Thomas Jefferson had a garden book. And now, so do the Kempers. I will not say that our garden book will ever be as detailed or as faithfully kept as Jefferson's, but I hope it will be beneficial to us. I've read in many gardening blogs and how-to's that a garden journal of some sort will be an effective help to improving the garden year by year. That's precisely what I'm hoping for. At least, if I can be good about keeping it updated. Since I don't work in the garden a great deal, and I never make it outside without one or two kids in tow, sometimes it's hard for me to keep track of what is producing. Already, we have snap peas getting ready to ripen, and I hadn't even known the peas were producing yet. And so I haven't gotten it down. I guess it's one more thing to be vigilant about.
Some of the things I'm trying to keep track of:
- what and when we have planted
- what is producing (and preferably when)
- any changes or improvements to the garden plot
- maybe applications of compost (yet to have happened, though)
- weather damage (for instance, it hailed pretty bad just before we planted. If we'd had plants in the ground, I would want to note that. I know it has affected some cherry crops around the area)
- precipitation totals. This might be helpful so we can remember just how wet or dry, but I don't know that I want to keep a tally of rainfall inches all the time. This isn't an almanac, right?
I haven't kept records in the past, but I can say from experience, I wish I had, and really should start. It seems like I repeat the same mistakes every year, and frankly that is just dumb.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that gardening (and the related planning and preparation) happens over the course the entire year, mostly in small actions and decisions. I find it difficult to remember that sort of low-frequency data.
I am confident that if you stick with it, you are much more likely to have progressively productive gardens! I look forward to seeing what you learn, and trying some of the ideas myself.