Can’t Wait for the Garden Season?

​I have good news for you if you’re one of those like me who can’t wait to start digging in the soil, yet its winter and you can’t.

This is actually a great time to start garden planning! Yes, that’s right. This is the time to get out those seed catalogs and choose which fruits and vegetables you’ll want once spring arrives. It’s time to order seeds and plan the location for your garden beds.

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You’ll want to make sure you order heirloom seeds, however, to get the healthiest produce possible. Heirloom seeds are those that are open-pollinated. That means the seeds you collect from one season will have most of the characteristics of the parent plant. Heirloom seeds began in one family generation who has saved them for future generations every year. They’re not hybrid, so they’re the healthiest.

As you wait for those heirloom seeds to arrive in the mail, you can plan your gardens. This year we will be much wiser than in the past as we will have a garden journal.

A garden journal?

When I first read about a garden journal it sounded like more work to me. I wasn’t so sure that I was interested. However, after much research on successful gardeners, I realize that it is something that we need to implement and will actually save time in the long run. Journaling in a garden notebook will help you be more organized and will save you valuable time later.

Take notes!

Most of us who read a dozen or so gardening books and ideas forget many of the ideas we read. How many times have you wished you had remembered what the last frost date is for your area? With a garden journal you’ll be able to write down things that worked in your garden and things that didn’t. You won’t have to mentally remember everything because you’ll have it all recorded.

It’s a great idea to write down what didn’t work in your garden and what did because typically you won’t remember it all. It’s a great way to save time in the future too!

Planting Dates

We’ve also learned a great way to organize seeds and planting times. Instead of having to continuously look back at those planting seed dates, write it down on one page in the journal. In other words, if peas are supposed to be planted around St Patrick’s Day, then write that date down in your journal now. Keep a record of every date needed to sow the seeds, so that you won’t have to constantly look back again and again.

Saving time by organizing is wise.

Set an actual date for everything, including seeds you’re planting indoors first. So we will be sowing the seeds of tomatoes and peppers about 8 weeks before transplanting outside. I will write a date in my journal of when that 8 weeks date is, so that I’ll be ready when planting time comes.

I will look at every seed and date that it can be planted indoors and then outdoors, and will be writing that specific date down in my journal. Everything will be organized and ready!

Do you use a gardening journal?

How do you keep records?

We’d love to hear from you!

All the best!
~ Julie