Home | How It Works | Ideas | Calendar | Newsletter | Contact Hodgson Biologic Calendar Upcoming Events 5/24 Growing Edibles / Small Gardens 5/31 Weed I.D. and Control 6/7 Shade Gardening Hodgson Biologic 2 Klarides Village Drive Box 205 Seymour, Connecticut 06483 203-888-3898 In Connecticut's Naugatuck Valley February, 2009 Show Full Year Event: Record Keeping Date: February 5th, 2009. Category: Ideas A Page Out of My Book Keeping records is natural for some of us, and annoying for some of us. It is not required, especially if you garden for the sheer joy of it, and if writing things down or drawing things would ruin that joy. Yet, a certain kind of joy can come (for some) through journaling our experiences, thoughts and observations of our gardens. It is a pleasure to look back through our old ephemera book to see when the juncoes arrived, when the goldenrod started to bloom, and so forth. We may feel like winter started later one year, but without a record, we can't be sure. If you are gardening to raise food, there are some other good reasons to keep records. Did the Golden Girls produce more tomatoes than the Sweet 100s? Did they produce more tomatoes, but fewer pounds of tomatoes? These questions may sound academic, but if your garden space, time, or water are limited, you may want to grow the most productive plants for your site. Garden books and seed catalogs give us a treasure trove of information, but each garden and each gardener is unique. (see Microclimates under Pointers on this site). I prefer a notebook in which I can enter information in any format that seems right. I have tables, drawings, and narratives. I record soil test results and remarkable events (like the day thousands of ants started coming out of the soil all around me). I also use graph paper for designing garden space, planters, watering systems and so forth. A camera is a wonderful tool for recording how you set up a project, and the progress day to day or week to week. You may want to use your computer. Spreadsheets can be quite handy. I have a map of my gardens, to scale, that I made using a spreadsheet. I can copy the base map and "sketch in" where I want to put in raised beds or paths, or anything else. I have done this for a friend also. Word processors have drawing options. There is specialized software for the job, as well. Whatever you choose, do your best to enjoy the recording of the information. Look back at what you have done. It is your system, so draw in the margins if you like. Or keep neat, straight rows and multiple section dividers if you like. I use colorful pencils. Be artistic! Be precise! Be what makes sense for your purposes and your garden! February, 2009 Show Full Year

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