| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Sandra K. Licher |
Posted - Apr 30 2009 : 07:15:10 AM
I have Spring blooms on my blog but while I was taking pictures and posting it made me realize how I REALLY need to have a garden journal. Do any of you do that? What do you include in it and how do you have it organized? Oh, MJ had one in one of her magazines too I think. I better go dig that up! I am thinking of including the following info in my journal....
1. date planted
2. light requirement
3. soil requirement
4. water requirement
5. height when full grown
6. common name
7. Latin name
8. flower color
9. leaf identification
10. annual, perennial, biennial
11. picture from a garden catalog
12. pest issues to watch for?
Anything else?
Sam in AR..... "It's a great life if you don't weaken!"
Farmgirl Sister #226
www.farmgirlsam.blogspot.com |
| 14 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| countrykatgirly |
Posted - May 28 2009 : 06:47:11 AM
This is great, thanks for posting!
“It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”
--Laura Ingalls Wilder |
| Sandra K. Licher |
Posted - May 02 2009 : 12:43:53 PM
Thanks Kristin! Is DE the same as worm castings?
Sam in AR..... "It's a great life if you don't weaken!"
Farmgirl Sister #226
www.farmgirlsam.blogspot.com |
| Sandra K. Licher |
Posted - May 02 2009 : 12:40:03 PM
Wanda...yes...start a new topic! That would be great because I am truly interested in this..."when the student is ready the teacher will appear" and there you are!
I've started a chapter of MJS here too but no members yet. If it ever stops raining maybe I'll get out to drum up members! LOL!
Sam in AR..... "It's a great life if you don't weaken!"
Farmgirl Sister #226
www.farmgirlsam.blogspot.com |
| catwoman |
Posted - May 02 2009 : 11:24:26 AM
Glad to hear so many are interested in the CSA. Since I haven't done much on the forum would it be better to start a new topic on just CSAs. I have been a part of one for 10 years, both of which I have started up, one with a spouse and one without. I did remarry last month to a wonderful man who is in Afghanistan for a year. He works for the government and I run a 117 acre farm with the CSA, a herd of Scotch Highland cattle for grass-fed beef, Halflinger horses, Olde Engish "Babydoll" sheep, heritage chickens, turkeys, pheasants and quail. I love to give information on starting a CSA and I also teach classes to Master Gardener groups and garden groups on herbs, which is my true love. I have considered having a weekend class at the farm, plenty of room for camping or throwing a sleeping bag on the floor to teach about starting and running a CSA. let me know if we should start a new topic on CSAs. I will be out in the field for the rest of the afternoon, but will be back online this evening. I am looking forward to being a part of the MJ group. I have gotten all the paperwork and have started a chapter here. |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - May 02 2009 : 07:10:16 AM
Wanda, welcome to the forum. I don't think I've seen you around. I am just a few miles below Chattanooga. I would love to come see your place one day. That is my goal also, the CSA. Right now I go to farmer's market and sell to people on my farm. I would love to know how to go about getting a CSA started here. So any info you have would be greatly appreciated. I know what ya mean about turning 50 and the brain leaving. I am awful in the memory department lately. Too much going on.
Sandra, DE is diotamaceous earth. Somewhere someone wrote a good definition about it. It looks like Seven dust but is organic and course so it rips icky beetle larva and slugs and snails up. Can also be used in animal bedding for fleas and as a natural wormer for goats. You have to get food grade, though. Not pool grade. There are different types, so read labels. It really works on the potato beetle.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
| Sandra K. Licher |
Posted - May 02 2009 : 05:18:55 AM
Wanda...how did you "start" your CSA? I am curious as there is nothing down here that I am aware of to accomplish CSA goals so I was thinking the same although I thought I might start with an MJ chapter and go from there. I would be very interested in how you started out and how you attracted people. Thanks!
Shirley Jean...you're my role model!!! It is very hot and humid here during the time of year where up North I would have all my windows open and be outside all day. I am still trying to get used to the humidity...where I have to have AC on all summer and keep the windows closed and sweat, sweat, sweat like I never have in my life! LOL! It must be even hotter where you are....how do you do it and garden too?
Wanda, I am "divorced" also, for 15 years now....maybe we should start a club of "single" women making it on their own? My "honey-do" list includes me, myself and I! LOL! Anyway, what is "DE" that you mentioned worked good on the potato beetles? Thanks you gals...I'm getting all kinds of great info here!
Sam in AR..... "It's a great life if you don't weaken!"
Farmgirl Sister #226
www.farmgirlsam.blogspot.com |
| catwoman |
Posted - May 01 2009 : 10:35:42 PM
Lillian, the site is great and I like the journal. It will be easy to print out and add in a notebook with seed packets and pictures. I have spend two years getting my garden ready after going through a divorce two years ago to start a CSA of my own. I have 15 members and doing it by myself now, I have to learn to be very organized to know when things grow from year to year. You can't always depend on it after one year of records though, because this year the strawberries have come in two weeks earlier than usual. I live in Middle TN and picked my first ripe strawberries this week.
I have found it helps to carry around a little notepad and pen to jot down any information I may need to record later or something I think of to put in the newsletters to the CSA members. If I don't write it down, but the time I get back to the house I don't remember it. That is one of the wonderful things that happens after you turn 50. Your memory starts to fail you when you need it.
Seeing things grow and produce edible produce from seeds or tiny plants also seems like such a miracle. It never fails to amaze me.
www.fogghollowfarms.com |
| kristin sherrill |
Posted - May 01 2009 : 6:54:25 PM
That is basically what I do, too. Little entries every day on the weather, what's coming up, how long it took for them to come up, when I start to harvest each thing. I also draw a diagram of where everyting is so I can rotate the next year. Jonni, yours sounds so organized, almost like a scrapbook. I wish I could do that. I'm just lucky to know where my journal is. I lose everything. It's actually right here on my desk now.
The year before last I planted potatoes in the new garden. Last year I did not plant potatoes and put tomatoes in that garden but on the opposite side. They were doing great for a few weeks then I started noticing several plants that were naked. I looked closer and those darn potato beetles were eating them up overnight. So I went out and picked them off and smooshed them as fast as I could find them. DE worked good, too. I will not plant tomatoes over there again. Now the potatoes are in the tomato rows. I know there will be beetles again, but I'll be ready now.
These are all great ides. Thanks.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - May 01 2009 : 12:08:12 PM
I have kept a garden journal for 5 years. It is fun to go back and read what happened each year. I put the date of entry and then just bullet comments as they come to me, for example:
June 1, 2008
Tore out the last of the snap peas today and worked that ground to rest awhile
The tomatoes and peppers are blooming and no pests so far
We have had cool nights and sunny days, and I have watered each day
Used organic fertilizer at the base of all plants
anyway, you get the idea. I like to comment on the weather and when I planted and when I removed each year, and also the location, since I have three small gardens in different places. I also drew charts of each garden and where things were until I became more familiar with my procedures and gardening habits.
Have fun with your journal!
Oh, and for some reason I write everything in pencil.
I love to spend the day gardening and then sit down with a cook drink on the porch and recap in the journal what has been happening.
Farmgirl Sister # 31
www.blueskyjeannie.blogspot.com
Psalm 51: 10-13 |
| Sandra K. Licher |
Posted - May 01 2009 : 11:57:11 AM
Lillian, what a great site! I downloaded the garden journal and it is REALLY nice! Plus, they have those 101 garden recipes and preserving instructions. What a great site! And you can print out individual pages and make multiple copies...very nice! And I can add my own pages based on suggestions from above too. It's a nice start and then you can customize it to your own needs. Take a look everyone! And thanks for all your suggestions everyone...keep 'em comin'!
Sam in AR..... "It's a great life if you don't weaken!"
Farmgirl Sister #226
www.farmgirlsam.blogspot.com |
| FebruaryViolet |
Posted - May 01 2009 : 10:42:05 AM
Mine is pretty simple...because I'm usually short on time, I will write down what I'm planning on planting and cut (neatly, with pinking shears for a decorative edge), the portion of the seed pack, label that came on the potatoes or other tubers, bulbs, etc...that explains all the directives (soil, light, duration) and paste it in the journal. Some of them are very colorful, or pretty (like the potato labels from Seed Savers) Then I make my own notes--last year in particular, I did NOT like the pole beans I grew. Sure made a note of that. I didn't like the way they grew, and I didn't like cooking them, so I made a note of that, too :) I also make notes of the spring/summer weather--more of an overall view as opposed to a daily forcast since my time is so limited. But, it still allows me to review things that work and things that don't.
I also charted my flower beds and garden beds in the first pages of the journal so that I "know" where things are approximately from year to year, especially perennials that go dormant, and that way I know, too, what plants are named long after the little hand written metal signs fade from the sun. When there are new additions, I will simply put the date and addition with a "+" and draw an arrow, until there are too many arrows and I chart it again :) When something dies, I simply white it out and make a note of it (sort of like a pros/cons column) with a "-" beside it.
With the vege garden, it helps me remember where for example, the potatoes were, so I don't replant them there again so that I fool the bugs since we don't use any pesticides. Those potato beetles are stinkers.
Musings from our family in the Bluegrass http://sweetvioletmae.blogspot.com/ |
| Ms.Lilly |
Posted - Apr 30 2009 : 08:42:30 AM
Check out www.homesteadharvest.com they have a downloadable garden journal that is great.
Lillian |
| JojoNH |
Posted - Apr 30 2009 : 08:40:08 AM
A garden journal is a great idea!! I agree with Sharon, be sure to keep track of your daily weather, it will help you in the coming years when you are trying to remember if it is a good time to plant something or is it time to start bringing it in etc.
I think maybe keeping information on the harvest each plant produces would also be helpful. For me at least, if I have something that really did well, I would want to repeat it. . . likewise, if something just did not perform. .. I would want to try something different next time around.
Really the journal should help you with all aspects of whatever you are growing. . . shade, light, windy, needs fertilizer, loves sandy conditions etc.
Great topic!
Joanna #566
JojoNH
http://www.CountryCents.com
http://CountryCents.Blogspot.com |
| Calicogirl |
Posted - Apr 30 2009 : 07:56:40 AM
I am still pretty new at this too. I also include weather changes, first frost, hail, etc. that way I can look out for things each year. Just a thought :)
~Sharon
By His Grace, For His Glory
http://merryheartjournal.blogspot.com/ |
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