I make my journal on my microsoft works suite, I can make it look the way I want it. It has all sorts of different fonts and colors. I can also draw the diagram of my garden and where the plants are placed for crop rotation in the future. Hardback 3/4" inch binders are pretty cheap when the kids are gearing up for school, and at the end of the season I print it off, punch the holes and there you go! I have three years in my current binder, it's pretty neat to see how my journal has progressed through the years from pretty generic black and white the first year to "enviro" font this year with lots of nice garden colors and a pretty good scale diagram of my garden with each row labeled as to what was planted there.I take one day a week and write in the journal as to what the weather was like and how my plants are doing, and at the end of the season I write a little synopsis of how the year went, what the harvest was like, and what I can do to make the next year better, including ideas found here on GardenWeb!!

I keep a journal in a good sketchbook. I draw diagrams of the beds we build, list names of the antique roses and daylilies and crepe myrtles and such, draw out ideas for garden 'art' or sheds. I always make notes about what worked in various seasons and what didn't as well as future plans. An envelope holds plant receipts, so we know where they are if the plant croaks.

Because this is my garden journal, it also contains Scripture and nifty garden sayings or quotes. A few scrapbooking stickers add flavor.

I took a lot more photos of the yard and gardens this year to better record in my journal. The older the journal gets, I believe the more precious it will become for me.

Happy

Last year was my first gardening year, and I kept a journal. I write in things like the weather, the growth rates, yield rates, fertilizer rates, pests and how to manage them,tips and tricks, as wells as a planting diagram, and pictures of everything taken once a week. It has been invaluable to me. I would like to see mojogardeners' journal !

I just started outdoor gardening this past summer. I decided to start a blog about it instead of putting it to traditional pen and paper I find that it motivates me to keep up with it since I usually take pics to go with what I am writing about.

I find it makes it easy to show someone a plant I have a question about instead of trying to explain it with just words.

This spring I will be documenting my struggles and joys as I turn a barren front yard into a proper garden. I even use it to write about and post pictures of my house plants.

http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/

MrBrownThumb

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden/Plant Blog

MrBrown, I had to go peek at your blog - lovely pictures! The second photo you posted on Dec. 25 looks to me like a beautiful little aquilegia (columbine). I love that color! If you ever collect seeds from it, maybe we could arrange a trade?

Still vascillating, I'm keeping my journal on paper for the time being, but know how convenient it would be to use the computer, as it would give me a searchable document. Guess I'm old-fashioned, but I just like the feel of putting pen or pencil to real paper.

Diane

Mr. Brown Thumb, your 3rd plant needing identified is an Asiatic Day Flower aka Commelina. Attached is a bit of info about it. ;)

Diann
IA Z5a

Here is a link that might be useful: Asiatic Day Flower

I keep a journal of sorts, using notecards. One small set of cards per month. There are certain jobs I need to do before it's apparent that they need to be done. If I wait for the landscape cues, I've waited too long (and kick myself for forgetting), so I check my cards.

I don't record specific days for the job. That's too fine of detail that won't be useful year to year. I have the tasks divided between first half and second half of each month.

AGardenStateof_Mind,

Sorry I forgot about this post. I guess I should be grateful for insomina or I may never have come back here. Thanks for the compliment...I don't know if you're still around since the changes but if you are I'll get you some seeds of that columbine. It grows wild in an empty lot near my house, send me an e-mail or write down my name somewhere and remind me in spring/summer.

DiannIA Z5a

Thanks for that link...it's very nice of you to provide it. That little weed got me to lay on the ground on my stomach many times this past summer just to look at the tiny flower.

Thanks.

The "garden writer working on a story" has probably already published, however for future reference, always advise not to put anything in the garden journal that shouldn't be there.

I had a greenhouse with a journal and left some sketchy notes about a friend of the opposite sex. Twenty years later my, temporarily, significant other found those long forgotten notes and used them in a rant against me.

I too would like to see mogo's journal...how about posting a sample...I realize your original posting was some time ago...

I have tried various methods from bound notebooks to loose leaf binders, the latter was the most productive as could easily add or delete items as needed... like the rest of you I receive many plant related catalogs and often duplicates within the same season...anyway I drool over them during the winter months and then decide which catalogs can be sacrificed..and cut out either plants I have so have an easy reference book...or add to my "I gotta have that list" for easy reference in shopping as local nurseries or catalog ordering...Those catalogs are worth many times their weight in gold as they are the latest and usually best compilation of information...

My sister who was a dahlia master..always kept her notebook up to date with the actual planting order within each row of all her beautiful dahlias...this was helpful when she dug them in the fall and in planting them the next year as she only had to write a numeric row and placement on the brown grocery bags she over winter stored them, rather than her earlier method of actually writing the type and name on each bulb...(Probably why I don't grow dahlias...too much organization required...but then I always had all the beautiful dahlia in vases all season long from her efforts...I hope she has all the space she needs in heaven to keep her green thumb nourished!

Anyway...would like to hear from more of you as to your methods of journaling...even if it is in an informal method.
I aways start out keeping the tags and growing hints from actual plants as I purchase them....but often don't put that information to an efficient use...so any advice would be helpful and appreciated... Thanks!

I started a garden journal last year. I'm sure I got the idea off this forum, and it was the best thing I could have started for my garden.

When I first started, I was journaling by date, and it was a chronological diary of my daily activities in the garden. But I quickly realized this was not going to be very helpful. It was difficult to go back and find info when I was looking for it, so I started recording by plant. So it ended up looking more like a data base of all my differnt plants and varieties. Each variety ends up including the date I started the seed, the date I transplanted it, the date I harvested it, what did not survive, what was happy, why, etc. So now I have a very useful bit of information that is easy to access. I divided it into sections, vegetables, flowers and herbs, and within each section they are alphabetical, so when I need to go back to refere to something its easy to find. I also used a different color text for each section so I could scroll quickly to where I wanted to go. I added photos. I take lots of photos now, of plants every step of the way, so I can recognize them as little seedlings, in case I think something is a weed, so I don't pull it up. Its just great to be able to go back and see what worked and what didn't, when the best time to plant for my area is, etc. It's fun!

For three years, I have been keeping a hand-written journal in (appropriately) a book called Mary Engelbreit's Garden Journal. I mainly keep track of bloom times. This year I'm being more diligent, cutting out pictures from plant catalogs and making accurate drawings of exactly "where" I plant everything new. Right now, I have so many plants in my pot ghetto that I have given myself the assignment of planting out at least three plants every day. Hopefully, everything will be in the ground by the end of March. My big regret is that I don't own a digital camera. That would be a nice addition.