DIY Garden Journal

by Joanna - Gingham Gardens

3 Materials

$20

3 Hours

Easy

Right now is the best time to plan next year's gardens and the best way to accomplish that is with a Garden Journal. Keeping a Garden Journal is the best gardening resource to save you time and money year after year and a great way to keep you on track for your best garden ever! There are lots of garden journal type apps available, but I just haven't found one I like better than my paper garden journal. I've been doing a bit of research and put a Garden Journal together that is working well for me. I've done lots of tweaking and will likely do more, but for now I'm loving my Garden Journal. This is just a start to putting together your DIY Garden Journal. If you'd like more tips and free gardening printables to make a garden journal for yourself, pop by Gingham Gardens to get the full scoop. I'd love to have you.

Garden Journal Supplies:

A 3-ring binder (any 3-ring binder will work)
Tab Dividers (these work great for customizing your garden journal and adding sections to keep organized)
Photo Pages (these are awesome for holding seed packets, plant tags and garden pictures)
Zipper Pouches (these work great for holding larger plant tags, bulb package labels and gardening receipts)
Calendar
Photos of Your Garden
Plant tags
Seed Packets
Free gardening printables

Sections I have in my Garden Journal:

Calendar - I use divider tabs for each month. On the calendar, I keep notes like, first and last frost, reminders, weather patterns, etc.
Winter Sowing - I keep track of the seeds I've winter sown and the results.
Seed Starting - In this section, I keep a tracking chart of the seeds I've started early indoors and in my greenhouse, and make notes on the results.
I keep a section for each one of my garden beds. I hope to eventually complete an overhead type sketch of each bed, using colored erasable pencils. Totally a garden nerdy thing, but I think it would be so awesome. I also want to add pictures using the photo pages I mention above. I'm also keeping notes about what I want to move or change in each of these flower beds, so I can refer back to them in the spring.

I have a section for my Daylily Collection. I put together a chart that lists each variety of daylily, where I purchased it and which flower bed it resides in. So far, I have over 60 different varieties of daylilies.
I have a section for my Hosta Collection. I will use the same type of chart I did from my daylily collection and do the same thing for my hosta collection. This is high up on my to do list and I will get it done this summer.
I have a section for my vegetable gardens. In it I have a chart with each vegetable plant I planted for this summer and how it turned out.

This is just a start to putting together your DIY Garden Journal. If you'd like more tips and free gardening printables to make a garden journal for yourself, stop by Gingham Gardens to get the full scoop. I'd love to have you.