DIY Garden Journal and Planner

Keeping a Garden Journal is the best gardening resource to save you time and money year after year and you’ll see why as you continue reading. Whether it’s in the dead of winter, spring, summer or fall, now is a great time to plan your spring and summer gardens and the best way to accomplish that is with a Garden Journal and Planner. 

I’ve been gardening for a very long time and I’ve always wanted a Garden Planner. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but just never got around to putting one together until last year.

There are lots of garden journal type apps available, but I just haven’t found one I like better than my paper Garden Planner. Call me old school, but I’m afraid I would get all my information stored on a gardening app and then it would stop being updated or become defunct.

Here’s a Pin to save to one of your Gardening Boards on Pinterest for future reference.
There are additional Pins at the bottom of the post. Thanks for pinning!

In order to create the Ultimate Garden Planner, I’ve been doing a bit of research along with trial and error. As a result, I have come up with a Garden Planner that is working well for me. I’m not as diligent at making notations in my garden journal, but I’m getting much better at it. This past year I’ve done a bit more tweaking and will likely do more, but for now I’m loving what I’ve put together so far.

I realize many gardeners don’t keep garden journals or use garden planners, but hear me out and perhaps you’ll decide to give this one a try. Your Garden Journal can be your most valuable garden tool!

Why Keep a Garden Journal:

• To organize and keep track of your gardening endeavors as a reminder for the next gardening season.

• To keep track of problems, so preventative measures can be taken to remedy the problem next season.

• A Garden Journal provides you with a permanent garden record to look back on from year-to-year.

• The perfect place to keep track of all things gardening.

• Saves you time and money by not repeating mistakes (like buying plants that don’t survive in your garden, etc.)

• Plus, it’s just fun (spoken like a true gardening geek).

Good reasons, right? Let’s keep going with some tips for putting together your very own Garden Journal.

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Garden Journal and Planner Supplies:

This is so fun, it’s just like back-to-school shopping for adults. Here’s the stack of supplies that I started my Garden Journal with:

• A 3-ring binder (I bought this  2″ one so it will last me for several years. Any 3-ring binder will work though.)

• Monthly Dividers (these work well with the free printable calendar)

• Tab Dividers (these work great for customizing your garden journal and adding sections to keep organized)

• Photo Pages (these are awesome for holding seed packets and plant tags)

• Zipper Pouches (these work great for holding larger plant tags, bulb package labels and gardening receipts)

• Calendar (available in the Gardening Resources Library, keep reading for more information)

• Photos of Your Garden

• Plant tags

• Seed Packets (available in the Gardening Resources Library, keep reading for more information)

• Erasable Colored Pencils (again, totally optional, but so fun and they are great for adding detail to your garden sketches and plans)

The Ultimate Printable Garden Planner:

I’ve made the very same charts, lists, calendar pages, etc. that I use in my Garden Journal available to you in the Gardening Resources Library. Pop over and take a look at what’s available to assist you in putting together your DIY Garden Journal and Garden Planner. To get immediate access, fill out the subscription form below. Psst, did I forget to say the printables are FREE!

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Here are a few of the Free Printables available to you in the Gardening Resources Library:

• 2019 Gardening Calendar – includes monthly garden tasks (2020 will be added soon.)
• Garden Design Planner
• Spring Garden Cleanup Checklist
• Plant Inventory Chart
• Seed Inventory List
• Garden Journal Pages
• Winter Sowing Charts
• Seed Starting Checklist
• Fall Garden Cleanup Checklist
• Plus, lots more… check out the complete list.

What to Keep In A Garden Journal & Planner

Here is a sampling of what I keep in my Garden Planner and the different sections I have in my Garden Journal:

• Calendar – I use divider tabs for each month. On the calendar, I keep notes like, first and last frost, reminders, weather patterns, etc. The Gardening Calendar I use is available in the Gardening Resource Library.

• Winter Sowing – I keep track of the seeds I’ve winter sown and the results. If you want to know more about Winter Sowing, check out the post when you have a few minutes. I also keep some articles (available in the post) that I’ve printed off in this section.

• Seed Starting – In this section, I keep a tracking chart of the seeds I’ve started indoors and in my greenhouse, and make notes on the results. Pop over and pin this post so you have it when the time comes.

• Each one of my flower beds has it’s own section. In these sections, I include lists of the perennials that are planted in the bed. Some day I hope to complete an overhead type sketch of each bed, using the colored erasable pencils (I told you I was a garden geek). Each of the garden bed sections has a few photo pages for yearly pictures for comparison from year to year. These sections also include a place for keeping garden journal notes about changes I want to make in each of these flower beds, so I can refer back to them in the fall or spring.

• I have a section for my Daylily Collection. I put together a chart that lists each variety of daylily, where I purchased it and which flower bed it resides in. So far, I have over 65 different varieties of daylilies.

• Hostas get their own section too. I use the same collections chart that I use for my daylilies.

• There is a section for my vegetable gardens. In it I have a chart with each vegetable plant I planted for this summer and how it turned out. I have limited space to plant vegetables, but if you have a large vegetable garden, it’s important to rotate your crops every few years. To keep track of where you plant everything, I recommend using the graph chart available in the Gardening Resources Library.

Other Items to Keep in a Garden Journal:

• Receipts for Plants, especially trees, shrubs and perennials that are guaranteed.

• Pictures, always take lots and lots of pictures of your gardens, include before and after pictures of your garden projects and areas you want to redo.

• Graph paper for sketching existing garden beds, or to plan out new ones.

• Printed gardening articles

• Shopping lists

• Seed Inventory

• Current Seed or Gardening Catalogs

• Project Lists 

• Lists of perennials or plants you want to add to your gardens.

I love the finished product! Well, it will never truly be finished, because it’s definitely an ongoing project, but I love flipping through the pages, writing, reading and adding to my Garden Planner and Journal. And, I will love referring back to it year after year.

Right now is the perfect time to start your Garden Planner and Garden Journal!

Feel free to hang out in the Gardens for awhile. Here are some posts you’ll enjoy!

Shade Border and Junk Gardens
Garden Makeover (From a Weed Pit to a Beautiful Garden)
Flower Garden Maintenance
Classic Perennials That Every Flower Garden Needs

Do you need some help with gardening? Check out:

Flower Gardening 101
Vegetable Gardening 101
Flower Garden Design
Dealing With Gardening Pests
How to Deal With Weeds In Your Garden

Thanks a bunch for stopping by Gingham Gardens today. Do you use a Garden Journal and/or a Garden Planner? If not, I hope I’ve inspired you to give it a try and provided you with some tools to get your started.

I love hearing from you! Is there something you need help with in your gardens? Is there another chart or form you’d like to see in the Garden Resources Library? Simply leave a comment at the end of the post, and I’ll reply just as soon as I can. 

Happy gardening,
Joanna

p.s. Help me out and pin these pictures. Simply hover in the upper left-hand corner and click the “pin” icon. There are more pins to share at the bottom of this post. Thanks a bunch!

p.p.s. Follow Gingham Gardens on Pinterest for lots of great gardening ideas and tons of gardener’s eye candy.

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