Hi everyone,

I have a very easy-to-use Word document I created to use as my dynamic gardening calendar. It's not much more than a table in which I list things I need to do in each month of any given year. It's easy to delete things, or to add things. You can also insert links to websites or articles, and include reminders about where you've put things (if you're like me, you need that!)

Two of the most important things listed here are the first and last frost dates.

Unfortunately, we can't upload documents here, so I'm just including a screen capture of the document so you can see how I've done it and duplicate it yourselves. If you use a different word processor, I'm sure it will have the same capabilities--you just create a 2 column, 13 row table (one for the heading row). If anyone would like the actual document to use in their own way, I'd be happy to share. Just treemail me!

Great idea!

I keep three similar Word files - one is titled Earth Dates and I keep a running tally of first/last frost dates each year, and other dates that are relevant to me. When the robins return, the redwinged blackbirds, the frogs start singing, dandelions bloom, our seasonal creek starts and stops running, first mow of the lawn, etc. Some of these dates trigger planting times for me, others are just for curiosity.

My second file is titled Thoughts and Ideas and is a free-form list of things I might note during the year to do later (move the red rose to the south side, it needs more sun), when to prune, etc. I like your idea of keeping these organized by month. Sometimes I look at my list and have already blown by the window to do something. This file is usually transcribed from various scraps of paper I scribble on during garden walk-abouts.

My third free-form ever changing Word file is titled Wish List and that includes all the plants I have my eye on, and where I should plant them if I do purchase. That gets edited often and I typically print it out whenever I head to the nursery.

Thank you, Joanne. You've given me some good ideas to improve my gardening diary.

Thanks! I keep an Excel spreadsheet to track the different varieties of plants I have and loved your idea, so I added a tab called "Garden Journal" and will keep track of fertilizing, mulching, etc. This will probably help us plan a spraying schedule; we need to get better at doing things consistently.

Great ideas all around. Love this site!!

GenXNEGeorgia said:Thanks! I keep an Excel spreadsheet to track the different varieties of plants I have and loved your idea, so I added a tab called "Garden Journal" and will keep track of fertilizing, mulching, etc. This will probably help us plan a spraying schedule; we need to get better at doing things consistently.

Great ideas all around. Love this site!!

Me too!

@Joanna Great idea! I'll have to try this, and see how I do with it!

bloominholes2fill said:@Joanna Great idea! I'll have to try this, and see how I do with it!

I'd be happy to send you the file if you'd like to use it. You need to have Microsoft Word installed though.

As I'm doing my fall cleanup, I can see there are some plants that would benefit from a hard cut-back after bloom, and plan to add those in to my dynamic calendar as well, although I think I'll split mine into seasons rather than months (early spring, mid spring, late spring, etc.) since things can change from year to year. Plus I won't feel like I've missed the boat if I haven't gotten to something slated for April when it's all of a sudden May... And things I could move in fall that I don't get around to I can simply cut and paste into the early spring slot.

Bonehead said:As I'm doing my fall cleanup, I can see there are some plants that would benefit from a hard cut-back after bloom, and plan to add those in to my dynamic calendar as well, although I think I'll split mine into seasons rather than months (early spring, mid spring, late spring, etc.) since things can change from year to year. Plus I won't feel like I've missed the boat if I haven't gotten to something slated for April when it's all of a sudden May... And things I could move in fall that I don't get around to I can simply cut and paste into the early spring slot.

Sounds like a plan!

Great ideal Joanna !
Just for laughs 😃 hears a pic of my sort of kind of garden planner. I guess its sort of a reminder, so i remember next spring where i planted what, and rotate next year. Also, what didn't do well in certain places, and what did good in certain places.
You seem pertty?😕??? Humm. Art-seey !!! ? Is that a word

Maybe you could improve my ideal, and come up with a better name for it ! 😁!!!

Ohh !!! Could you get a closer shot of your garden calender, and post it hear ? All i have is a phone, and when i blow up your pic, all i get is fuzz.
THANK YOU MUCH 😘😇
😎😎😎




Belly shot ...... FREE !

Philipwonel said:Great ideal Joanna !
Just for laughs 😃 hears a pic of my sort of kind of garden planner. I guess its sort of a reminder, so i remember next spring where i planted what, and rotate next year. Also, what didn't do well in certain places, and what did good in certain places.
You seem pertty?😕??? Humm. Art-seey !!! ? Is that a word

Maybe you could improve my ideal, and come up with a better name for it ! 😁!!!

Ohh !!! Could you get a closer shot of your garden calender, and post it hear ? All i have is a phone, and when i blow up your pic, all i get is fuzz.
THANK YOU MUCH 😘😇
😎😎😎




Belly shot ...... FREE !

Looks like a garden map or journal. I could do without the belly though.

Sorry, the picture is a screen capture, not a photo. Have you tried turning your phone to a "landscape" view? But so you can get a better idea of what's there, the column on the left is months, with one row for each one. You enter tasks, reminders or whatever you like in the second column.

HTH.

Ohhh !!! My goodness Joanna #😬!!!
On my phone, it didn't show that much. I would of never of sent it. I'm so embarrassed. 😞😞😞

I got your explanation perfectlly, of your monthly gardening planner.
Gee !😕! Why didn't i think of something like that.

I don't have computer, but i have pen, paper, and white-out. Ha ha haaah. 😃😃😃

Thank You for sharing ! 😁😁😁
😎😎😎

For the landscape locations, I try to save thumbnails and then I insert them into a powerpoint slide... here's a screenshot. It's not perfect but until the DFH gives me a CAD printout of our garden, it's the best I can do




And while I'm exposing my complete dorkiness, this is how I maintain my inventory/ Clearly, I have been lax and there are some fields that need to be completed but the info resides in my handwritten gardening journal; I just need to transcribe it to the spreadsheet so it's all in one place.

I use index cards. I have specific cards per plant for every week of the year from -12 weeks before last frost date to first frost date.

Each card has a plant, whether to plant it indoors, when to transplant it in larger pots indoors, when to set out transplants, when to direct-seed, how deep, and how many per square foot and at which week.

A sample:

Very cool you guys. Great garden planners all.

However, the whole purpose of the simple calendar thing is to keep it simple, VERY simple, have it be a simplified list of chores and other notes (like frost dates), and have those chores all in one handy document arranged by month. It's not meant to be a garden planner. @GenXNEGeorgia, I love how you wrote about adding a tab to your spreadsheet!

I would like to suggest @Yardenman and @GenXNEGeorgia, that you write up and post your excellent methods (I especially like the thumbnail thing) and post them with "Article: Idea--" in the subject line. Post them in the All Things Gardening forum. Once you do, @dave will create a special forum specifically for articles and ideas! There's been a lot of chatter going on about this, and it'd be great to see your ideas out there! You've actually already done the writing part--just copy / paste from what you've posted here.

You can see some of the chatter here: The thread "Ideas: Where and how to post?" in Site Talk forum

There's more elsewhere. @Philipwonel, you can contribute to this too!

It'd be great to have someone write something up about how to prepare your garden for a hurricane too--I understand that people in parts of GA are now doing that. Stay safe all our GA and FLA people. (thanks @greene)

WOW !!! You really surprised me Joanna, when you mentioned me !😮! Sure i'll contribute. Who what where, im i contributing?😕???
I enjoy writing, helping people out, and putting a dumb little joke in hear and there.
My sign off is "😎😎😎" that stands for "The Cool Gardener " I'll be Phil the science guy. I allways liked Bill Nye the science guy. 😁 Plus ! I like to experiment in the garden. Ho ho.

OK NOW !!! There are my terms.
Where do i sign.
And ! What and where is my first assignment.
Snap to it. I have snow peas, i want to get planted.
Bye bye, for now. 😁😁😁
😎😎😎

Philipwonel said:WOW !!! You really surprised me Joanna, when you mentioned me !😮! Sure i'll contribute. Who what where, im i contributing?😕???
I enjoy writing, helping people out, and putting a dumb little joke in hear and there.
My sign off is "😎😎😎" that stands for "The Cool Gardener " I'll be Phil the science guy. I allways liked Bill Nye the science guy. 😁 Plus ! I like to experiment in the garden. Ho ho.

OK NOW !!! There are my terms.
Where do i sign.
And ! What and where is my first assignment.
Snap to it. I have snow peas, i want to get planted.
Bye bye, for now. 😁😁😁
😎😎😎

Just copy / paste your idea that you posted here with your garden diagram. Maybe call it, "Article: Idea--creating a handwritten garden planner to keep track of your plantings." Put that in the subject line and post it to the All Things Gardening forum.

But please take a new picture, one without a belly (just put your paper on a table). If you're using your phone, be sure to position it in the landscape position, that is, not vertical, but horizontal to get as much of your page into the picture.

HTH!

What is HTH?

Bonehead said:What is HTH?

Hope This Helps.

Thanks. I can't keep up with all the acronyms and they rather drive me bonkers. At least most folks are back to using punctuation again.