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December 30, 2007

Start a Garden Journal in 2008

Master Gardener Column 12/29/07

As a child, I was a source of hilarity for my more free-spirited brothers and sisters because I was so serious. Now that I’m an adult some people think I’m obsessive. I like to keep records, just like the Sumerians did about 3,500 B.C. Many scholars believe that written language was first developed to keep commercial records. The Sumerians lived in the Fertile Crescent at the crossroads of history and civilizations in what is now Iraq, the same place from which Abraham began his journey. They were traders and had to keep track of their transactions, and thus written records. Right around us in Flagstaff, the Anasazi have left us their petroglyphs, the Ancient Ones’ own written records. All these records are the stuff of history. I have 10 linear feet of Daytimers, Dayrunners, and Franklin Covey, the stuff of my history with the National Park Service.

However, my sibling’s amusement morphed into amazement when they saw my garden journals. Although I’ve been gardening since I was a toddler, I didn’t start keeping a garden journal until I owned my first home in Fairfax, Virginia, in 1992. The journal, a gift from a colleague, was embellished with illustrations from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In it, I logged plans, soil preparation, plantings, frosts, successes and failures. Along with my written entries, I kept “before and after” photos of raised beds and seasonal changes.

When I bought my home in Flagstaff in 1995, my sister gave me a Nature Company garden journal. When I filled it, I purchased a GardenKeeper from Gardeners’ Supply, further expanding my records with its sleeves for plant tags, graphs for garden design, and spreadsheets for seed inventories. I’ve just ordered a new garden journal for 2008 because I can’t close the GardenKeeper. Filled beyond capacity, it won’t hold another “Master Gardener” clipping or bulb label.

After completing the Master Gardener class in December, which included the identification of our native grasses, one of my first entries for 2008 will be the identification of species of grass that have hitchhiked into my yard on the winds or from the year-around birds.

There are two main reasons to keep a garden journal. The first is documenting successes and failures. In Flagstaff’s challenging environment, gardening enthusiasm collides with the harsh realities of short growing seasons, temperature extremes, capricious precipitation, and patchy soil. Tracking what’s planted, when planted, where bought, where planted, and how well cared for will help repeat successes the following year and avoid the failures.

The second motivation is capturing a landscape as it evolves. When I bought my home almost 13 years ago there was zilch landscaping. The previous owner headed back to the Midwest after briefly owning the house and left behind a large pile of red cinders. The soil didn’t even grow weeds. Previously a rocky wasteland, my backyard is now alive with native wildflowers including Rayless Gumweed, Hooker’s Evening Primrose, Cleome, and Showy Goldeneye, to name only a few. I have a lovely garden path, several raised beds, and even compost bins from the City of Flagstaff. I’ve records and photos showing the transformation.

The New Year is the time to start a garden journal. It can be spare or elegant, kept in a plain old three-ring binder or housed in an exquisitely designed and bound book. Some run their journals like a ship captain’s log, keeping a chronology of garden happenings, when the daffodils first appeared, the peas and beans were planted, snow fell in the spring, and the first and last frosts struck. Others may want to keep more detailed records, including orders from seed catalogs, dated plant tags, insect and spider visitations, bee activity, mystery plants, and more. For more information try Googling “garden journal” for sources or check local bookstores.

With Flagstaff’s many microclimates, no two gardens are alike. Garden journals chronicle a garden’s history, both ups and downs, and provide valuable information and genuine satisfaction. Some future archeologist may even find a Flagstaff gardener’s journal and conclude as did Father Guido Sarducci speaking of the Easter Island figures on Saturday Night Live, “They must be gods.”

Freddi Steele is a Master Gardener volunteer. Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer and the coordinating editor of the Master Gardener Column for Coconino County Cooperative Extension, can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For more information about the Master Gardener Program, call Hattie Braun, the Master Gardener Program Coordinator, at 774-1868 ext.17 or visit our Web Site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.


Posted by maxmaddy at December 30, 2007 5:59 AM