It might not be essential to keep records of gardening activities, weather etc; especially after many years of gardening but I always find it a satisfying extension, and lets face it, the memory is seldom reliable. I have always used a annual desk diary.

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Every year I start writing in a notebook, keeping a record of what work I've done, seeds sown, weather and wildlife spotted, etc. This lasts until about the middle of June when I just stop! I think its a combination of being too busy and then feeling too guilty when I notice the gap in my diary! I am thinking that this coming year I will not bother!

I have just started my 23rd garden diary but I don't feel compelled to write every day, only when I have done anything special. I make rough sketches of planting schemes in it, too, and note special requirements of some plants. There are gaps in the winter months, of course, and also in the busiest period in summer. I don't write that I have been weeding all day, for instance.

I read too many books and journals and I note in my diary anything I particularly want to remember from them because I know I will forget later where and when I first read it. I also have a file of all plants but I need to improve that. Excel seems to be the easiest program.

I keep a record some years of which lilies are in flower & when. Don't know why really, except I'd like to see if the flowering could be controlled and find the ones that flower in early summer or autumn. My faves are the orientals and they mostly flower just as I'm about to go on holiday. The longiflorums and regales smell wonderful & flower early.

I threw out my sketches for redesigning my garden after it was completed (it'll never be complete because I tinker with it) and regretted it.

I now have a garden notebook and make notes every autumn about what needs to be changed next year. In the spring I can never believe that things are going to grow to their autumn size so I need to have documentation to spur me into action! I never write down which seeds get sown, I'm far too haphazard to get round to that. I do keep lists of which seeds I've ordered and have a constantly evolving hitlist of things I'd like to acquire.

My dad kept a detailed farming diary with daily temperature and rainfall amounts for about 30 years. he also made a cine film of the Farming Year in 1963 which now looks like something out of Thomas Hardy.

Garden Nerd, you may be able to help me as a lily enthusiast. Most of my lilies die down naturally, but in august I bought a pot of lilies which the man said were a longiflorum hybrid. They have not died down yet. I have them in the greenhouse, but am not sure whether to dry them off, or keep watering them. Any ideas?

I buy and sow over 100 different seeds every January. I type up a list of all the seeds, where they came from, and germination requirements, plus the year. Occasionally I note success or failure in germination.

I wanted to record what was in flower in my garden throughout the year, but to be honest, there are too many other things to be done. So, I created files on my computer for each month of the year. Throughout the year I take photos with the digital camera and pop them into the appropriate month. I find it works well and I can see what is in flower and when, and it's interesting to look back on the previous year to see how well the plants have grown. I also do this with 'before' and 'after' designs in the garden and can look at the pics, and perhaps rearrange things that don't look quite right.

Sue

Thanks to my partner who can build 'diary' type websites I keep an online garden diary in which I can spend a few minutes each day updating with some text and a photo courtesy of my digital camera. I thoroughly enjoy the half an hour or so spent making an entry most days and have found it invaluable to look back on already, even though I have only been keeping the diary for a little over a year.

Just seeing what has grown (and what has not) etc. keeps up my enthusiasm to continue. Incidentally although I am British, my garden diary covers my garden in rural southern Spain where I live for most of the year.

Here is a link that might be useful: My mediterranean Garden Diary