Maybe it is because I don’t have such a good memory, but I need to schedule monthly garden tasks in my journal. Otherwise I would not be able to keep up with the individual maintenance requirements of the plants in my garden. For instance, I planted ‘Husker Red’ Penstamen last fall. It came up fine this spring but by the end of June got too leggy for my taste and began to do the fosbury flop. So into my garden journal goes an entry to pinch it back every May.

 

I have all kinds of entries in my journal. They remind me to fertilize the azaleas in May and then again in October, to apply lime oil sulfur to the roses in March, to prune the maples in January and to divide the toad lilies in April. If I only had a few plants, I wouldn’t need the journal. But I now have over 200 different species of plants in my garden. And as I gather care information from either experience or from other references, it is captured in my journal.

 

Having worked as an accountant for over 20 years, I put my garden maintenance calendar in a spreadsheet. Any kind of database will work as will the old fashion paper journal. The important thing is that I know which plants I have and how to keep them happy.