Planting a Garden? Start a Journal...

My parents were big gardeners.

My husbands parents were even bigger.

This is our first year doing it ourselves.

I attended a 2 month gardening course last summer that was taught by a newly retired professional gardener.

I took notes like crazy.

One of his biggest recommendations wasn't about fertilizer, the plant varieties or a watering schedule.

It was simply to keep a garden journal.

He said to write down as much as possible:

When you planted,

the type of fertilizer you used,

what you planted (varieties, size, store bought or from seeds),

how far apart did you space them?,

furrows or flat ground?,

how often you watered,

what type of watering system,

how much sun they received.

At the end of the season he would calculate:

When the plants started producing,

when they stopped,

how much each plant produced in whole,

overall appearance of produce (size, color, smell, taste),

did a taste rating on a scale of 1-10,

if he had issues with pests/bugs,

if plants needed a second application of fertilizer and when it was applied,

mistakes he made,

problems he had,

what he did wrong vs. what he did right.

He said his garden journal made him a better gardener each and every year,

especially because he didn't make the same mistakes twice.

Taking pictures wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Just a suggestion...

Happy Gardening!