Gardening Sweet Spots
By Donna Hessel
Ever walk around your garden in the early spring when green shoots are just beginning to appear and ask yourself, “Did I plant this or is it a weed?” Or, “Does this plant want fertilizer in the spring or in the fall?” Or, “Is now the time to prune this clematis?”
Those are the times you can turn to your Garden Journal and readily find the answers. Don’t keep a Garden Journal? Here’s an easy way to start. You’ll need a gallon size, sealable plastic bag and a black Sharpie. Every time you buy a plant, remove the tag that comes with it, record the year and where you planted it on the back of the tag, and put the tag in the plastic bag. On a separate piece of paper, write the year (e.g., 2020) in large, visible print and put it in the bag. The plant tag has the common name (and also sometimes the biological name) of the plant and its major requirements for soil, sun, water and pruning. So three years down the road, when you can’t remember whether it’s time to prune that clematis, you can find the plant tag and know that it should be done now (or, regrettably, it should have been done last fall; or, it doesn’t need pruning at all).
Start a new bag each spring. Your plastic bag “journals” can be stacked on a shelf in a bookcase or in the garage for easy access. After several years, you can edit the bags by discarding tags for the multiple annuals you plant every year — maybe keeping one of each for reference — and combine tags for perennials, shrubs or trees that you may need to refer to more often. Because each tag has the year, name of the plant and where you planted it, you can easily find the information you need.
Keeping a Book Type Garden Journal
If you want even more information about your gardens, buy a large-size book journal with blank pages. Record your gardening tasks on each page as you do them, noting the date and what was accomplished. For example, “4-10-20 – Added compost around peonies. Mulched bed with pine straw 3” deep. Pruned red barberry. Transplanted barberry volunteers to a pot,” etc. Just a few lines take little time to write and provide a sufficient reference when you look back in future years to find out if/when something was done. This can also be done on a computer if you prefer looking at a screen vs. holding a book in your hands.
Pictures are Valuable Planning Tools
I take photos of my gardens and containers in the spring, shortly after they are planted. I keep the photos in a file on my computer and label each one with the names of the plants and the container or garden location. These are “documentary” photos, not “beauty” shots. I often take photos again at the end of June or early July and again at the end of August or early September. On the late-summer photos, I add notes as to whether they grew well where they were planted, what plants worked well together (for containers especially) and perhaps where they should be moved if they didn’t do well in a particular place in a garden. When you are planning your gardens and/or container purchases for the following year, you can refer to these photos and the notes you have included so you can buy the same ones or try something different. Photos can be compiled on a page with your notes and printed out and kept with that year’s journal pages if you are using a book journal. Or, they can be put in a computer file labeled “Garden” and the year.
However you keep your garden journal, you’ll find it a handy reference.
