a-garden-journal/

The above links to the superb Garden Therapy site by Stephanie Rose and her post on keeping a journal gives sound and supportive advice on how to get writing and keep writing until it becomes routine.

Secondly "10 Reasons to Start Keeping a Garden Journal" by Laura Gaskell for Houzz gives a framework regarding content which makes an excellent prompt for your own writing. LINK


THREE-YEAR GARDENER’S GRATITUDE JOURNAL: PART DIARY, PART PERSONAL GROWING GUIDE by Chelsie Anderson and Donna Balzer. can be purchased through our club. Just email: gardenclubpowellriver@gmail.com

Also available for purchase 

Interested in growing vegetables but feeling a bit overwhelmed?
Or maybe you’re a savvy vegetable gardener looking for delicious tips and anecdotes?
No Guff Vegetable Gardening is a book that…
Helps you think about how to garden successfully.
Is opinionated and fun and is really, really practical

There’s more than one way to grow a tomato and more than one way to garden. Find review here: www.torontogardens.com/2011/04/book-review-no-guff-vegetable-gardening.

Donna Balzer can be heard on a live garden phone-in show on Sheryl Mackay’s show NXNW on CBC (BC) radio right after the 7:30 AM CBC news on Sunday May 3, 2020.