Keeping Track Of Your Vegie Garden

On My Mind the last few weeks has been a question as to how I will remember what I did in my garden this year in detail. As a result of my pondering I have developed a Garden Record Journal to keep track of my progress in My Patch.  I believe that this is an essential tool to help plan and harvest a great crop each season.

What do I record in the Garden Record Journal?

My Garden Record Journal is used to record:

• What variety of plant you planted
• How many you planted
• How long it took from the date you planted it to the date you used the produce
• Any issues you experienced with the plant or pests
• When/if you fertilized
• When you removed it (if you did)
• What you planted in the position after you removed it
• Any general comments or items of note that you wish to recall at a later date

How can my Garden Record Journal help my readers?

• By prompting you to repeat the activities and timing of those activities that worked well
• To help you determine if you need to plant more or less of a crop in the following year or season
• To assist you to plan for crop readiness
• By reminding you what did not work well to avoid repeat issues
• By assisting to plan for crop rotation and soil preparation once the current crop is finished

I have been working on the journal over the last few weeks. I have a terrible memory and I know that next season I will have no idea how each of my veggies progressed, let alone next year!  I developed the Journal because I was looking for a method to plan my crops and expected harvests.  I like to have a rough idea of when produce will be ready and how much I am likely to have available to use. Last year we went away in the middle of my tomato, eggplant and capsicums producing and I had to give them away.  While I was happy to give them to my family, I was disappointed not be able to enjoy our harvest. I searched the Internet for a journal I could use and found nothing suitable.  I have developed a garden Record Journal that I hope my subscribers will find useful to use.  Read on – I will tell you more about it and how you can get your own copy to use in your garden.

Here is a peak at a couple of the pages of the journal.

Garden Record Journal Rotation Plan

Garden Record Journal

 Included in my  Garden Record Journal is:

1. A planner to record what position you planted your produce in your vegetable garden by season (including a blank template for you to fill in) See Picture 1.
2. Instructions on how to use the pages of the journal
3. A spreadsheet for you to use to record the details of your planting and progress.  See Picture 2. Extra blank sheets are included
4. Blank planner templates

 A special offer:

The best things in life are free!

I am currently offering a copy of my Garden Record Journal to any readers who subscribe to my free Fresh Update newsletter prior to the end of December. 

If you would like a free copy of my Garden Record Journal to use in your garden, complete the following steps:

1. Subscribe – Located at the top right hand column of the page

2. Complete ONE of the following:

• “Like” my Face Book Page  add a wall comment to request a copy OR
• Follow me on [email protected] and tweet: “#AFLJournal.Garden Record Journal for me pls” OR
• Email me at [email protected] to request a copy

I welcome any feedback or comments about the Journal.  You can email these to me. If I receive consistent feedback about a feature of the Journal I will update it.

I hope that you will find my Garden Record Journal useful.  I would love you to tell your friends about my Garden Record Journal and recommend they try it too.  Please note: I am offering my product to my readers free of charge.  Please respect the effort I put into the development of it.   If you would like to share my Garden Record Journal please do so by sending a link to this page and not by forwarding the document.  Thanks!

This post is linked to the Down to Earth blog as part of the “On My Mind Series” that Rhonda generously hosts each Friday.  Visit her site for some great tips on living simply and to learn what is on the mind of other bloggers this Friday.

Have fun in your Patch.

UPDATE: 25/02/2015

NOTE: This offer has now closed and the journal that you see here has been updated and refined over the past few years. You can now find a copy of my current version included in my e-book Grow Your Own. Read more and find a sample of the new version here.