Originally posted on Green & Serene at HoustonGrows.com, December 16th, 2009.
Well, the snow and frost were pretty while they lasted. But the following week got me down. The dark days... the drizzle ... makes me glad I didn't move to Seattle as I had wanted to do at one time. And then the garden... it didn't help. Brown mushy leaves everywhere - ugh!
However, I'm starting to think about next year and how I will do things differently than I did this year.
I'm going to start by maintaining a journal. I started one this year, wrote in it for a couple of months and then got side tracked and it sat un-used.
I'm going to try harder in 2010. Journals help you keep a record of what you plant and when, the soil and weather conditions, any pest problems you encounter, as well as how the plants do.
The journal I had this year was lovely, with places to keep track of plant details and also a week by week garden log - what's happening with the flowerbeds, the herb garden, wildlife etc. It was an attractive book with gardening tips and things to do noted each week.
The only problem was that that it's a bound book, not a binder that you can add to. I only filled a couple of months of it, and I can't use it again without whiting-out what I put in there this year.
So I started looking online at Amazon etc. for a replacement garden journal. There seem to be quite a few different ones available and I was tempted to part with my money.
But while I was browsing around online, I found some nice looking garden journal templates that you can download and print out at no charge. Then all you need to do is three-hole punch them and keep them in a three ring binder. Plastic sheet protectors can be used to hold seed packets or plant tags, as well as photos of your garden.
You can add pages to your journal as you need them.
Below are some links where you can download free garden journal templates:
gardenandcrafts.com
northerngardening.com
homesteadgarden.com
I hope you find them useful.
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