I have started an excel file (for each year) with various pages monitoring what is sown/planted when and where, purchases, harvests, etc. etc. I also take a lot of photos and date them all when saving to the laptop. Only started last year but it is already interesting/useful to compare with 2020.
Do I sound like an accountant
Excellent @Biglad I did try a massive word table one time with the months/seasons and jobs to do diary in there but it was a bit rubbish. I can see a spreadsheet working with extra tabs for new plants/seeds/cuttings and costs and you could get some nice graphs from it 😄
I recently bought a friend the RHS 5 year gardening journal. I liked the fact that it was laid out with the same week in all 5 years alongside one another, so you can easily compare. I'm thinking of getting one for myself.
I have started an excel file (for each year) with various pages monitoring what is sown/planted when and where, purchases, harvests, etc. etc. I also take a lot of photos and date them all when saving to the laptop. Only started last year but it is already interesting/useful to compare with 2020.
Do I sound like an accountant
I use a spreadsheet too and like the idea of being a plant accountant. Thankfully, I don't keep a record of how much I've spent.
I like this idea, but have tried and failed to produce anything of use. I started with photographs on a phone, trying to arrange them by plant to track changes across the seasons/years, but that got tricky moving the photos around to be next to each other.
Then I tried a spreadsheet but didn't find that helpful.
Finally I started a powerpoint presentation to try and order the photos but it's all just so time consuming and I didn't enjoy it.
Spreadsheet here too — less of a journal and more of a reminder list, arranged according to season: spring jobs/tips listed first in green, summer job/tips in yellow and autumn jobs/tips in orange. I’m tracking the flowering period this year (doing that for the first time). I manually put items in bold that I'm planning to do next, and un-bold the text after I've done them. Basic, I know, but this is my first garden and I don’t have too many plants so the list is useful and manageable.
Can't you use an online service? I get some stuff from the RHS web site and they have the facility to log the plants you have and what needs doing when. I never used it personally (as I wrote my own software - that I also now don't use!), but it may be worth looking at.
You have to an RHS member to use the full MyRHS site, and while it's useful as a record of what you have and what to do next, it's very limited in terms of plants that don't fit the brief due to location or conditions. There's also no option, as far as I remember, to add your own notes. I think a WP blog site would be much more flexible (and doesn't need to be a blog per se).
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
I like the colour code idea @Athelas. I think I might start a simple spreadsheet for jobs to do even though I’m trying to simplify tasks at the moment so I don’t have a big to do list.
The Wordpress blog sounds like what I’m looking for with rambling thoughts and links to different crafts and recipes so it’s going to be my autumn/ winter project.
I use an A to Z physical folder here with the plant labels, notes under each of the plants when they were planted, when they flowered and when they need pruned. Plus lists for spring and autumn. I include a drawn Map of plants and bulbs etc. I've tried the RHS website but find it limited. I mostly find the log of interest over the winter when there is less to do but plenty to plan for.
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I did try a massive word table one time with the months/seasons and jobs to do diary in there but it was a bit rubbish. I can see a spreadsheet working with extra tabs for new plants/seeds/cuttings and costs and you could get some nice graphs from it 😄
I use a spreadsheet too and like the idea of being a plant accountant. Thankfully, I don't keep a record of how much I've spent.
The Wordpress blog sounds like what I’m looking for with rambling thoughts and links to different crafts and recipes so it’s going to be my autumn/ winter project.