New Year, New Garden Journal

I’ve never been one to keep a diary (my unedited self embarrasses even me), but I made faithful entries in my garden journal last season. I eagerly filled in the “What’s Blooming?” section each week, feeling a sense of satisfaction as the list lengthened due to the warming weather and the many plants I purchased. I kept a daily log of my gardening activities. I paperclipped plant tags to the blank winter section to remind me of bloom appearance and plant requirements. I tucked receipts, guaranties, and general planting instructions between the pages as well. Although the spiral binding was accommodating, I overstuffed the journal until the cover simply could not lay flat. I was relieved to put aside the 2005 journal as we rang in the new year.

For 2006, I bought a 3-ring, binder-style, garden journal from Amazon. I was a little disappointed when it arrived – I could have assembled something very similar with my own binder, dividers, and sheet protectors. (Lesson learned for next year!) I do like the author’s idea of devoting an entire page to each plant, complete with photo, history, and performance notes. For subjects not covered by the ready-made pages, I purchased card stock, punched three holes along the margin, and created my own page. I've been luxuriating in all the free space and opportunities to glue pictures from catalogs, magazines, and calendars on the lovely, blank sheets. I’m both dreading and eagerly anticipating the pages becoming cramped and densely covered in notes. While a fresh slate is a beautiful thing, I also enjoy curling up with a filled journal and reliving the past summer as snow swirls past the windows.