Garden Journals and Twins

Okay, today is about garden journals. My best gardening friend Gerri is going to be shocked to find out I really don't have one. I had started keeping records about four years ago in Microsoft Works but have not been diligent about keeping up with it. I mean, who wants to come in the house and type about what they planted and where and why on a computer after working all day?

I, like a lot of people, told myself I would remember what I had done and type it in later when I had time. Time sometimes showed up, sometimes not and I almost always forgot what I had done. This year was going to be the year I would get it together! I dutifully logged in each month when each flower would start blooming and finish blooming (thought the order of bloom was important for continuous color and flower evaluation), what I had planted and where, and notes about the weather and growing conditions.

The journal had four years of SOME information in it then-you know what happened-the computer crashed during a lightning storm. I still don't know why because I had a surge protector, which was not damaged; and the storm was already over when the computer died. Mr. Fix it (my husband) reformatted the computer and chastised me for not backing up my files. This is not the first time he has had to bail me out with computer problems and probably won't be the last time, but I finally have a back-up hard drive and I hope it will save my files from now on! Journals are important for keeping track of what is going on in the garden and I miss mine.

I may mess up and forget what plants I planted where and when, but I never confuse my 26 year old twin daughters, though they look very much alike.

in the garden....