Missouri Extension makes it easy to begin a garden journal

Garden journals come in all shapes and sizes. They can be as simple as using a shorthand notebook or a ring binder or just a notebook. Or you can go to the other extreme and have it set up by time and plant and even have it on a calendar-type program in your computer. I would like to describe a simple yet effective garden journal that includes a calendar.

A little over a year ago, my wife and I attended a seminar up at Fredricktown, Missouri, on farmers markets and grafting tomatoes and squash and such. One thing they had for sale was "From Seed to Harvest and Beyond: Garden Journal and Calendar," prepared by Donna Aufdenberg, Sarah Denkler and Katie Kammler, who are horticulture specialists for the University of Missouri Extension. It is set up using 8 1/2xbyx11-inch paper in a three-ring binder, which makes it easy to add, to take out or to move pages around. The journal sells for $20 if you pick it up at Bollinger (573-238-2420) or Butler (573-686-8064) or St. Genevieve (573-883-3548) extension offices. You can have it shipped for $23 by calling one of the three offices. You can then order refills for $10 if picked up or $13 if shipped. The offices don't take credit or debit cards so payment will need to be by check or cash or something similar.

Topics included in the journal include "How to Use the Journal," "Soil Preparation," "Planting Calendar," "Seed Starting Guide," "Fall Gardening Tips," "Harvest Calendar," "Gardening With Children," "Flowering Sequence Chart," "Pest Diagnostic Worksheet" -- and the list goes on. There are 12 individual monthly garden tips calendars. These have sections on what you should be doing in three different areas in your garden with these being the vegetable, flowers and ornamentals as well as fruits and berries. One recommendation I thought was interesting was in the January tips section on flowers and ornamentals. It recommends that you "sow pansy seeds indoors now." I didn't know that January was when I should be doing this. Another recommendation in the January tips in the fruits and berries section said to "start pruning apple and pear trees." Good to know.

After I bought mine, I bought a set of one-fifth cut dividers for a three-ring binder and set it up so that I had quick access to each month as well as some topics I thought were pertinent. It is really neat to go back and read what you did and when you did it. Last Jan. 14 I started 48 Early Flat Dutch cabbages and 48 Long Island Improved Brussels sprouts. I noted just below these entries that they were coming up on the 17th. Then on March 13 I planted some tomatoes and peppers in one of my tunnels. But on March 23 it got down to 25 degrees and froze almost all of them. This was my first attempt at growing early tomatoes and peppers in a high tunnel. My memory gets fuzzy but those words in black and white are sharp. I now know when the weatherman says the temp gets down to 25 degrees, plants will freeze in the tunnels.

If you have questions about this garden journal, you can email me or phone one of the extension offices. If you haven't taken the master gardener course offered by the extension offices, maybe inquire about that as well. When I took the master gardener course many years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

More information about the journals is available at extension.missouri.edu/n/2309.

Happy journaling.