Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Garden Journaling....

Am I a die-hard or what, just had a cataract removed from my left eye this morning and here I am blogging.

I am living proof that flattery will get you any where, at least with me!  When I got home from surgery an hour ago (pretty simple surgery, really), I had a response to a previous post from Fine Craft Guild inviting me to post my garden journal.  You don't have to ask me twice, so here goes.

I'm redoing the original post to make this post specific to the garden journals.

cline famil 012 When we moved into this house in 1980, I started keeping some loose notes and plant tags of what I was planting in various flower beds.  Of course, I took a few photos to go with it.

Five years ago, I decided to organize those notes and photos into one book.....thus began the journey of journaling.  Not every page in these books is all "fancy" some are just straight forward notes.

cline famil 009 This is last years book.  In the photo above the green book is from 2007-08, the larger book on the bottom encompasses the preceding 15 years or more.  Each book is made up of different types of paper, the big book has heavy, almost cardstock weight pages, the other two are just light weight lined notebook paper.

cline famil 013This is a fold-out page of photos showing the same garden bed at different times of the year.  This is a fun way to see the growth of each plant through a season.

cline famil 005Three years ago, we did a complete re-landscape of the front yard......removing lawn and installing plants and paths.  This page shows some of my process of developing the color scheme.  Mostly, I write with Sharpies of different colors and tip size.  To keep materials attached to pages I use glue sticks, scotch tape and staples.

cline famil 006I keep track of the weather, when I fertilize or spray, even when and what areas I water.  I keep the tags that come with the plants, if I find an article in a magazine, I cut it out and add it, that way I have it for reference.

cline famil 007This is, also, sort of a diary....I'll add things about places we have gone, nursery trips and what I bought....what is really fun is to keep the receipts from purchase....interesting to see how much a rose costs today, as to opposed to 15 years ago.  I record marriages, birth and deaths, visits from special people, stuff I buy for the yard i.e. bird baths, benches.

cline famil 008     The light weight notebook paper will not hold up to painting the background with watercolors, so I use heavier water color paper or you could use scrapbook papers.  I just cut to size and glue the page on top of the book page with a glue stick.

Keep it simple, have fun.....it is your book, you can share with others, only if you want, but you can and should just do it for you.  That being said, I do believe that some day after I am gone, someone will be able to read about the life and times in my garden and life in the 21st Century.

Join me a couple more parties Whatever goes Wednesday and Show and Tell Friday, please read and enjoy......and leave a comment, too!

16 comments:

Sandra said...

Glad your eye surgery was a success...what they can do these days. I love your simple gardening journal...so personal and lovely...I am sure it will become a keepsake to a lucky family member. Thanks for stopping by my blog and for you comment...glad to meet you.

Homemade Heather said...

Your garden looks beautiful and your journals are something that my mom and grandma would LOVE!!! Thanks for sharing and visiting my blog!

Burlap Luxe said...

Love the boho chic journal you keep!!! really is a form of your best art would you not say :)?

Thank you so much for visiting my place of inspiration!! And you know the fact that you got right up to blog after eye surgery says a lot about who you are, the mind has a funny way of healing it's body when one get busy and not let anything hold it up...You go GIRL!!!

Hope to see you soon and I will be back for more inspiration...Now I have to start my journal :) LIKE YOURS!!!
xx
Dore

Victoria said...

Wow, what a lovely journal that is! Such a fun thing to look back on in years to come:)

Bella's Rose Cottage said...

Hi Jan... Your garden journal is fabulous! A work of art unto itself! I keep all those little tags too.. this is a great inspiration to do something with them:-)
Bella

Joy @ Joy Of Desserts said...

Beautiful journals, Jan. You have so much creativity.

I have an award for you at this link:
http://joyofdesserts.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-award-and-find-friend-friday.html

Lydia said...

I'm coming back!

Mary said...

Hi Jan, thanks for stopping by my place eariler.
These garden journals are a treasure!! How wonderful to have to look back on the previous years successes and failures in the garden. And what a treasure for your family in later years!!! They are beautiful to look at too!

15 grandchildren!! wow! I have one precious grandson, I expect more in the future!! They are a joy that's for sure!!!

have a great day!

www.MaisonStGermain.com said...

LOVE< LOVE< LOVE your garden journal!!!!!You have inspired me to make one myself!!!!!!!!!!You have a new follower too:)
~Debra
Blog: Capers of the vintage vixens

Dayle ~ A Collection of Days said...

How adorable!

Gabrielle Mader said...

Nice idea..I keep saving my plant identifiers to start a log, this is very nice. I wanted to keep track of what I get and what does what..good idea and yours are so fun and colorful.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you're very organized. I keep the tags, too. My memory isn't so great. I have baggies of them, separated by what kind of plant they are. Such as bush, perennial, etc. But I'm not disciplined enough to keep a journal. You go girl!

Dandelion and Daisy said...

Please note, the first journal covers 15 years....I, too, collected tags, took a few photos and made a few notes. It has only been the last four years, or so, that I have really tried to seriously journal and put all this stuff in some sort of order. When we did the front yard "redo" that is when the journals really came in so handy. I would write down ideas, things I needed to do, I'd draw diagrams of the beds and fill in the names of the plants. As I say, your journal can be fancy or simple but it sure can be helpful when you want to know the name of a plant or have a question about it. The artwork is just "frosting" and fun!

Journal Swag said...

I can finally see your blog! Beautiful journaling, I love it all. Hope your eye is better!

Hugs,
Sheila

Sandy aka Doris the Great said...

What a fantastic journal! Mine is simply an account of what's been planted and sketches of where it's been planted (which changes from year to year with move arounds). I've also got helpful advice and ideas at the back. But I've no pictures of my garden except what I post on Blogspot.

I may just take a gardening page out of your book!

Rose :: FineCraftGuild.com said...

Thank you for contributing this to http://www.FineCraftGuild.com's DIY Tutorial Linky Party.

It's beautiful and well presented. I so love this garden journal and it has already inspired me to start my own...! I bought a stack of 'raw notebooks' albeit that the wrapper is still on them... However, one step at the time... Soo: thank you.

Meanwhile, Jan, if you have a new & equally wonderful tutorial you wish to share with us this week, come on over. We just opened a new linky party for this week's greatest talented artisans out there! (and you are one of them ;-0)