How To Makeyour Own Gardening Journal

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A gardening journal is a record of what one has done in a garden, including information on planting dates, seed types, and weather changes. Keeping a gardening journal serves many purposes, the most important of which is planning for subsequent growing seasons based on results from past years. There are many types of garden journals, varying from basic diaries to seed repositories. The steps below will teach you how to make a gardening journal that is appropriate for your purposes.

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1
Decide what purpose you want your gardening journal to fulfill. This could be a more casual record of your activity or a repository of essential information.
- If you are a more casual gardener who merely wants to look back and see what you've done, a simple diary will suffice. If you are a more serious gardener, especially someone hoping to use or sell produce from your garden, keeping a gardening journal will be an essential part of planning your future activity.
2
Choose a journal format that suits your purpose.
- For a simple journal, use a notebook or diary, or even graph paper if you just want to record planting dates. For a more serious journal, choose a large binder to which you can add paper and pouches for seeds.
- Electronic formats are also an option. For a diary-like journal on a computer, use a word processing program and create a new page or file for each entry. For a journal with measurements or statistics, use a data organization program like Microsoft Excel. There are also apps available for smartphones, such as Garden Pro and Master Gardener.
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3
Divide your garden journal into sections. These may be chronological, topical, or practical.
- You may choose to have a section for each growing season, or to divide your journal into plant types. Additionally, you might have different sections for seed notes, weather notes, and financial data. In all cases, you can use each section either as a diary or as a folder for information.
4

Leave space in your new sections for non-text items such as seed samples, diagrams and pictures of your garden.
5

Cover your gardening journal with a book cover or plastic lamination so that it can safely get wet and dirty. You will want to be able to bring your journal into your garden.
6

Begin entering information, such as description of a day's work or planting dates into the appropriate sections of the garden journal. Leave space after each entry so that you can come back later and add notes or edit what you have written.
7

Let your gardening journal evolve as the growing season goes on, adding new sections, including a second volume, inserting additional paper.

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There are many gardening journals available on the market, which provide a ready-to-use format for your entries. If you are new to keeping a garden journal or do not expect to record lots of information, these pre-formatted journals may be a good idea; otherwise, it is best to create your own journal according to your own needs.
A good gardening journal will be accurate and specific. Even if you only want to keep a diary of your garden activity, be sure to pay close attention to detail so that you can consult your notes for guidance. Use proper plant names, be sure to mark every entry with a date, and include measurements as necessary.

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Things You'll Need

Garden
Journal or notebook

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