Gardening by the Numbers (or at least the data)
March 19, 2023 3:55 PM Subscribe
Help me up my gardening game by keeping track of bloom times, light, soil conditions, etc.
I had never had outdoor space until a few years ago when we moved from an apartment in Manhattan to a house in Colorado, at the age of 43. I've discovered that I really like gardening a lot. But the short growing season, clay soil, and a small, shady yard are making it hard for me to have the flower and foliage garden of my dreams. (I'm not into vegetables, and don't have the light for them anyway. I have about 25 square feet of full-sun and the rest is "part sun", "dappled shade" and "full shade".
The house has a bunch of nice old trees and when we moved in, had some beds that were basically all vinca. I started out by buying plants for some preplanned gardens, which mostly worked out reasonably well, and now I'm filling in spots where I feel like something else is needed (new container, needs more height, nothing is blooming in July, original plant didn't get enough light, etc). I've mostly done this by looking at websites about plants and trying to envision how everything will look, but I'd like to do this more strategically and also take better notes for future seasons about when things bloomed, how much light a particular location actually gets, water usage, etc. Ideally I would be able to have photos along with notes, some basic spreadsheets, etc.
i've been thinking about something like Evernote but haven'r really ever used it. My job is busy and complicated but doesn't involve a lot of long-range planning so a to-do list for the week is the most I've ever really had to manage. How do you keep notes about your garden?
(I did see this prior question, but it's from 2017 so wondering if there are new recs)
I had never had outdoor space until a few years ago when we moved from an apartment in Manhattan to a house in Colorado, at the age of 43. I've discovered that I really like gardening a lot. But the short growing season, clay soil, and a small, shady yard are making it hard for me to have the flower and foliage garden of my dreams. (I'm not into vegetables, and don't have the light for them anyway. I have about 25 square feet of full-sun and the rest is "part sun", "dappled shade" and "full shade".
The house has a bunch of nice old trees and when we moved in, had some beds that were basically all vinca. I started out by buying plants for some preplanned gardens, which mostly worked out reasonably well, and now I'm filling in spots where I feel like something else is needed (new container, needs more height, nothing is blooming in July, original plant didn't get enough light, etc). I've mostly done this by looking at websites about plants and trying to envision how everything will look, but I'd like to do this more strategically and also take better notes for future seasons about when things bloomed, how much light a particular location actually gets, water usage, etc. Ideally I would be able to have photos along with notes, some basic spreadsheets, etc.
i've been thinking about something like Evernote but haven'r really ever used it. My job is busy and complicated but doesn't involve a lot of long-range planning so a to-do list for the week is the most I've ever really had to manage. How do you keep notes about your garden?
(I did see this prior question, but it's from 2017 so wondering if there are new recs)
I use spreadsheets (Google sheets in my case, but anything would do) in a couple of ways, but mainly one sheet per year where the rows are plants or 'spots', and the columns are months. So I can record what I planted when, when perennials leafed out or bloomed, where I fertilized or whatever, how many hours of sun a site gets each month, etc.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:10 PM on March 19, 2023
posted by away for regrooving at 11:10 PM on March 19, 2023
I just keep really basic info, I couldn't tell you when individual plants bloom. I'm not sure you even could use that info year after year. I have a really basic database to tell how long a plant lasts in my garden, what season does it bloom does it recover from winter, does it use a lot of water, etc.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:50 AM on March 20, 2023
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:50 AM on March 20, 2023
Garden data - what a great question. I really enjoy gardening and spreadsheets - though I am only an ametur gardener. Firstly in terms of storing the actual information, if you would like both the data and photos, you could give Microsoft's Onenote a try. You have main heading tabs across the type, add pages down the side and can drop in tables, pictures etc. It doesn't let you manipulate the data as well as a spreadsheet but does make it easy to navigate/locate information and include pictures. I use a free online version for notes about everything. You could also use it for more then just plant selection but recording what maintenance is needed when.
Personally, I use spreadsheets and a 5 year gardening diary. Mine is hardcopy but I am sure their are online versions. I record what I have done in the garden (e.g fertilizer citrus), what is flowering, pest appearance etc). Then the next year I can see ahead for what I might have to do in the garden. It helps me for task planning, but I also just enjoy the memories/data I can see. Oh look, my tulips came out 2 weeks later then last year. These days you could always grab past weather patterns if you wanted to investigate a trend or anomaly.
For researching suitable plants, I also am very lucky to live in an area where the local plants associations have put together great books. With a picture and basic information about a plant - e.g soil type, flower colour, sun requirements. But their are more generic names ones of these that are also really lovely to flick through and tag. E.g this book
I also love browsing and talking to my local nursery (and taking photos of the back of the plant labels/tags for plants I am interested in so I can easily transcribe the information at home).
The last thing I would mention (and apologies if this is off track) but there are so many variables in an individual plant, precise soil location, weather, etc, that it is really hard to ever guarantee anything, even if the plant chosen ticks all the correct boxes. But this is actually a surprise factor of gardening I enjoy. I remember a host on gardening Australia talking about how sometimes a plant just won't thrive in a spot and it is time to cut your loses and move on. And the super exciting thing for me is: I now have a spot for a new plant.
posted by daffodil at 9:15 AM on March 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Personally, I use spreadsheets and a 5 year gardening diary. Mine is hardcopy but I am sure their are online versions. I record what I have done in the garden (e.g fertilizer citrus), what is flowering, pest appearance etc). Then the next year I can see ahead for what I might have to do in the garden. It helps me for task planning, but I also just enjoy the memories/data I can see. Oh look, my tulips came out 2 weeks later then last year. These days you could always grab past weather patterns if you wanted to investigate a trend or anomaly.
For researching suitable plants, I also am very lucky to live in an area where the local plants associations have put together great books. With a picture and basic information about a plant - e.g soil type, flower colour, sun requirements. But their are more generic names ones of these that are also really lovely to flick through and tag. E.g this book
I also love browsing and talking to my local nursery (and taking photos of the back of the plant labels/tags for plants I am interested in so I can easily transcribe the information at home).
The last thing I would mention (and apologies if this is off track) but there are so many variables in an individual plant, precise soil location, weather, etc, that it is really hard to ever guarantee anything, even if the plant chosen ticks all the correct boxes. But this is actually a surprise factor of gardening I enjoy. I remember a host on gardening Australia talking about how sometimes a plant just won't thrive in a spot and it is time to cut your loses and move on. And the super exciting thing for me is: I now have a spot for a new plant.
posted by daffodil at 9:15 AM on March 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
I love this question as it has inspired me to rethink how I would and should go about maintaining my own phenological calendar.
A perpetual paper journal would be simplest but offer less flexibility. Friends track their observations on a circular poster size chart which is used over years.
Regardless of format I would structure notes primarily by weeks between astronomical dates eg solstices / equinox etc as that would be best for consistency when tracking sunlight, shadow, temperature and other more seasonal phenomena eg leaf budding, soil temperature etc.
Have you tried Notion or Obsidian yet? If you had time spare to set either tool up I think the double linking features would allow for some pretty neat templates and integrations with other tools. You could for example have time based pages ( third week after spring equinox) where you note that a particular peach tree is blossoming as well as having a dedicated page for that tree. The peach page could hav notes on the variety, planting date, when it was last pruned, soil amended, pests observed, harvest yields., photos with all dates linking to the equivalent week pages).
Looking at First Nations knowledge of your region and historical farmers' almanacs would also be sources to draw from for climate normal observations and understanding the subtler seasons and patterns of place. For example the Noongar communities of SW Western Australia recognise 6 primary seasons described by floral and fauna phenomena, eg when there are still white flowers on the Peppermint trees clouds with rain will also still be in the sky. Other plant phenomena describe the best time to catch certain fish or when whales migrate along the coast.
posted by pipstar at 10:31 AM on March 20, 2023
A perpetual paper journal would be simplest but offer less flexibility. Friends track their observations on a circular poster size chart which is used over years.
Regardless of format I would structure notes primarily by weeks between astronomical dates eg solstices / equinox etc as that would be best for consistency when tracking sunlight, shadow, temperature and other more seasonal phenomena eg leaf budding, soil temperature etc.
Have you tried Notion or Obsidian yet? If you had time spare to set either tool up I think the double linking features would allow for some pretty neat templates and integrations with other tools. You could for example have time based pages ( third week after spring equinox) where you note that a particular peach tree is blossoming as well as having a dedicated page for that tree. The peach page could hav notes on the variety, planting date, when it was last pruned, soil amended, pests observed, harvest yields., photos with all dates linking to the equivalent week pages).
Looking at First Nations knowledge of your region and historical farmers' almanacs would also be sources to draw from for climate normal observations and understanding the subtler seasons and patterns of place. For example the Noongar communities of SW Western Australia recognise 6 primary seasons described by floral and fauna phenomena, eg when there are still white flowers on the Peppermint trees clouds with rain will also still be in the sky. Other plant phenomena describe the best time to catch certain fish or when whales migrate along the coast.
posted by pipstar at 10:31 AM on March 20, 2023
And... as the weather continues to weird having local understandings becomes more and more important.
Have fun
posted by pipstar at 10:35 AM on March 20, 2023
Have fun
posted by pipstar at 10:35 AM on March 20, 2023
I divide these into future and past things — I keep notes of what happened in a paper notebook (Rite in the Rain, so it can go about and get muddy with me). Date, which plant, what’s happening. Notes on what big trees are doing as a phenological calendar. This could all get transcribed into a database, but it’s not hard to flip back through the last couple years and see what else was happening when X came up if I’m wondering today if it survived the winter.
Future things go into my online task manager - right now it’s reminding me to mark clumps of bulbs that could use dividing, and also bulb-empty spaces - at the best transplant time there’s nothing above ground, so my task list will remind me to go out and check those markers.
posted by clew at 11:00 AM on March 20, 2023
Future things go into my online task manager - right now it’s reminding me to mark clumps of bulbs that could use dividing, and also bulb-empty spaces - at the best transplant time there’s nothing above ground, so my task list will remind me to go out and check those markers.
posted by clew at 11:00 AM on March 20, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:37 PM on March 19, 2023 [2 favorites]