I use a spiral bound notebook, with a pen attached with a length of cord. The information is written in my own code/shorthand, along with planting maps of individual beds (garden is a collection of raised beds). The date goes left of the margin. I record any gardening activity I may wish to remember, what is planted where, rainfall, unusual weather trends, and nature observations of interest (e.g., "first Japanese beetles arrive.") I do a "note to self" section each year, which I keep on the last pages of the notebook. Here I record action points that I want to remember next season, e.g., grow more or less of this or that, this variety was terrible and that variety was spectacular, start the eggplants sooner, etc. I find it very helpful to distill these points out from the main narrative pages and record them separately as the season progresses and while I am thinking of them - then I have the "lessons" of that season compiled in a neat list, without having to wade through the main pages searching for them. In my experience my note taking is much more reliable and complete if the notebook is always in a special spot in the garden (once we start growing outside, of course). Currently that means my notebook lives in the glove box of my golf cart, since I always take the golf cart to the garden (being far from the house). In gardens past it has meant leaving it in a special spot in the garden shed, or in one garden with no building, installing a mailbox in the garden to keep the journal in.

My journaling has ebbed and flowed with the times, sometimes I am a prolific writer and cataloger of my life and gardens, other times, not so much. This year I ran out of room in the journal I have been keeping for five or six years now, I just checked and the last entry was June 6 of this year when I said I was running out of room in the journal! I guess that would be a good thing to ask for as a Christmas gift from someone. Wow mariannese, 28 years of journaling! What a lovely history for you, and perhaps family members who would love to see those memories and knowledge for the future. What a treasure. Some years ago I took a class in Women's Journals and Memoirs. It really honed my writing skills and dicipline to write daily. I learned the things you write about don't have to be life changing or monumental, just daily musings about what you experienced and saw and felt that day, nothing more. That's what great about journaling, you aren't out to write the Great American Novel (or Danish or Chinese or any other nationality) but just documenting your life in a way. I tend to mix personal feelings in with garden notations, I think the two are often intertwined. I love to throw in sketches in my journal as well, sometimes plans for a new garden, sometimes just a quick drawing of my dog lying on the porch, or whatever inspires me at the time. Some of the plans in my journal are invaluable to remembering where I planted what! I tend to list new plants I bought and where I planted them (thankfully) so I can find them later and remember their names. In essence, I keep most of my personal thoughts and ramblings in my handwritten journal, but I am also a relentless cataloger and organinzer of plants which I do on the computer. I have lists and charts galore of roses and other plants with photos in my own personal database that I can reference from time to time. It also keeps me busy during the winter months when cataloging and organizing is my only garden chore. Here are some random excerpts from my journal 2009: 2/28 I've ordered 21 roses (eek!) and now I have to figure out where to plant them all... "Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts" 4/23 Zandi's 16th birthday! 4 eggs in the bluebird nest. Going to be a warm weekend, temps in the 80s. Pruned back all old canes on Maggie - she's put up 3 new thick basals so we'll see how she does... There's a Carolina wren nesting in the garage amid the spray bottles...good thing I don't keep toxic chemicals! 4/28 Cardinals have a nest in Knockout. Now I can't SP it. 5/1 Happy May Day! Ugh, its raining - again. 6/6 I'm running out of room in this book...ripped out KO today (yay!) and replaced it with Earthsong... Happy journaling everyone!

I, too, was searching for an online gardening journal. I didn;t find anything online, but my husband suggested using MSAccess. Sure enough - there's even a gardening template. I still haven't finished setting things up - there are so many possibilities. At this point I have a plant table with all the details and needs for each plant including one of my photos of the plant; and a journal table for each month with opportunities for daily (hah!) notes. I have pictures in the journal table, too. Cheri :)

I wish I had kept a garden journal sooner  I have found that over the years I repeated the same mistakes or bought a plant again that didnÂt survive a few years earlier & didnÂt again  If I would have keep a record of what had not survived I would of saved myself time and money. Since I like keeping track of other things I do at home & at work I started garden journaling. Garden journals or a diary can really help keep you on track. I tried several that were very limiting as to what you could do with them. I like keeping receipts handy for guarantees, a place to list & keep pictures what I want to buy, do or try this fall or next year. Compare weather/growing conditions from year to year, etc. etc. Well, there is a 3 ring binder garden recordkeeping system that does all that and provides flexibility for individual needs. It even has hybridizing charts, forms to write fertilizer & weed control successes & failures and more. Lots of room to write down all your notes and thoughts. I really, really like. What a time saver and it keeps everything in one place. So I wanted to share this with you since it is hard to find journals that offer this much. You can check it out at aGardenersJournal.com Here is a link that might be useful: A Gardener's Journal: Plan, Plant, Grow...Record the Results