Keeping track of plantings from one season to the next can help you improve choices and repeat successes. One way of doing this is to keep a casual garden diary.

Your diary doesn’t have to be tidy or overflowing lyrically with your musings about the organic life. A three-ring binder filled with some lined paper will do. Just fill it with useful stuff that you might otherwise lose or forget.

It helps to keep a stapler and tape available for quick additions to the log. Here are some examples of things to save or note:

 

Plans. No matter how rumpled or stained, save sketches of garden plans noting the location of specific Salvias, complementary perennials and any annuals that might reseed nearby. This is particularly important if the perennials are herbaceous and die back to the point of disappearance above ground. You wouldn’t want to dig up their roots by accident in early spring.

Plant Markers. No, we’re not talking about the fancy metal kind in botanic gardens. Save the plastic ones that came with any sets purchased from a nursery. Tape these to a page for future reference. Also save any plant care notes that come with online orders

Seed Packets. Don’t throw away empty seed packets after planting. Staple them onto a page in your diary.

Observations. Make quick notes when you can about matters such as how particular plants are faring in their current location, color combinations that look good and which ones are attracting bees, hummers and butterflies