Track garden’s progress in photos, notebook

Over the years, I’ve had some great success stories, along with a fair amount of challenges. But that’s what gardening is about, because learning from the challenges and mistakes is what makes us all better gardeners.

So here’s an idea I wish I had put into practice a long time ago: Take notes and photos of your garden all throughout the season, starting early in the process.

By doing so, you can be your own Sherlock Holmes, comparing notes from season to season, or sharing the recorded information with others who might be able to help you solve a problem. You might even want to start a blog about your garden. It’s a fun and easy way to share your garden with others.

Even better is the option of video. A couple of years ago, I posted an entire series of short videos on YouTube called “My Twenty-five Dollar Organic Victory Garden.” It was a fun way to document and share my garden online, and to this day it gets lots of views.

Here’s how I use notes and pictures to track my gardening experiences throughout the season:

First, whenever I’m making notes, I always include the date and weather conditions, with particular attention to moisture and humidity, since so many problems can be tracked back to excessive moisture.

For any plants I start from seed, I make notes on when I sowed them, how long the seeds took to germinate, how many weeks until they were ready to go in the garden and if there were problems.

Before any plant goes in the ground, I make a drawing of my garden beds and a plan for what to plant where. This accomplishes several things. First, it keeps me from getting overzealous at the garden center. Second, it ensures that I’m placing my plants in the appropriate parts of my garden, so that the tallest and biggest plants don’t shade out the smaller ones, and that I’m rotating my crops and putting plants from the same family back in the same spot year after year. That helps ensure that my plants stay healthy from season to season. Imagine trying to remember what went where, year after year, without notes or pictures.

Then there are the issues with pests and diseases.

As an organic gardener, I try to create the most healthy and diverse environment possible, so I’m always trying new plant combinations. I love knowing which plants work best for attracting certain beneficial insects and pollinators, and potentially repelling unwanted pests. I also note the date pests find their way into my garden so I can have a better idea next year on when I might see them again. Being proactive in your garden is one of the easiest ways to keep pests and diseases in check.

As my garden begins to grow, I note the dates for what I planted, and add comments about the weather conditions, moisture levels and temperature. A rain gauge and an outdoor thermometer that records minimum and maximum temperatures are great resources. I find them invaluable for keeping good records.

In recent years, I’ve taken more pictures, about once a week, making sure I do so from the same perspective. It’s a fun way to revisit the garden’s evolution. I also use pictures and notes to track diseases that crop up. Being able to refer back to a similar problem in your garden can really help in linking the cause.

With an entire gardening season to chronicle in words and pictures, there’s no time like the present to get started. You’ll be glad you did.