Tell me about your garden journal. I'm wondering if you have a better way of journaling. Is it a notebook with dirt fingerprints? Electronic? On your wall calendar?
What do you notate? Weather, seed varieties, successes, failures, harvest results, fertilizing schedule, crop rotation, visitors, frosts, photos?
How many years have you kept it going?

I tried one for about a week. Thought it might be a good idea but was too tired to write down stuff and then brain drain would kick in and thar she blows!

I hear some people are very good at keeping journals. I'm just good at buying them and setting them aside.

I write down what I plant and where on right.
Make notes on what is flowering etc. on left later.
I use a scrawl journal.

Very funny, Joan.

I like your idea, Caroline.
I have an old 3-ring notebook with 365 pages. The month/day is at the top of each page. I turn to today's date and write the year in the left margin before i write my comments on the line.

I started a journal on my first garden year. At first, I noted everything. What type of plants I got, where and when I planted them, and noted every change for the whole season. It was for learning purposes really. I also took pictures of everything about once a week or so to match up with my written notes. This year, I did the same thing, but I didn't record as many details unless it was a new plant. It's just a hard cover notebook that I bought on clearance a while back. lol nothing special. I also kept the plant identification (thingy) for each species of plant I have.
I learn best by hands on work, notes and pictures. lol

It depends. I have constructed several journals, but I'm better at arranging them than adding data to them.

Some people keep the plant tags in those clear sheets for ring binders that collectors use for collecting sports cards.
I use those sheets for keeping small pkgs of seeds.

That's a good idea @carolinescott
I should remember that for my next garden year.

I have a notebook and I do it on my computer. I keep notes on germination, seasons, temps, any notes that would be beneficial to the success or failure of that plant, things I or any one else might like to know. It helps me be a better gardner. If I take the time to write it down, I'm more likely to commit it to memory.

I tried doing computer spread sheets one year, but did not capture as much info. Always in a hurry it seems!
Also tried the Garden Journal from Lee valley Tools, but found there was not enough room on some pages, while the winter dates had almost no entries.

I use my Google Calendar with a specific category/color for gardening. I also keep Google spreadsheets that I later transfer certain things to from the calendar (such as specific plant and insect benchmarks that I correlate to growing degree days as calculated by my Davis weather station) . I have the attention span of a hummingbird, so it's nice to be able to open the calendar app on my phone and make a quick note while I'm among the plants. Otherwise I'll forget.

Coryvp - love that you twist technology for garden use. These two seem at opposite ends of the spectrum. Exactly the response I was looking for.

Instead of a journal, I post my best pics at my google blog. see the link at the bottom of my post...

A pictorial journal means that I keep adding entries... I'd never do that with a written record...

You know what they say about a pic and a thousand words...

This journaling concept...who will want to know what we have written when we are gone? Who should we bequeath our journal to? Looking forward to a couple of generations from now, what would the reader be anxious to learn from our notes?

I've tried various journals on paper and online. I don't keep any of them up. I'm thinking that photos are better for me. I try to photograph each plant when I first get it, and take more photos as it grows. I have the data on those photos, so it works best for me.

When I buy a new plant, I add it to my list here in the database, I have set up different categories (see my profile) I add notes like where and when purchased, you can also add where planted and any other notes.
For detailing my garden progress, I use the blog feature here. I currently have it start back 16 pages when I first moved to this property almost 6 years ago. Great way to add progress notes and photos, lots of before and after shots too. I love going back to the beginning and see how far it's come!

I record some of my experiments in various plant breeding, and growth, along with dates so I know next year what growth timeframe to expect. I frequently take photos as a visual guide too!

If there were a way to have a "personal" page on this website and notate things (pictures, ideas, notes, to-do lists) I'd totally sign up.

I don't like some of the other websites as much because they're too snotty even for me.

I know what you mean, Jai. I like it here, we all like to get our hands dirty. Most gardeners know what they know because they experienced it first-hand.