Not a journal but a database. Since I do alot from seed it helps me keep track of things. I include the latin name, common name, # of seeds, source, sow date, germ date, # of days to germ, winter sown or indoor sown, germ instructions, height, spacing, sun, bloom time, soil, water, general notes, propogation notes, seedling photo, seedpod photo and lastly a photo of what it looks like in bloom.

I'm hoping it will help me alot for next year to plan what/when to do sow things. I also put in there purchased plants.

I've started keeping a journal. This season I've started writing down the date that plants and bulbs bloom. I make notes when I read something here (like how much to cut back your lavender plants each spring). I also keep track of plants I wintersow and the date I planted them - then I try to mark down when they germinate. I also keep a drawing of the flower beds and writing down all of the perennials' locations, (not only to remember what I've planted) but so I can see where the holes are and can fill them in next year. It also takes care of my garden fix when there's snow on the ground. :)

I've also started making next year's seed wish list. (Like marking down cherry rose nasturiums so I can grow them again next year). Then I put that wish list on my trade wish list for the seed exchange forum.

I've kept a journal for a few years now, it helps to remember when things bloom, what plants were a success, what plants weren't, where seeds were planted, etc. I also write down plants that I want to find (like if I see them in a magazine or on a garden show on TV) and I bring it with me when I head to the nursery. I find a journal helps me stay a little more focused, and I end up getting the plants that I really want instead of buying things haphazardly.

I have sporadic journals dating back to the previous century (1998).

The most help are the notes on what FAILED.
Brief weather notes like, Rain: 0.3" all through May and into June.

My journals are haphazard, but they're invaluable. Like Red_clay_soil, I have a better idea of what plants not only that I want, but also what should flourish in my garden.

Nell

Some years yes, some years no. I find it especially useful on years when I'm doing major projects. I hadn't done one in a few years, but this year, I have one again - especially since dh bought me a pretty calendar book for it at the holidays.

I vary on what I put in - ideas for what I'd like to do, recording when things bloom (especially trying to note down new plants or things discovered here at the new house), and notes on what I've done. The bloom time and ideas end up being the parts I look back at the most.

Oh, I also try to write down dates for planting various seeds and such to plan ahead, but I don't always remember to check it at the right times!

I also have an AutoCAD drawing of the house and garden. (I'm an architect, so this comes naturally!) Actually, I have a lot of versions of this plan! But, I did make one with a layer that is Summer2007 plants, to try and keep track of stuff over time, since it is a rather complicated phasing project! I have existing to stay, existing to be demolished, proposed new stuff, all on different layers I can turn on and off...

I keep daily weather logs because I'm a weather nut. In my weather logs, I make brief garden entries. I used to keep a specific garden journal but after decades of gardening I decided my garden was a place of enjoyment, relaxation, & peace. It was not a science experiement. Maintaining detailed records became a chore & when I got behind...I felt somehow guilty. Realized I was making work out of pleasure so I stopped. I do maintain a list of everything that's planted in the gardens & note if something dies. And, that's more for if/when we sell the property since our gardens & my botanical listings sold our last home before it hit MLS.

Keeping track of the weather has been of enormous help to me in my gardens. I've learned that my perceptions of what the weather has been are almost always wrong. Having actual weather facts has resulted in much positive shuffling of plants in my gardens. For example, this year I don't think my lilac met its dormancy requirement explaining the ridiculously poor bloom. If it happens again next year, I'll probably give up on lilacs. Global warming is very evident in my shoreline garden. I'm 'sperimenting with new hydrangea varieties because now even variegated ones are blooming for me.

But, no journal of exact bloom dates, diseases, critters, etc.

Tricia

I use an Excel sheet that someone on one of the Garden Web forums very kindly shared several years ago. I mainly keep track of the bloom times. It always amazes me how many things bloom on the very same day every year.

It's also a good record of plant names I've forgotten (at the moment I have 3 new varities of penstemon and can't recall the names of any of them, so I can look them up quickly in my journal).

I also like to write down a few "first sightings" such as the first bumblebee, the first hummingbird etc.

PattiOh

This is my third year keeping a journal. As I go along I find more and more things that I want to keep track of. I always write down what I've purchased plant wise and where I got it, any info that is on the tag, how it performed. I make lists of things to do each year and carry over what didn't get done or make notes of additional things I got done that weren't on the list. Wish lists. Lists by color which makes shopping easier when I'm looking for specific colors to go in specific spots. I also write down advice and tips I pick up here and other places on the web and who told me the info. Saves me from asking twice when I can't remember all the details. Most of the time when I go back to my journal it's to remind myself of the name of a specific plant cuz my memory STINKS! LOL I just got a rain guage so I'm going to start tracking how much precip. we get.

MeMo

I started one when I started the garden. Very organized with receipts, pictures, etc. Now it has become just a binder stuffed full.....Maybe this winter I can go through it and organize it again.

I keep a Excel database of what is in each garden and the year planted. I do have a written journal that I've had for about 10 years. I don't write in it alot anymore. I actually find my photos that are in dated folders on my computer tell me more about whats blooming and when. Another thing that I do several times during the gardening season is walk around the garden video taping it. This is fun to watch in the winter and also give me ideas of what should be moved, changed etc.

Video-taping! That does sound like a good idea.

Video taping.... why didn't I think of that, great idea. In the winter my garden looks so bare in so many places yet come summer I can hardly get through some spots. I'm off to charge the battery.

Annette

In the middle of winter I get much more out of the videos than photos because it feels more like I'm taking a walk thru the garden.

Yes, and have kept it night into 25 years. I learn something new each season by doing something different, weather changes or seeing someone else do something different, learning of new plants and buying new plants and/or roses, and I write about it for posterity. I am active with master gardeners, garden club and rose societies in my area, so there is always a field trip or a garden tour, bird trips, hummingbird or butterfly day trips to different places. Life is too full of garden activities not to document them for the future generations.