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Do you keep a journal? If not, have you ever thought about doing so? It could be a brief mention of something pleasant such as a delicious meal, a pleasant visit with a friend, a rainbow. A gratitude journal.
The elegant Emerald Garden Journal from Peter Pauper Press would be just perfect for this.
It has 160 lined pages, a ribbon bookmark, archival paper. Plus, binding lies flat for easy use.
No dates, pages not numbered, you can start an entry, stop when done, write again when inspired.
The exquisite cover replicates a goatskin leather binding tooled in gold, created in Ireland.
They have a generous selection of other journals same size, page count, with diverse covers.
But perhaps you want a gardening journal, one that would be kept from year to year, day by day. Let's call it phenology, observing the periodic reoccurrence of natural phenomena: first and last frost dates, high and low temperatures, when what trees leaf out in spring, and more. The comparisons would provide useful information on what worked, perhaps what changes to make. I seem to recall that once upon a time it was when forsythia began to flower it was then the time to put crab grass preventative on the lawn. The shrub's flowers were a signal that the weedy grass was about to sprout.
Linda Vater developed The Garden Journal as a five year record for your home garden.
There's space for your notes (better write daintily) and she also provides tips and
suggestions, e.g. tips for tool care is followed by your maintainence record notes.
There are four, three-month long calendar sections. Each season opens with a page of generalities, another of seasonal observations, then in this instance moving from end of spring into July, summer chore checklist with a facing page for date and chore accomplished. Entertaining in summer. The Well-Hydrated Garden. (Certainly a matter of concern with a drought in September, October, November, here in New Jersey!) Cutting garden flowers for bouquets, plants that pair well in your garden. And then the diary pages: each page has two days (e.g. July 3 and 4) subdivided with spaces for five years. Note down Year and Weather, and Today in the Garden in four (rather narrow) lines.
Useful information, such as this visual guide for spring bulbs
how deep to plant each bulb and how tall when they are in bloom.
A useful garden journal, if the gardener tends the pages as thoroughly as the garden.
How did you learn to garden? Was it trial and error, did you take any classes, follow a friend around their garden, read a book . . . There are options and possibilities, and most likely it's an assortment, an amalgam of learning techniques. A book has the advantage that you can turn to it, return to clarify a point, perhaps even find the answer to a question you don't know enough to even ask.
On the cover of The Month-By-Month Gardening Guide by Franz Böhmig it mentions that it offers "Daily advice for growing flowers, vegetables, herbs & houseplants" with 1388 tips covering "what to do when throughout the year."
Divided into two parts, the first, larger section covers the tips themselves.
As it is December as I'm writing this review, let's take a look at some tips for winter.
First page, January, and we are advised that A good supply of compost is essential for healthy plant growth and high yields in the vegetable garden. Details, some are concise, others longer, more detailed, more expansive. Simple line drawings - nice.
General winter chores and maintenance - repairs, cleaning and sharpening tools, and more. Originally published in Germany there are infrequent disparities between here and there - I don't think I have ever seen sugar beet extract offered for sale.
The second part has several pages of general tables: arable soils and their characteristics, fertilizer recommendations for specific vegetables, crop rotation, sowing, planting, diseases, pests. Lists of vegetable and ornamental plant varieties with concise tables of planting time, specific remarks, diagnosing diseases by appearance - cucumber wilt growing under glass / leaf yellowing / disinfect soil and remove infected plants promptly.)
Emerald Garden Journal
Peter Pauper Press, copyright 2024
ISBN 978-1-4413-4429-8
Bookbound style hardcover binding, $12.99
The Garden Journal, A 5-Year Record of Your Home Garden
by Linda Vater
published by Cool Springs Press, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group
ISBN 978-0-7603-8292-9
Hardcover, $30.00
The Month By Month Gardening Guide, Daily Advice for Growing Flowers, Vegetables, Herbs & Houseplants
by Franz Böhmig
English language edition published in 2022 by Timber Press
ISBN 978-1-64326-141-6
Softcover, $27.95
Review copies of these journals were provided by their publishers
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