Strategy in Ink

Here we are mid-week and the romaine has exploded out of its pot, the spinach has sprung (another 3"), the oregano has achieved bush status, and the peas will be wanting their trellis within 4-5 days.

Now more than ever, it's time for advance planning and some form of strategy.

I really can't recommend anything more important in a garden than the yearly garden notebook.

Three months in you will not remember exactly when you planted what, or more importantly, what was planted there last year and whether or not it's a conflict with what you want to plant there now. Those peas that refused to come up last year -what brand were they? That corn that was so tasty -what was the name of that again? Silver Queen? Golden King? Did I put a 20-20-20 fertilizer there last year, or a limestone dust?

To prevent confusion as well as wasted time and money, get yourself a notebook and a pack of sheet protectors. Many years my notes are handwritten, but in 2003, I got ambitious and typed everything. First a list of plants I'm planning on having in the garden.

Then, a map of the garden. Actually, more than a few maps, where I can scribble, erase, highlight, and map out the planting map.

Also included in the notebook are lists of previous plants from prior years, and notes on what went right and what flopped big-time. All my receipts are tucked in so I know how much the garden is costing from year to year.

Some people (HI CARRIE!) actually weigh out their garden produce, so they know how many pounds they managed to grow. I've never done this, but maybe this year I will.

Might be nice to know how much that head of romaine is actually costing me.

Or maybe I'm better off not knowing....

Addiction

My name is Carole.....and I am a Seed Addict.

This is what down and dirty garden planning looks like. Garden maps, highlighters, lists of what plants I have, what I need, and of course those I want. What goes where, what will need extra water, what will need trellis or fencing, and what needs plenty of room to spread out.

And the seeds. The beautiful piles of seed packets I've been accumulating this spring.

And the ones that wintered in the back of the second shelf of the refrigerator.

And the other ones that wintered in the back of the third shelf of the refrigerator.

And the ones gathered by hand from last years plants, fresh from the back of the fourth shelf of the refrigerator.

It's a wonder there's any room for food in our frig.

This is the rough garden plan for this year. The highlighted items are items already planted, either as seeds or plants (blueberries, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, onions, romaine lettuce, oregano, lavender, rosemary, valerian, comfrey, peas, roses, marigold and hollyhocks).

The handwritten notes are crops that still need to go in as spring progresses (tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers, squash, 6 different sorts of gourds, cantalope, sunflowers, several varieties of basil, sage, marjoram, calendula, and, of course, more comfrey).

Eventually this week the handdrawn map will move onto a computer drawn version. And I'm trying to figure a way to file my seeds and better organize them. I'll get back to you on that.

Today's updates: The peas in the straw bales are 1/2" tall, the caulfilower seedlings have two tiny leaves, no spinach as of yet (I am cursed with spinach-barrenness). Oregano is doubling and tripling, even from just yesterday. Also, I added 9 broccoli plants today, and 9 cauliflower plants. Between the seedlings and these older plants, the cauliflower crop will be spread out over the spring (maybe even the summer).

The Most Important Gardening Tool

...Is your pen. Or pencil, or microcassette recorder, or cunieform stick with clay tablet. Anything you can take notes with.

This last blast of winter is the perfect time to set up your garden notebook. This time next year, you will be wondering which specific blueberry bush yielded the most berries, which cukes came up first, which type of tomato was the sweetest or froze the best.

Or in my case, which sunflowers were the tallest and provided the most shade for the summer greenhouse.

In previous years I've just carted spiral notebooks around the garden, and years later I can still see the dirt stains, or find pressed leaves or stems in their pages.

The last couple years, I've made notes on scrap paper out in the yard, then re-typed them into a document on MS Publisher, adding all sorts of info of other info. I always try to do this same-day, and then print out each page as it's finished, and slid it into a sheet protector (adding whatever seed packets were mentioned, or other clippings or brochures that I used).

Every notation starts with the date. This alone tells me global warming is real -I have almost 35 years of gardening data to compare. What else is important?

Specific plants, their garden location, whether over-watered or underwatered, any garden pests that seem drawn to that plant, neighboring plants (from year to year this can provide companion planting info), catastrophes (hail, wind, animals as well as recovery from said catastrophes), possible fragrances or fragrance mixes, fruit or vegetable yield (amount, plus dates of earliest and latest), amount of yield frozen or canned.

Keep the seed packet - compare your results with what was promised. Did you maybe plant where there was only 4 hours of sun, versus the required 6 hours? Makes all the difference.

Next winter, this year's garden notebook will provide you not only with a motherlode of gardening in your specific location, but it will remind you what worked, what didn't, what you want to grow again, and what you definitely *don't* want in your garden.

And best of all, looking at your notes (and pictures, don't forget photos) will remind you of exactly how incredibly sweet that first tomato is, straight off the vine.