creating a flower garden journal

How many of you have a garden journal ; an actual binder where you record important things to remember about your flower garden? What are the categories/index tabs within it? Example: Annuals, Perennials,bulbs, Vines, Shrubs, seed/plant purchases, sketches of your flowerbeds, wish list, garden junk/statues/ signs, receipts of purchases, Deer/squirrel deterrents, wintersowing records. Do you keep record of when certain task are completed or need to be completed? Plant tags or pictures of your plant purchases? The hardest part will be the sketching of the flowerbeds..I never understood graphs and I stink at drawing!

I'm trying to organize my existing journal better. I purchased about 4 yrs. ago a 3 ring notebook Garden Journal. I think I purchased it from Gardener's supply. I find that I need to make another one. I'll just buy an inexpensive notebook and make my own dividers/tabs.

Have I missed anything that you feel is pertinent in keeping this flower garden journal. I've been looking on the internet for ideas, examples. Some go more into detail than I am interested in keeping. When it gets too technical, it doesn't become enjoyable for me and I'll get frustrated and not keep it up.

Hiya Pippi. I actually have a hard-copy journal, and I'm like you, if it's too complicated I won't keep up on it. I've got 3 different things:
1- the regular spiral notebook in the basement in which I keep track of what I've sown/when/how many. That's it. (I darn-near ONLY winter sow, so far).
2- a regular 3-ring binder with pocket inserts. I use that to keep track of what I want, and pictures of what I want. Even stuff I see online, I'll print 'em out, and hand-write info on the back (including the date), and keep 'em stored in the pockets.
3- I've got a pad of graph paper on which I draw out design ideas. Now, I have to say, I could not draw a straight line if my life depended on it. I cannot ANYTHING a straight line; draw, cut, walk...you name it! (how embarrassing!), so I have a ruler and some other fun drawing items to help me. It's taken time, (and lots of patience), but I've finally gotten to where you can actually recognize what I've drawn for what it is!

I don't record tasks done or anything like that, those sorts of things are stored in my head (there's LOADS of room in my head for stuff, trust me). Working at a nursery, I've got a pretty good general idea of what sorts of conditions I need for what. I'd BETTER know these things since I talk to people about it all day long when I'm at work. That helps a lot.

So, #1 I keep with my Winter Sowing paraphernalia,
#'s 2 and 3 are kept in the office at my desk.

Simple. I'm a very simple person, so I need things to be as simple as possible. ;)

I'm terrible at record keeping- any good intentions do not last.
I've made some notes in the journal here.

I'm with Sally. I try to keep some notes but have not been too successful. I do use the journal here to keep some notes on the plants.

I have a very informal journal, everything is just pretty much handwritten
I have info on what I ordered or received from RUs and swaps, where or who I got it from, info on the plant characteristics and when they were planted
I have my garden layout drawn out and then an actual picture of it. I also notate how the plant performed
Besides all my pics on the computer(by month) I have a dedicated garden photo album(just started that last year), I have friends that like flipping thru that when they come over

Jen, Sounds like you are doing pretty good keeping track of your garden. Much better than I am. LOL

Yeah, I'm a little crazy

Jen, I take lots of photos. It is the only way I can keep track of everything. I also keep a calendar in a file on my computer. The last thing I do (unfortunately) is to retain the bags from the bulbs and plants purchased, but don't be under the impression that they are in order. I always start off with the best intentions....

i take lots of pictures too. I really need to sort thorugh them all (digital) and delete worse ones and see what all I have. We discussed one time just the task or ? of how you organize garden photos. I started with seasonal or month but now mostly name them by type of plant, like marigold, , then that goes into yellow annuals folder.

My DG Journal is organized by type of plant. My pictures are organized by flower bed or area. I have pictures of the beds over the years so I can see how they have changed and what they look like in different seasons. I also have some organized by type of plant where I have the close ups of different plants.