“My memory is failing, I can’t remember very well…”
If you often find yourself singing this refrain followed by “What could be the name of that lovely Aster? When did I start sowing last year? When did we eat the first strawberries? And the first mowing, was it in March?”… it’s high time to keep a garden journal!
A garden journal, what for?
The garden journal is the gardener's memory. Traditionally, it records the weather, dates of various sowings and plantings, the names of varieties… but also great successes or dismal failures. It can be enhanced with photos, drawings, and even serve as an improvised herbarium.
At my place, it also serves as an organisational system, in a “Bullet journal” style, with three objectives: to keep a record of the past, plan, and prioritise. I note what I plan to do in the garden in the short or long term, the list of plants I desire, my thoughts on the vegetables grown in the vegetable patch, and also, year after year, the locations of crops and compost contributions to best organise the rotations.
My journal also fuels my inspiration, like a mood board: an atmospheric image, details of the plants featured, to which I add my ideas, and voilà, a new project. Whether it comes to fruition or not is irrelevant: I have a record of it.
I also like to record the flowering dates of certain bushes and small events like the fledging of young blue tits, encounters with hedgehogs, and the first attacks of aphids or powdery mildew.
More prosaically, I could also note the prices of everything I buy for the garden, to have an economic approach to it, but ultimately, no, I think I prefer not to know.
The ideal garden journal: what support?
Although I am a big fan of spreadsheets, I remain attached to paper when it comes to preserving valuable information. And for gardener's diaries or journals “ready to write”, I prefer a lovely notebook with a hard cover. At my place, it’s a “Leuchtturm 1917” that serves as my support. I find it very flexible to use: I organise the information as I wish and feel no obligation. I can leave it aside for a few weeks or make larger spaces for other periods when I am more active in the garden.
And you, do you keep a garden journal? Tell us!
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