I have enough of a hard time keeping my bills up to date much less a journal. I just wing it and go with the flow! LOL

I used to use the idailydiary that can be downloaded for free. It is really easy to use. Someone else had recommended it but I never get organized enough to use it consistantly.
I did that for awhile but then reverted back to my lazy ways of just scribbling down what stuff bloomed when and noting frost dates etc. in a notebook.

Here is a link that might be useful: idailydiary

That looks neat! It looks as though you can include pictures as well.

I have 2 large spiral bound garden journals that I keep pictures in along with as much info on the plants as I can find. Pretty soon I'll have to start a third one since the first 2 won't fully close anymore! lol

Some day I hope to have a good enough home computer to be able to keep everything on it and maybe have a blog.

Kara

I had a couple of hardbound journals that I used for a couple years. They were already dated and had a section at the back for plant additions, photos, etc. Now I'm using a spiral bound steno pad (more cost effective) but I'm not nearly as religious at recording as I was with the hardbounds.

Now that my beds are more established, I find I don't have as much to write about. What I'm worst at is organizing the photos. It's on my never-ending "to-do" list and hope to get going with that through the heat of summer.

I considered the electronic version, but I still like putting pen (or pencil) to paper. As much as I love the electronic age and its speed, I feel the need to slow down occasionally and use the "old ways".

I am like you though, I need to get it updated.

Terri

I do like to keep a journal although I keep it up sporadically. It's also my vacation journal, my quilt journal and my homemade jewelry journal! I use lots of colored pencils and draw pictures as I go. None of them are good pictures but it's fun for me to do it. I was using a spiral notebook but DH gave me a lovely leather covered journal for Christmas so now I'm using that. I'm afraid I'm spoiled and will always want something this pretty from now on. Something like this could go on my 'need it every year' Christmas list, right beside a good bottle of port, a gift card for Joann Fabrics, and an annual subscription to National Geographic.

Kate

I found "My Florida Garden" on a clearance rack once. It's a gardeners journal by Tom MacCubbin. I used it for 3 years using a different color ink for each year.
When I get a chance this summer I would like to make a list of what blooms each month so I know what to look forward to in the coming year.
I'm old school,too. I love putting pen to paper.

I keep track of plants I have and information about them on a Microsoft access database. I also log things I want to keep monitor like when I started trying to root something or when I planted seeds. Microsoft Access makes it easy to create a form to display and edit the information.

Ha, ha, ha! A garden journal! You write down what you do and what you planted? Jeez, someone hire me a secretary - full time, must be at work when the sun comes up and don't plan on leaving until it vanishes below the horizon. I'm in the garden 7 days a week, all day long. You want to keep records? Nah, I'd rather pull weeds.

I can't find my hoe or my rake and now I'm supposed to remember where I left a booklet that may or may not have some things written down that I may or may not have considered important on a day that I can't remember being any different from the day before or the day after the day I was trying to uh....

I just keep two lists on my computer so I have two ways to look up the names of things. I keep a master list of the plants alphabetically by scientific name. On this list I also put in the common name and if it's super cold-sensitive. I also keep a list of plants as I buy them and where I bought them from. For some reason I can always remember I bought that weird plant at Selby Gardens fall plant sale five years ago or ordered it from Almost Eden two years ago, etc. and I use that list more than anything. Oh, I keep a third list -- my plant wish list!

I do hope to start a journal someday just to help remind me of how much mulch a particular bed takes, when to fertilize and spray, particularly the citrus and - here's a big one - successful and unsuccessful methods for rooting all different kinds of cuttings that I've learned the hard way.

3 years ago i moved from zone 11 to 9.i'm going from tropical to a greater variety of plants. yes i am keeping a journal. I'm not a slave to it. It is hand written, i stapple the tags from the plants i get and make the most important notes, especially propegation info. divide and conquer! i also keep notes on plants to research etc. Keep it simple.

I keep a journal (paper) with dates, people who send me seeds and plants, germinating dates, seedling dates, bloom times, full moons (very important for my fertilization schedule) I guess I am getting kinda anal about it...when I look at this post!

Oh Well, Happy Gardening...I'm off to bed..got court early in the am....

Kim

I'm so impressed that so many of you keep journals/blogs and lists! I have always meant to do one, and never got a real one going. I think it's a splendid idea, especially if you include pictures. It gives you something to look back on and use as a reference when planning the next year's garden.

Of course, not everyone wants to do it, but I think if you can find time, it's really a super way to learn, as well as a record of what you've done, what worked, what didn't, what color combinations you enjoyed. So many books I read say a journal of some sort is a real asset.

I HAVE done some things like printing out the entire Rosy Dawn catalog with all the coleus descriptions so I can refer to it and make notations on the varieties I've grown. And I have a couple of other notebooks with roses, etc, listed. I like to keep any info I can find on various OGR's in that notebook. I don't write it, but I research them online and print out the data that I want.

You guys who are dedicated enough to keep a real journal ROCK! And you have inspired me once again to try my hand at one.

Great thread!!

Marcia

I tried. I can never seem to stay with it. I suppose I can relate to Ricky's comment...
I'm usually too busy working in the garden to stop and reflect on it.

Here's a sample page from my journal. This is pretty typical. Not too much detail but it's an OK record of plants purchased, fertilizer or chemicals used, and some other significant events (like my friend's job loss!). Mostly I use it to record ideas - what to do with a particular bed or plants I want to get. I don't write in it every weekend, but probably once every 2 or 3 weeks during planting season. Less over the summer.

But I use it for other things too. Photos - like all the pet Christmas pictures - get included pretty often. And I record jewelry sometimes so I can remember how long I made a bracelet or what materials I used. That's especially handy if I'm making it for someone else so i won't have it around later.

Hi
I have bits and pieces of my many attempts to keep some kind of records. With orchids it's absolutely essential as there are sooooo many hybrids..
I always have to laugh when rereading .Either A I can't read my own writing or B what I wrote makes no sense at all.
Wrote notes on top of notes or totally irrelevant material like my grandsons second birthday. on top of fertilizing dates lol. One is really funny. January 17,1984
WILL IT WORK!!!!. if it worked or not I don't know or even how to tell. lol gary

Wow, I'm impressed!! So many of you are so ORGANIZED!! My journal started as an empty, fabric covered book (about 5"x8") given to me by a neighbor for my birthday. By then, I'd started planting things around my new home (the one I'm in now) and it was the ideal vehicle to make notes about what I'd planted and things I learned. But entries are sporadic. It's now bulging with clippings, plant tags, etc. Before long, I'm going to have to go to volumne two.
I agree with a number of you who say taking pen to page is in a way, comforting - a time to slow down and sketch an idea for a flower bed or note the loss of plants to frost. I can no longer spend an entire day in the garden as much as I'd love to. To me, the journal is a way to extend the pleasure without suffering the aching back! cora

Kate, yours is a true journal of a large part of your Life, and well done! Thanks for sharing those pictures, you clever lady, you! And Corar, you've hit the nail on the head. When the weather doesn't permit you to be outside, why not journal? When you simply don't have the energy to be in the garden, why not journal?

Up north, I believe most gardeners who keep a journal do so during the winter, to get ready for spring, and to record what worked during the past season. We don't necessarily have that restriction, though for some of us, summer down here is as limiting as winter up north. A journal gives us another outlet for our garden creativity. And all of this in addition to the practical references it provides. A good place to note publications, clippings, and Wish Lists.

I am really going to try to get one going this year. Maybe I'll finally start my Garden Blog, though mostly for my own use, perhaps, rather than a forum, like many good ones are. (Ill-Mannered has a terrific Blog, btw!) I don't know for sure, but I do know it's a good idea if you have the time and inclination, and I'd like to try it.

Marcia

I keep a monthly journal. Usually at the beginning of the month, I walk around the garden and write down my observasions. Also,when I see the first hummer and how plants are doing the past month. Pictures are stapled to the pages and I have a set of symbols I use at the outer margin, to be able to quickly find certain information throughout the pages (I draw a small bird for birding info, a watering can for fertilizing info, etc.)
I do keep records of my orchids. blooming dates, repotting, preferences, etc. ....
and then there is the mess on my computer, tons of notepad entries about swaps, trades, ordered plants, dead plants... Reading my own post shows me I am not as organized as i should be

What is a Journal?
Just kidding.
I want to do one but never have.
Karalynn, why am I not surprise that you have two journal.
This girl was so organize at Nova's swap. It made an impact on me. I was jealous.
Felix

I'm with Kate, I keep one (started about a year ago) but I do it when I think of it rather than consistantly. I use a notebook.
I do have a rose list in a Word Doc. that tells me it's name, where I bought it, what class the rose is, color, ultimate size, what kind of rootstock it's on and when I bought it. I guess I'm more serious about my roses than other plants.
I do find my journal really helpful. When I see something is doing really well, I look back and see what I wrote down that was done to it recently. Often it is so many different things that it doesn't really help anyway though. I love to write, so it's not a problem. You have to do something when it's raining or at night or if it's 100 degrees, with 90% humidity and have been driven indoors.
Nancy

I raise my glass to all of you that have taken the time and effort to put together your own special and unique Gardening Journals.
One of these days I'll gather all my gardening files and make the effort to organize all my clippings, Internet print outs and of course responses back from all you guys here into an easy reference book or journal of some type.

I've kept 2 journals for both of my kids as they were growing up and I hold that dear to my heart. This is something special that they too can treasure when they begin families of their own.
The same would hold true if I were to pass along a gardening journal. All my time and effort and all the success (and failures) of a hobby I so much enjoy will live on throughout their lives.
Thanks so much for sharing and waking me up to the fact that I need to get the ball rolling and begin organizing all that I've been saving all these years.
Enjoy your journals! I commend you!
Sue.

I keep one for my orchidsÂwhen I got them, from whom, fertilization, floweringÂand it's hard enough to keep up with that! I've gotten to the point where I only add the special ones, since I rescue so many NOIDs from the sale racks.
Garden journal? My blog's hard enough ;)

I used to keep a paper journal with articles, dates, etc. Mostly I keep my photo bucket on line albums. There I can make particular comments about plants, who they are from and when they bloomed. I also keep a sketch pad with drawings I make, plans for projects and ideas.

I forgot to add. I do keep a detailed book with my amaryllis photos and particular seed crosses I make. It also includes seeds I share and those shared with me from the Amaryllis forum.
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The best I can do is keep a list of things I want to do in the garden ---what I do when I get out there might be something altogether different.
I do keep names of plants written in a notebook because I lose tags.

Hi
I'm curious as to what you do when you find your name tags are incorrect??lol With orchids in particlar there are sooo many kinds and you REALLY need a correct ID .Fairly easy to identify genus but even then there are manmade intergenerics. And how about those smart botanists who changed the name without notifying you?? lol
You find this really matters when researching culture info. or trading, most people want more than white den. or yellow catt lol
Oh well they are still just as beautiful without names in spite of the taxonomists lol
NOID is easy to remember!!! gary

I'm sorry to say that I have lost tags for orchids which I know is a HUGE no-no. Some of them disappeared when they were being carried in and out for cold weather/hurricanes and I know there is no way to identify the hybrids. There is no trading of them because of this or if they look spectacular-there is no showing of them. They are just pretty flowers for me. A real shame.

I started a garden blog because I wanted to document what worked and didn't work. I was totally new to gardening, so I needed all the help I could get. Then, I started experimenting with taking photos at certain times of day so I could learn where to plant certain part shade plants. Now, when something new or exciting happens in the garden, I feel the need to document it for the next season. I often look back through last year's posts to see what was going on then in anticipation of what is about to happen.

Karalynn's journal really impressed me when we were at Nova's this year and last year. Since seeing hers I've wanted to start one. This post has given me a push. And reading the comments has given me ideas of what I'd like to include. I just had a bunch of pictures printed and then realized some others that I want to use as "before" pictures. I'd rather have these picture (etc) in one place (hard copy) than sit around a monitor looking at them in their little files.

I agree that it is often easier to flip through an album or journal than it is to scroll through a blog, though I can see uses for both. (It's certainly easier to SHARE a blog with friends and family in other areas.)

Ladybugfalcon, I think you have exactly the right idea about what makes a journal or blog so much fun and so useful. By golly, I'm determined to get going on one or the other (if not BOTH) this year. After my foot surgery would be a good time to start, since I won't be able to do much outside for awhile.

This post has given me some really good ideas about things to include. I never thought about seed envelopes or actual photos/drawings, etc. Once again, I have learned something new and fun here on GW! This place rocks!

Marcia

I just started a garden blog. Doesn't have much in it yet, but I plan to do a lot of plant i.d. and growing info in it.

I used to write everything on 4x6 index cards in a recipe box, and include a picture when I could. I also would write info on the back of pics I had.

Never worried to much about when something was planted, etc. I wish now that I had kept track of all the stuff I had planted through the years, because much of it has died.