I am very good at organizing things. I have a dozen gardening journals. Wonderful things in 1" ring binders. I never use them. I think the last entry was 2009.

I am in that same group, I have kept journals for years . Some years every little detail , seeds dates , harvest and other years to busy to record much. I almost never go back and reread the journals so I have decided it just isn't worth my time.
I do have a cubit where I record flowering time through photos to help my perennial garden development.
I also use photos to map where I place plants.

[quote="Jai_Ganesha"]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.

Jai, if you click on Community at the top of the page, you will see a drop down with 'blogs'. You can use your blog to record new plants, date planted, and any other info you want to put there. Blogs are a great way to "journal".

I take pictures, add notes and send it to myself in emails that I made folders for, like Roses, etc and when I send it I know the date I took the picture.

Hello everyone,

I have been keeping a garden journal for over 10 years. I started with a commercial notebook that, oddly enough, had metal covers and permanently captured pages. It was about half an inch thick, so I filled it up in a couple of years.

I did remember that I had gotten my garden journal wet on several occasions. I usually took it with me into the garden to make notes as they occurred to me. On more than one occasion I got caught in a sudden shower, and the journal got wet.

So I decided that my next garden journal would be a looseleaf notebook that was waterproof and weatherproof, and I started searching Amazon for a candidate. I found the items I needed in the "Rite in the Rain" products.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=n...

The Rite in the Rain products are used primarily by military personnel and university personnel for field operations, but I have found them to work well in my garden as well. I devote a page to each of my favorite breeder zinnias, including a description including maternal parent, planting date, bloom color and size, plant habit, and pollinating plants used. I use the Rite in the Rain loose leaf binders and waterproof filler paper.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=n...

Their waterproof nature has continued to be key, because my garden journals continue to get wet. I have forgotten and left them in the garden overnight on several occasions, and on one occasion I turned on an overhead sprinkler, not noticing that my journal was on a folding chair in range of the sprinkler. It got a multi-hour shower bath. It dried off good as new.

They sell waterproof pens to use with the Rite as Rain notebooks, and I have one, but instead I use soft-lead pencils. They can be erased if need be, and the pencil writing has proved to be completely waterproof on the waterproof paper.

ZM
(not associated with any product or vendor mentioned or linked)

Zen - thank you. I looked, I like. I have a hunch I'll buy.

I found good deals on cheap plastic labels and good metal label stakes this Winter. The 1,000 cheap plastic ones are just for inside. The metal stakes will get long-lasting Dymo labels stuck to them for outside.

I do Square Foot Gardening, so I need a lot of durable outside stakes. Actually, they are mostly for the tomatoes and for knowing where I have already planting small crop squares so that I don't overplant them before they grow enough to recognize. LOL!

Meant to add that I use Excel to draw my framed beds and keep track of what I've planted foot by foot. 2 ways of keeping track are good, and I can keep the printed diagrams for my journal.

For marking/identifying in the vegetable garden, I use cedar shims [the ones the carpenters use]. Permanent black markers write well on them and last all season. If I miscalculate when rototilling, no damage done to equipment or tires. And, shims are cheap.

I use the Microsoft program Paint to map my garden. As plants are added or replaced I can erase said area and note the change. At year's end I make a copy and save it in Documents which allows me to review the garden's history year by year. Lily blooming dates are tracked as well as field trips and butterfly sightings.

Good thread!
I started with a 3 Ring Binder journal I got as a gift about 15 years ago, filled it up and now have two more. It's not wonderfully organized, but I have lists of trees, shrubs, where and when planted. Several pages titled "Things That Died"... Maps on graph paper of garden plans with some lists of what was actually planted and when. A section with receipts in chronological order (immensely helpful). A section for trades. Sections for seeds planted, cuttings tried, experiments with seed stratification etc. A list updated perhaps once yearly of "Seeds I Have". A list of "Things that are Reliable Here". Lists of tools. A list of things I want. Various lists of ideas (eg. a page with ideas of plants for a "Dr Seuss Garden" I may make someday with my sister, with odd looking plants). Printed things from magazines or the internet (a long one on Grevilleas I printed out). I use heavyweight paper for the binder, and I own a three-hole-punch.

What I likely use the most now, is a really big nice box on the shelf in the Living Room. When I plant something I save the tag. Wash it in kitchen sink, dry on counter, then write on it the year and where planted. Toss in box. By winter, I have a bunch, now on a chilly night I file them- I have Ziplock bags in the box for Trees, shrubs, houseplants, annuals, planters, and A-Z ziplocks for perennials/bulbs. I now have over ten years of these and it is really helpful.

I use the Rite in the Rain notepads for hiking and birdwatching. They are fabulous, come in all sizes, I just bought another one last week. never thought of using in the garden but it's a great idea.
I keep thinking of doing some of the mapping on the computer, but never had a garden design program. Jmorth's Paint looks pretty useful. Hmm.

plantmanager said:[quote="Jai_Ganesha"]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.

Jai, if you click on Community at the top of the page, you will see a drop down with 'blogs'. You can use your blog to record new plants, date planted, and any other info you want to put there. Blogs are a great way to "journal".

Thank you. I'm still learning about all the features of this site! I want to make a couple of "how to" posts and I am working on those as "community ideas." I don't have a computer at home (only my phone--this is a deliberate choice) so it's slow going. I appreciate the mention of the blogs--I had no idea about that either!

My garden journal started as as a 3 ring binder but when I hit the 3rd one I decided it was too bulky with all the plant tags, too unorganized, dirty, and ineligible (my handwriting is so bad even I can't read it) so I changed to a spreadsheet on my computer with about 16 and counting pages. Each page is labeled differently, one is the year where I keep track of new plantings and chores needed to do that year. Other pages consist of each garden around the house which I have named, with current plants and ideas for future plants and even long dead plants and why I think they died. Other pages are for winter sowing, container plants, plants that bees like, reseeders etc. You get the idea. Right now I'm researching privacy plants for along the alley. So I added a page labeled "hedges" and when I find something interesting I add it to the page along with a picture and a few growing facts.

The journal helps keep my mind organized otherwise all this gardening info would be like a bowl of spaghetti in my head! LOL And I don't need to try to keep all the misc labels and tags. I just threw out 2 tulip bag labels I bought in 2008 from a house in a different state! Now I just enter the info into whichever garden they went into and its a done deal.

I also use Google calendar to remind me to feed, prune, spray and other chores that need to be done at a certain time. Otherwise I'd forget, for sure!

Electronics all the way for me!
Meri

This is my first garden this year. The Phoenix area can be a challenge for gardening. I'm keeping a paper journal with daytime highs, overnight lows, a statement of the general weather, my pool temperature (which has nothing to do with gardening, but it seems like a handy place to note it), and what I did that day. My plan is to put in tabs to show where each month starts so it's easy to look back next year.

For my To Do list and reminders about what needs to be done, I'm using Trello, which is a great online program and free. It told me today that my blueberry vinegar is done, so I'm working on some dressing recipes to try it out tonight!

I am still considering the pros and cons of keeping a journal. I am just starting fresh this year and since it is not yet time to plant I have time yet to decide if I will or not.

Welcome to the world of gardening LizDTM! Glad to have you with us.

Thank you, Gary! I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm having a great time!

Liz
Thrilled to know you are trying gardening. Welcome and thank you for joining us. A journal is a wonderful way to follow your successes and failures. Later in life you will review the early years with a smile.

Thanks for the welcome, Kathy! Where in Michigan do you live? I have lived in Grand Rapids, Adrian, Alma, and went to college at U-M. Summered in the UP with relatives.

We live in the farmlands west of St Clair Michigan. Nice and rural. Can hear nothing but frogs & crickets & the wind.

U of M? Last year the athletic dept took us for a stadium tour. The changes take your breath away. That's some awesome place.