Gardening and Learning

Although I can't say I have been gardening all of my life I can say that I have been around Gardeners all my life. I went through the Master Gardening classes, got certified and I continue to learn.

One lesson that I haven't learned all these years is how to keep good records. I have all the best intentions and some rather good ways available to me for record keeping. I have a 10-year Garden Journal for jotting down short thoughts or happenings I want to remember. It also encourages me to keep a daily temperature record. I do think it is fun to look back to see how the weather differs from year to year.

 I  keep a sketchbook in a refillable leather journal. I can take it outside where it gets dirty and I can wipe it off. If I leave it out and it gets wet not all is lost and yes I know this from experience. In this journal my thoughts can meander and my projects are drawn, listed or otherwise explored. Records, receipts, plant tags etc are stapled or glued into this.  I know this isn't the most convenient way to keep things organized and easily accessible but every time I try to change it just doesn't happen.

I  have a Word document that is fairly accurate. Yet I sometimes get too busy during the growing season and don't add new plants.

My DB got tired of listening to me complain about all this and set up an Excel spread sheet for me. It looks simple and efficient yet I have exactly two entries on this. I just can't seem to make myself delve into that operation.

I know we have discussed this all before, here and several other times,  so what has brought me to whining  thinking about all this? What with the growing/blooming season just beginning I am finding that I can't identify the few things blooming. Right now I have only two Galanthus blooming. Galanthus Nivalis and Elwesii. I thought I knew which was which. I am pretty sure that the following photo is G. Nivalis.  I have had this plant long enough that it is making a nice clump. I even think I can divide this one this year.

My other Galanthus is what I thought was G.Elwesii. I was wondering if any of you have this little beauty? EDIT: Thank you Linda for suggesting that this is G.  flore pleno. It sure looks like it in pictures I have been able to find.

When I went to the internet to make sure this is what I had I couldn't seem to find a picture of it that looks anything like this. I just love the little white skullcaps over the bloom that looks like a rose, if you can get down here to see just what it looks like.

It has really taken off this year. I don't know what year I planted this one but it has grown into a nice little colony that could be divided this year too. I have 4 small clumps of it.  It has been somewhat stunted in growth though.

The tallest bloom is only 3"tall and the longest green leaf is only about an inch tall. Which as I remember is oddly short. Maybe I am just paying more attention to them this year. Because last year a very generous garden blogger friend gifted me with Galanthus Primrose Warburg. Mind you this is one of those fancy yellow ones.

I can't wait to see it bloom. I didn't expect a bloom this year because it is it's first year here but just seeing the little brace of yellow makes me almost giddy. I have to protect it though because I thought I had another touch of yellow on another one and the rabbits ate it. I was a bit forlorn because I thought all was lost this year. Then this other one popped up. So there is hope.

I am not taking any chances. I have set this big strainer over the plant and set a big stone on the handle so the rabbit can't just move it. So I hope that it survives to bloom. I have never noticed rabbits eating the blooms of Galanthus before. Have you?  Nature has its way of keeping the classroom open. We never stop learning.

There is no gardening without humility.

Nature is constantly sending even its

oldest scholars to the bottom of the class

for some egregious blunder.

-Alfred Austin

Garden Journals

Carol has a post up about her Garden Journal. She has asked us what type of journal we use and what do we put in it. Well, as you can see my garden journaling started a long time ago. These little booklets were the beginning of my journaling days. In these journals I didn't really get into my gardening as much as I guess I anticipated. Most of what is in these journals are what my children were doing at this time. I believe that is why I started these. I was losing track of days and not knowing who was where when. I was working full time and this helped me keep track of days. I could look back every week or so and remember just what we were doing at a certain time. Life was quite the whirl wind then. A few years later after trying a regular journal a few years I bought these daily journals. They were nice in that they had the date, day, year and a small space to write a few things if you wanted a little detail to remember.

As you can see the format is something like the Garden Journal that Carol uses. I wrote the temps and a few lines about what was going on at that time. Finally a lot was noted about my garden .

This year I decided to add this Gardener's Journal to my record keeping. Carol going on about how easy it was to compare years was one reason why I liked it. The other reason was because my DB has just inherited his Grandfather's Journals. The ones he got were from 1955 -197? Grandfather's Journals are great because not only did he journal about his gardens but he was a great naturalist and he made note of all the happenings around their property. Not only that but everyone loves to look for dates when they are mentioned as when arriving or departing from a visit or helping with garden chores. It is a great read. As Carol also mentioned you can get some insight into a Loved Ones life by reading these journals. I want my Grands to be able to see that I thought them important enough to be noted in my Journal as well as in my heart. It is just so nice to see something concrete so to speak.

Grandfather kept the highs and lows when possible. This New Gardener's Journal has a place for this. Plus I hope to keep track of the garden plus any comings and goings of family, friends plus any other natural happenings in our life.

The Garden Journal that I have kept the past eleven years has been in a hard bound sketch book. No I don't sketch very often in these journals. I like the idea that I can sketch if I am inspired to do so but for the most part I just like the feeling of the book in my hand. I do make good use of most all the pages. Some years I have crammed two years into a book. some years overlap in books. It isn't a very methodical, organized way of garden journaling but it works for me. Actually I know it isn't very good for looking up what I have planted or when. I do enjoy how I do this, it is fun for me.I use the same size since what brought me to this type of journal is this leather cover that I bought said years ago. It keeps my journal clean on the outside. I can leave it out in a light rain and all is well and good after drying it off. I try not to do this but it happens. I also use one of those ribbon book marks that has several colored ribbons, like they sell for marking your bible. These ribbons help me keep track where I have lists say for chores for spring. Or like last year when I was planning a garden party I had a ribbon at where my list for guests, one for decorations I wanted to use, one for chores just related to the party. So you see all those colored ribbons kept me from becoming more frazzled and I felt organized to a certain degree.

Do I write in my garden journal every day?? No. Especially now that I have the big Green Monster of a Garden Journal. I will keep at that with putting the daily temps in and a short note as to what is going on. This sketch journal I will still use for my garden 'thoughts'. Especially this time of year I have all sorts of ideas about the garden. I like to write them down. Explore the thought and then I can relax and watch it unfold. That is if I don't decide it isn't in the works for this year.

A project I have whorling around my mind now is the garden bench I have been talking about making. I just can't make up my mind as to what I want to build. From magazines I have cut out many benches and chairs that are interesting to me and within my skill/tool range. Now I just have to decide what I want to do.

I often put photos of the garden in this journal. This is where it gets a little out of control. These books aren't made for such treatment. I have thought, just about yearly, about changing the style of my journal to a ring bound journal so that the pages would lie flat and not be so bulged and, well I guess I will say it, UGLY. However I just don't like the 'feel' of those journals.

So I guess I will just plug along. Cutting up my garden magazines and filing most of the pictures away but when I get a project in mind I pull out corresponding photos and paste them into my journal where I can mull over them. Draw over them and soak up all the inspiration I need to complete a project.

Oh yes, What do I do with my plant tags?? That is another unruly aspect of this type of journal. I staple them into place at the time of planting and hope for the best. Now this I might try to manage a little different now that I am blogging. I have wanted to know the names of many things since I started blogging. Hmmmm This is another winter dreamin' project. How do you keep track of your garden?