I just started mine this morning. I decided to experiment with some different plants this year, so I thought it would be a good idea to log my garden so I can keep track of there progress and decide what I will plant nest year.
:dance
I never used to -- moved around too much for it to be useful.
However when we bought this house, I guess 4 1/2 years ago now, I started a log of daily max/min temps, precipitation, thaws, first/last frost, major annual benchmarks (trees leafing out, etc) and comments on what blooms when. (The latter is rather vague and capricious, focusing mainly on unfamiliar plants plus some old standbys for calibration).
I've also started (again, only because I expect to be here a long time) writing down when I start seeds, when they germinate, when they're ready to put out, and when I *actually* put them out. A smart person would also record first harvest I guess, but I am clearly not smart enough for that ;P
Most of this is just catering to years and years of being a research biologist and feeling the itch to record data -- but I will say that some of it, esp. the temperature, precipitation and phenological information, DOES actually come in handy sometimes.
This time of year, it also gives me something to look forward to, as I can flip ahead in The Book (as we call it ) to see when the first crocuses have bloomed in past years, and count the days
Yep. I am fundamentally lazy about gardening, so I buy a few varieties, plant a few of everything, and then just make notes of what did best under my tender loving neglect. I figure the National Weather Service tracks all the other stuff. Then I buy more of whatever did well.
I used to keep a journal, but then I underestimated how many of my experiments would bite the dust and die. When I re-read my journal, so many of the plants had passed on that it was no longer relavant. Especially the tea roses that I tried in my raised beds.
Although I am a list-maker and record-keeping person by nature, I've just had to resign myself to living a garden year to year.
I have a list of when I planted... and what I planted, but it's not very thurough...
However..... I am still OCD...
I have a chart of total costs and a chart showing the breakdown per type of goods of amount harvested by the lb or number for each type of plant on which day for the entire harvest season.
Also have a tally chart for chickens...
And one for odometer readings, gas useage, gas prices, mileage, and maintence for the car for as long as I have had it. I can point out when things were done and how much fuel cost for each year....
Ha ha. Well, if you're OCD, then I must be as well. I have kept garden journals over the years but started getting a little more detailed with it this past season.
I also keep an egg journal for my hens, which isn't hard to do since I only have 3 of them.
Believe it or not, I am still getting tomatoes from last season. I planted several tomato plants last season, but the SunGold's are still producing! My next door neighbor, who happily takes my extra compost off my hands, is still getting salad tomatoes!