Basic garden journaling usually has involved notingspring plantingdates , first and last frosts , and which varieties we planted . But , to better get by with thawing temperatures , frequent and more utmost weather events , and new pathogen and pests , keeping careful record in a season - to - season garden daybook is more important than ever .
When it comes to mood change , there is n’t any single measure for your garden ’s degree of sustainability or resilience . Instead , we can track multiple data point points in a garden diary . Doing so can help us to identify likely new consequence and adjust our practices as needed .
Taking in New Cues
Julia Frisbie has relied on her garden journal for the last several days . “ Especially in the spring when I get itchy to plant , I ’ll go back and prompt myself , ‘ When did I plant last year and how did it go ? ’ ” she says .
Frisbie betray dahlia tubers and duck’s egg nut produced on her microfarm in Anacortes , Washington . She ’s also a contributor to the“Fidalgo Grows ” blog , published by Transition Fidalgo , a local nonprofit organization working to help the surround residential area to be more resilient in the face of climate change .
For Frisbie , what originally began as a received record of goings - on in the garden recently has morph into something more grand . “ I ’m definitely tracking [ planting and harvest ] date . I ’ve been go after dates the whole time , ” the proprietor and operator of Frisbie Farm read . But she began to wonder what she and other gardeners should do as traditional planting dates become increasingly irrelevant .
It ’s a fair question , considering that first and last hoar day of the month are n’t necessarily as reliable as they used to be . Neither are the USDA plant hardiness zone printed on countless source packet . So , a few years ago , Frisbie began chase phenological cues alongside her own garden activities . ( Phenology is the study of naturally occurring cycles , such as the bloom time of certain flowers , the onset of nesting conduct in a specific doll species or , say , the egress of a particular variety of louse in an area . )
Just what might phenological clue reckon like in a garden daybook ? Frisbie declare oneself some of her own example via a “ Fidalgo Grows ” blog post .
“ ‘ Big uptick in birdsong , robins everywhere . Transplanted sweet-flavored peas . ’ Or , ‘ Wild blackberry buds with southern picture [ are now ] opening . Presoaked and sow corn . ’ Dates are fine to log , too , as long as we ’re aware that they ’ll be less and less useful as climate chaos intensifies . ”
Keeping Garden Journal
Snapshot of an Ecosystem
By combining musical note on multiple phenological cue along with more traditional horticulture records , we may be able to develop a more accurate — and more actionable — shot of our own local ecosystem . “ I get lucky some years and unlucky other old age . But since I ’ve been paying attention to phenological cue , I sense like I ’ve had better luck just getting thing off to a good start , ” Frisbie says .
For instance , there are a few fundamental coinage she observes for speck about her salutary spring planting windows . “ In springtime , the big leaf maples make these really unbelievable chartreuse flower clusters that come up out before the leaves do , ” Frisbie says . “ When I see those , I ’m think to myself , ‘ OK . The maple think it ’s not go to block hard again . in all likelihood I can assume the same . ’ ”
But the maple are n’t the only local mintage she clock . “ I ’m also watch the blackberryblossoms and I ’m watching the size of the dogwood go out , ” she says . “ Some [ private industrial plant ] might get mixed up . But I believe the [ works ] community as a whole is less likely to get sundry up than an someone , ” she says . She is also paying tending to when the first dandelions salad days and when the willows flip out and when the Native American plums put their little prime out .
Keeping Garden Journal
“ If we look to imbed communities around us , we ’re going get even rich info , ” she says . “ So , if people are go to start recording phenological data , examine to gather as much as you’re able to so that you ’re not swear on a unmarried mortal or a individual species . ”
Also Read : Check out these tips for preparing your farm for climate change .
The Long View
Of course , the more details you may record — and in particular if you record them consistently over a farseeing period of fourth dimension — the better equipped you ’ll be to accommodate to the changes occurring in your garden . How much can one glean from this kind of yr - after - year focus in the garden ?
As it happens , a whole tidy sum .
For representative , in a 2021New York Timesarticle , Zach St. George tellsthe story of Jeff Lowenfels , a garden author who has penned a regular gardening newspaper column inThe Anchorage Daily Newssince 1976 . As St. George explained , “ For more than 40 years , Lowenfels has noted Alaskans ’ successes withnew plants , track the lengthen stretchiness of frost - free days and recorded the arrival of young horticultural pest . ”
In the other Clarence Day of Lowenfels ’ newspaper column , growing crops that usually do best in warm atmospheric condition or those which require a drawn-out grow season but were n’t an option for his Alaskan reader . But , in the ensuing year , raise pumpkins , tomatoes and even okra became possible .
Also Read : How to Start a Garden Journal ?
St. George add : “ In observing the little , local experiment in fitting plants to land and clime , [ Lowenfels ] has created a long - running invoice of mood change in the state where it is changing the fastest , providing tinge of what awaits as people take part in a similar but much vainglorious climatic experiment , one now rearranging works across the major planet . ”Keeping Garden Journal
Tracking Frequency
You might not have decades ’ worth of information about your garden recorded just yet , and that ’s OK . “ It ’s great to be as disciplined as you’re able to , but even an incomplete datum set is better than no data set at all , ” Frisbie says .
Whether you have a new infant , an combat injury or unwellness , or some other major event , once in a while life have in the path . “ There are calendar month - long gap in my diary , ” Frisbie says . “ Afterwards , I ’ll be like , ‘ I was pregnant and I had morning sickness and I did n’t write anything . Now it ’s four months later , and here I am again ! ’ ”
To make up for lost clip , she restore notes as best as she can . “ I ’ll sate out a retrospective varlet , ” she says . “ Like I ’ll go back and sort through the empty seed packet in the bin and sample to occupy in the gap . ”
In increase to create retrospective garden journal section when necessary , she also admit a few yr - in - reassessment pages . “ My twelvemonth - in - review [ for this year ] will probably say something along the lines of , ‘ This was the coldest , wettest natural spring I can commemorate in this spot , ’ ” Frisbie says . “ ‘ Everything was check , and I thought I would n’t get any love apple at all . But I really had amazing tomatoes . ’ ”
Then , she would go variety by variety and write , “ This did well . This did poorly . This would have done great , if I had n’t implant it next to this really marvelous neighbor . ”
Photos, Maps & More
Keep your garden records in a uncomplicated notebook or take advantage of a smartphone app . However , using a scrapbook or a three - pack binder may be more practical , since you could more easy let in empty seed packets , soil examination result reports and even pressed leafage and flower specimens if you choose .
Photos are another invaluable resource to let in . If you ’re able-bodied , take a panoramic photo of your garden on the first sidereal day of spring , summer , fall and winter annually . Add print of these images with your yearly garden records , so that you’re able to liken your garden ’s overall execution from season to time of year and from twelvemonth to twelvemonth .
You ’ll also want to make room for hand - sketch garden maps . At lower limit , mapping out the localization of various crops from this time of year will help you to know what not to put in a sure raise seam or garden patch next year . You ’ll also have a better idea of the nutrients you may need to supplement and which insect pestilence may be lingering in the soil .
For even more item , add a sheet of trace newspaper over the top of your garden map or panoramic photo and shade areas which have mountain of standing water or piss runoff during heavy rains . This may facilitate you to supervise and mitigate long - full term surface soil loss .
However you select to document your gardening successes , failure and the change taking space around you , view sharing your observations with others — peculiarly those who may move onto the landafter you ’ve left it . “ I hope to pass my daybook down to my kids , but it ’s probably more important for me to remove the crucial information on to the future steward of this spot , ” Frisbie says . “ I would further people to deal their journal as worthful and worth passing on .
“ I wish I know what it was like to garden in this space 20 years ago . If I did , I would be able to enjoin you more about how it has been changing over time . People should make a design for the data they gather up to stay with their space . ”
This clause originally appeared in the January / February 2023 outcome ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
