keeping a garden diary?

[kiwirach]

i have managed to keep a diary as i go along....i pick it up when i pick up my keys, and i jot things down when i need to sit down for 5mins here and there, so dont find it a bother to keep up with, and last years one(my first full yr) has been great to look back on!.
i to was given 2 garden journals for xmas, plus i'd brought myself one at Hampton Court Flower show!!.
i'm also trying a spreadsheet this year, but that may be harder to keep up with cos i'm not a puter wiz!.

i record what i've planted, where it is, seeds sown, germinated etc, plus have rough drawings of plot layouts. i also add any extreme weather info, but havent got into general weather info.

[geoff]

I keep a calendar in the allotment shed so I know what the date is. Just a freebie from a magazine or supplier, not necessarily about gardening
I also stole an old, unused school exercise book off one of the kids, and keep that in the shed too
I just make an entry for each time I visit, sometimes it's brief, like digging and weeding, sometimes it's longer, about things I've sown and planted. Also for doodling ideas, plans, things to get or buy in the future. At the back I keep a record of money spent; seeds mostly
I write it up while I'm having a break and a cup of tea

[Newbie]

I keep a blog, mainly to see the progress of my garden and how it develops since we moved in but i find it useful as a reminder for what i have done & when.

[piskieinboots]

I also stole an old, unused school exercise book off one of the kids...

are they now receiving therapy?

[Snadger]

Without intending to be antagonistic (who me???) are women more likely to keep a diary than men?
I know a lot of the Victorian Head Gardeners kept diaries which were part of there work but generally I think (rightly or wrongly) women keep diaries more often than men?

I would love to be able to keep a diary but they always end up like the numerous Bloggs I've started i.e. They're lucky if they last a month!!!!!

[FionaH]

At the risk of being Caro's echo this evening - thank you so much Fi and Hazel for sharing such a practical resource! Great here, innit!

Don't thank me I just plagiarised someone else's work and illegally distributed it

[Magiccat1978]

wow thanks everyone for some fab suggestions

I think I'll try to keep a spreadsheet and have a book for making notes while out and about til I can get it down on the spreadsheet - otherwise I'll just forget to do it

If someone could send me a copy of the spreadsheet a few people have mentioned I'd be very grateful

thats why I love this site, loads of great info - keep it coming

[Two_Sheds]

I use my phone for notes too. For instance, if I want to remind myself to force dahlias in January, I programme it into my phone's diary, with a yearly reminder. Tis well useful

[sweetiepea]

I tried using spreadsheets for a while last year, but spent most of my time running in and out to the greenhouse to read labels etc (head like a sieve when it comes to names). This year I'm reverting back to my old method of recording 'as I go' in a hardbacked A5 notebook I keep in the greenhouse.

[piskieinboots]

... old method of recording 'as I go' in a hardbacked A5 notebook I keep in the greenhouse.

and don't you think there is something special about a gardening note book that is dotted with soil, coffee or tea

[FionaH]

and don't you think there is something special about a gardening note book that is dotted with soil, coffee or tea

There is but I would lose it! At least the pooter is too big to put down and forget

[Alison]

Without intending to be antagonistic (who me???) are women more likely to keep a diary than men?
I know a lot of the Victorian Head Gardeners kept diaries which were part of there work but generally I think (rightly or wrongly) women keep diaries more often than men?

I would love to be able to keep a diary but they always end up like the numerous Bloggs I've started i.e. They're lucky if they last a month!!!!!

Dunno really, I couldn't be bothered with blogs or a wordy type diary as they'd take too long and not be as useful for what I want but that could be my engineering brain in that I want things nice and logic and simple to use. On the whole other people's blogs don't really interest me so it's never even occured to me to write one. Not written a proper diary since I was about 14 and then I was so paranoid that my mum would read it that I kept forgetting where I had hidden it

[ladylottie]

Without intending to be antagonistic (who me???) are women more likely to keep a diary than men?
I know a lot of the Victorian Head Gardeners kept diaries which were part of there work but generally I think (rightly or wrongly) women keep diaries more often than men?

I would love to be able to keep a diary but they always end up like the numerous Bloggs I've started i.e. They're lucky if they last a month!!!!!

I'm not sure whether more women than men keep a diary. Don't know whether diary is the right word, but quite a few of the blokes on my lottie site certainly make notes of what they've planted etc. And my friend's husband who has a lottie on another site has started a diary after seeing mine - and he's had the lottie for years!

When I was working I was a PA so had to keep a lot of records and information to hand. It just comes naturally to me now after all those years and love to be able to look back on the old diaries. It's amazing how much we forget, isn't it? Or is that just me.........?

[FionaH]

Not written a proper diary since I was about 14 and then I was so paranoid that my mum would read it that I kept forgetting where I had hidden it

Nor me, my Mum found mine!

[Magiccat1978]

Not written a proper diary since I was about 14 and then I was so paranoid that my mum would read it that I kept forgetting where I had hidden it

Nor me, my Mum found mine!

Same here, I was so embarrassed I stopped keeping one