Tip Jar Tuesday: My Garden Journal

Welp, it snowed again and we are dealing with more freeze warnings around here. As most of you know by now, I LOVE flowers and gardening! Our fluctuating May temps and cold snaps here in Northeast Ohio has made for A LOT of difficulties in the gardening space. I have been checking the weather non-stop, and I hope we are in the clear of cold weather for good by this weekend. Peace out, COLD!

I thought today’s tip jar would be a perfect thing to share as I will begin all my planting this weekend! I’m loving how my garden journal has turned out and highly recommend creating your own if you have a lot of garden beds that need more plants, forget when the right time for pruning is, are doing a cut flower or vegetable garden, or you want to better understand your landscaping.

Let’s take a look at some of the main things I highlight in my binder!

Bad Memory?! This binder is for you!

I like to think I have good memory, but it turns out when it comes to random things around the yard, I am so forgetful! This binder has been an amazing resource for me. I jot down any notes, to-do’s, pruning tips or ideas that pop in my head.

I’ve also tracked frost dates for the month of May in 2019 and am currently doing the same this year. That stuff, I definitely wouldn’t remember and it is a helpful resource for me so I know not to jump the gun planting any annual plants that might be temperamental.

TIPS RE: FROST
This year we’ve had so many freeze warnings and nights in the mid to low thirties that I am happy I’ve continued to follow my annual flower strategy. My strategy is that I refuse to buy annual flowers prior to 5/15 (there is one special circumstance, it’s a Black Friday-ish Mother’s Day flower sale that my Mom and I go to every year and purchase our hanging baskets).

You want to know the reason I refuse to get anything early May? I wait it out because I don’t want to be responsible for caring, watering and/or carting flowers back in and out of the house or garage during this time. Annuals LOVE the warmth so I just leave them at the store, greenhouse, nursery – wherever I purchase from and let them take care of them for me! Once I see that consistency in overnight lows, that’s when I decide the time is right for me to purchase! I would hate for my flowers to get ruined because I forgot to pull them in one night!

What’s in my Gardening Journal

Here are the main tabs I have in my binder:

Layouts
Seedlings, Transplanting
Maintenance in season
Pruning
Winterizing
Frost/Freeze dates
Plant tags
Plants to consider

To-Do’s

The first page of my journal consists of to-do’s for the current year. This year we are adding some stone/brick pathways between the garden beds, adding ornamental grasses by our pool deck and building out a flower bed on the side of our garage!

Layouts

This tab is my absolute favorite one to be in right now! It’s where I keep the cut flower garden plans and I CANNOT wait to see how things shake out this year! I’ve added so many different flowers and I think I will like this mix of flowers for the years to follow!

Once I start planting, I will note the plant date and any other information I might need to know the following year.

Seedlings and Transplanting

This tab is new for me. I didn’t used to start things indoors, but my growing impatience has caused me to start potting things up inside to get a jump start on growth!

I will probably make note of what the seedlings looked like (so I don’t think they are weeds) and write down how the transplanting went – was it easy, worth it or did the plant not do well once we made the transfer. All this info is so great to look back on in future years!

Pruning

This tab is pretty self explanatory, but basically what I do is mark what plants I prune and note when and how. Different types of hydrangea can have different pruning times – some you cut back in Fall, others need to be trimmed in the Spring.

You can read more about Spring pruning and maintenance here.

Growing Season Maintenance

I will jot down notes on how things do throughout the growing season. Too much sun? Not enough water? Should I deadhead? Are the deer eating them? This section is great for making note of issues or even things that are helping the plant thrive during this time.

Winterizing

Last year I dug up all my Dahlia tubers and Gladiolus bulbs in order to save and plant this year! This section is great to fill in information as it pertains to winterizing tips, tricks, what has worked, what has not and if there are perennials that are a little more tender during the winter months and need an extra mulch layer or to be covered.

Frost and Freeze Dates

I mentioned this above, but again, I track the lowest temps in the whole month of May. Pretty interesting to see how chilly our temperatures are compared to last year – Brrrr!!!

Plant Tags

I love this section! I highly suggest keeping the tags of any plants you have purchased and planted around your yard. It is so nice knowing the plant’s name, brand, pruning tips, sun requirements and other tips they might share on these tags. Even if the tag just gives the name, it is so great to be able to search that variety and pull up any info you might be looking for.

I also love that I can tell people exactly what my flower is if they ask! I even have the tags from our old house – not entirely sure why I still need them, but you never know. I might plant some things that we had at our old house.

Plants to Consider

This is also self explanatory. I like to put any pictures of garden inspiration, make note of any flowers I would like to add to our landscaping or gardening catalogs in this section.