Keeping a Garden Journal A Garden Journal is a record of your garden’s progress. It will show you your achievements from year to year and record the changes you’ve made to your garden. Once it’s set up you’ll be able to compare each year’s results and solve the problems that your garden may encounter. Use a 3-ring binder or bound notebook with at least 12 lined pages. Write with a regular pen but use a highlighter or different colour to mark anything special you want to make note of. Setting up your Garden Journal Write a month at the top of each page. In the right margin, write the year you start keeping the journal. Assign 2 lines for each week in the month. For example: May has 4 weeks so you’ll need 8 lines. For the busy garden months, June to August you could assign 3 lines for each month. Use a calendar to choose 1 day during each week when you will record your entries. Write the exact date beside the right margin, in pencil, if you think you might change it. Leave 2 or 3 lines blank between years. When you make your entries use the highlighter or draw an arrow beside anything you want to remind yourself of the next year. Don’t forget to record how big your garden was when you started and how it’s changed from year to year. Your Journal will show you what you have done differently from year to year and how the changes affected your plants. Take pictures of your garden as it progresses and record the date on the back of them. They will show you well you are succeeding. Your Garden Journal will also help you create a chores calendar because you can see how long it took to complete each step of growing and maintaining your garden. Example of a Garden Journal for the Month of May.
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