Publisher's Synopsis
A garden journal is a diary documenting the progression of your vegetable garden- from planning and planting, to sowing and harvesting. Think of a garden journal and planner as a notebook detailing your day-to-day, week-to-week, and year-to-year gardening activities. This includes the evolution of your garden throughout the growing season or seasons if you have the climate to plant more than one crop cycle. Keeping a comprehensive journal is an important measure of growing a successful garden and avoiding mistakes made one season and eliminating potential problems for the next. For your journal take into account everything about your vegetable garden including: Weather: Document daily or weekly conditions of temperature, weather patterns, and sun vs. cloud cover. Layout: Note spacing and depth used when planting, or sowing seed varieties. Varieties: List vegetable and flower types and variations and their productivity. Fertilizer: Note fertilizers including compost and soil amendments. How and when did you fertilize? What was the result? Water: Document rainfall amounts and watering procedures, especially in drought conditions. Diseases: Note disease issues that you may encounter and possible solutions for control. Record what did and did not work. Pests: Pay special attention to the type and quantity of pests and solutions for control that you established. Soil: Note your soil conditions. Is there a high content of sand, clay, or shallow gravel? Purchasing an inexpensive soil testing kit will provide readings of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and pH (acidity/alkalinity). Success and failures: List your gardening successes and failures including what you did to prevent or mitigate problems. Projects: Establish what to do in the next week and also next season based on this season. Observations: What have been your commentaries, and impression of your garden at this point? What should you do to improve the garden?
