Plants & gardening21 categories
Set up a garden journal worth keeping
You keep learning the same lesson every year because nothing was written down.
Design a garden record keeping system I will actually maintain. 1. **What to record**, in order of value. Sowing and planting dates, first and last frost, what cropped when and how much, what failed and the suspected reason, where things were planted for rotation, and weather extremes. Cut anything that is not worth the effort of writing down. 2. **Format.** A structure simple enough to fill in with muddy hands, with a two minute version for busy weeks. 3. **A yearly rhythm.** What to write at the start of the season, monthly, and in a proper end of year review. 4. **The review questions.** Five questions to ask at the end of the year that turn notes into decisions for the next one. 5. **Photographs.** What to photograph, from where, and how often, so comparisons across years are actually meaningful. Give me a filled in example entry from a typical week so I can see the level of detail intended. Keep the whole system to something that takes under ten minutes a week. What I grow and the size of the garden: How organised I actually am:
Making it yours
- Paste your own material where the prompt asks for it. Everything above that line is instruction, not content.
- Delete any rule that does not apply to you. A shorter prompt that fits beats a thorough one that does not.
- If the answer comes back vague, add a line saying what you do not want. Constraints work better than encouragement.
Planning the garden. Bed and balcony layouts, the jobs this month, and records that stop you relearning the same lesson.
Related prompts
What to do in the garden this monthThe start of a month, wanting a list pinned to your climate rather than a generic one.Plan the layout of a bed or balconyAn empty space and a pile of plants you want to arrange sensibly rather than by trial.Is it too late to plant this?Standing over a bare patch in the wrong month.What should I do in the garden this month?The start of a month, wanting the jobs that cannot wait.Diagnose a plant problem from symptomsSomething is wrong with a plant and the internet says it is either too much or too little water.Work out a watering routine for my actual conditionsThe label says "water regularly" and you have killed three plants finding out what that means.
Keep this one
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