I used to post my journal in the now defunct MSN Groups site. It was nice to be able to post text, pictures, doc and spreadsheet files. I have turned to a computer file for my journal. I share the file but am only able to post text and pictures in our new group home. File sharing is now by requests. The current journal file is prepared in MS Word and MS Publisher. It has 20-22 pages which can be copied and pasted as desired. In preparation I aimed at including anything and everything that a gardener might want a journal. All the standard stuff for planning and records is accompanied with pages for pictures. Any pages found lacking/absent can be edited or created. I use it on the computer but have printed it off as gifts for other gardeners. Each year I simply change the date for the file name. Good details for me for management and planning. Sharing your garden experience on-line is great when you have the format that allows your expression. Keeping a detailed journal is more important for me than sharing it all on-line. Sharinf sites come and go, especially the free ones.

proudgrma.... I have my garden journals on my hard drive. I use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for each year. I start each year whenever my gardening season starts whether that be going through bulb catalogs and ordering for the spring, or after Christmas when I start seed trading or winter sowing. I use one column for each entry and label it with the date. If I have a project I am working on, I may start a column just for that. It is very casual but I have found it very useful. I try to be very thoughtful of how I record information in the journal, so that I can use the 'search' function. For example, whenever I make a seed order, I label it seed order, so I know that if I type in 'Seed Order' in the Find window, it will bring me to every seed order I have made. When I tried using a hand written book, I would forget to write in it all the time, or I would not remember where I put it, or when I wanted to find some information that I had written before, I would have to know the time I wrote it or look through every page of the book trying to find it. This system works SO much better. I also have a software program on my computer that stores photos. I have found myself using the easy to use area which allows for notations on photos. I take photos when I bring home plants and then list what they are in the photo info section. I take photos of first day of bloom on my plants and label them, then again, I try to take photos when they are finished blooming so I can track how long a bloom period they are giving me. There is also an extensive list of keywords you can assign to each photo so that if you want to bring up all photos of 'shade loving perennials' you can do that. So between the annual spreadsheet, labeling and organizing my garden photos and a main list of all the plants ever planted in the garden, everything I need is in these three documents/programs. If that doesn't seem to fit what you are looking for, then I could suggest a gardening website that allows you to keep a garden journal on it. GW does have a journaling function, and also allows you to keep track of your trade lists and clip postings that you want to keep for reference. Another choice is DG, I think you know what I mean? :-)

All the above is great advice. Here's a little more. The problem with pre drawn plans is they are for that evasive "average" garden. They can never take into account your specific site, light, water, soil and tastes. Here's a very simple process that may help you get started. Do know that the real pleasure is in the process, so don't be afraid to experiment, move around, and even start over. 1. Decide where the bed will go, and lay out the shape. Think big! For an island I like it to be 14 to 16 feet deep. 2. Using graph paper, with one square being equal to one square foot, draw out the bed. Make several copies. Note light conditions, moisture, etc. 3. Choose a color scheme for your bed. This will not only make for a more beautiful bed, but will also help you begin to sort out which of your favorite 300 you should use in this bed. (You can always build others for other colors later.) 4. Start choosing your plants by starting with the "bones". These are the plants (often, shrubs or small trees) that you see 12 months a year either because they are evergreen, have showy bark, or have great form and structure even when their foliage and flowers are gone. Choose only plants that will grow well in your area!!! Draw them onto your graph paper, allowing them their full mature size. Put the biggest ones toward the center of your bed. Remember they will be seen from every side in an island. This is a good time to draw in any hardscape features like a statue, pot, fountain etc. too. 5. Go to books, plant encyclopedias, seed and nursery catalogues and begin looking for plants you want. Think in terms of how many square feet each one will need. Give approximately 1/3 of the remaining footage in your bed to spring bloomers, 1/3 to summer bloomers, and 1/3 to fall bloomers. Remember that any plant will look better in a clump. Don't plant 300 plants, one of each. You'll get a more pleasing bed by planting 5 each of 60 (this is just an example, remember!:) The smaller the plant, the more of it you will need to make an impact. The larger the plant, the fewer of it you need to plant. As you choose your plants keep the following in mind: does it work with your color scheme? Does it thrive in your area? Sure, it has great flowers, but how does it look the rest of the year? Choose plants that have good looking foliage and form, as well as blooms. Choose contrasting shapes, forms, and textures: rounded, spiky, upright, fountains, vases, barrels, bold, fine, etc. Color is important, but it's not all there is. As you draw your choices onto your graph paper, picture them as they will relate to the other plants around them. Will they be hidden by something? Will a larger plant shade them, and if so will that be good or bad? How does the foliage look when paired against its neighbors? Are they in a place where they can get the amount of water and sun they need? I like to have my blooms for spring, summer, fall, etc. coming and going all over the garden throughout the season, so I spread them out and mix them in to other season's bloomers. This is another reason to consider the quality of a plant's foliage. Make room for annuals. They will keep the show going when the perennials are resting. I like to put annuals in the front edges especially. This is a very simplistic formula, but I think you will find it to be a helpful starting point for the design process. (Soil preparation, edging, etc. are equally important considerations.) By all means, read! There are so many great books out there. I spend every winter reading, learning, dreaming, and planning. It never fails to pay off.

Ok let's talk about codes. I have found the CABO/ICC building codes to cover the critical design elements of a house very well with only a few exceptions because the minimum is often the optimum for such a lightly loaded short structure. If you designed joists using the formulas you were taught in school they would be the same as you would get using the code tables except in borderline cases the code always rounds upward and doesn't adjust for poorly graded lumber, etc. The IRC requires LVL's and I-joists to be designed by an engineer but in Maine the state law allows a builder to do that if he/she submits the manufacturer's sizing tables and the loading conditions with the drawings for the building permit. The state law was changed to exempt a builder from the prohibition of practicing engineering for a house in 07, so you can imagine what an architect's license means in Maine. I don't think Vermont even has a residential building code yet and there are other states that are similar or where the code is adopted or not adopted by each county and enforcement is not consistent due to lack of staff. Anyway, the biggest deficiency to the codes that I know of is the flexibility of floor joists. The deflection limit at maximum loading is intended to prevent ceiling plaster from cracking and is not very helpful. Many long span joists are legal but excessively bouncy and there are no simple rules of thumb that eliminate this problem. I tried to write one and a week later I couldn't understand it. Unfortunately bridging and blocking have been found to do little to stiffen typical joist sizes. I also find the ICC foundation section to be inadequate but the code allows the option to use ACI318 which is an excellent standard and design guide but any code standard must be limited to a maximum amount of unbalanced fill; an engineer would be needed to design a cantilevered retaining wall. The code deals with typical regional wind and snow loads pretty well but not high wind, drifted snow and earthquake loads. At any rate, I won't design anything without an engineer involved even if he isn't required to stamp the drawings. I like his insurance policy a lot. I think a contractor could use the building code as a defense in court but it would be of less use for a licensed design professional. For me the medical analogies are interesting but not realistic. It is still acceptable in certain parts of the US to build your own house without any oversight or control by anyone (except possibly the local electric coo-op) and this idea is considered a right to many. I think the practice of medicine has advanced considerably farther than the house building industry.