Tomato/Garden diaries

[ubergoober]

How many of you keep a diary purely for gardening purposes? Maybe a better term would be a "log" of plant out date, feedings etc. My husband thinks I am a bit wacky (the term crazy tomato lady is a term used often in my house now) for writing down things in my book.

I am sure some of you probably know just as second nature and don't need to keep these things written down.

For those who do keep a log, what sort of things do you keep track of? I am new to this whole tomato addiction and was wondering if I should be keeping track of more than just feedings and the general look of health of the plants.

[kath]

I'm newly addicted, as well, but I've been keeping garden logs for 25 years. Things I keep track of are: varieties tried & ones I want to try, germination rates, planting dates, how things look, unusual things I notice, when things flower and set fruit, blush, harvest dates, taste tests, pests, diseases, feedings, treatments, how varieties differ when doing trials, size, weights/volume of produce, ideas of things to try the following year, questions I want to research, etc. I don't use the computer for anything, just the little black speckled composition books and make entries chronologically for the year. Also I keep a separate one for varieties tried, and now I have a ring binder with a page for each tomato variety I'm growing with what I have researched about it, lists of trades, etc. To keep things a little more organized, I also have a small spiral-bound journal with a page for each tomato plant, listed in the order that they are planted in the garden so that I can make notes as I move through inspected/tending each plant. I often refer to past year's logs to compare entries and certainly don't think you're wacky or crazy! Enjoy your gardening!

[riceke]

I do too. How could you keep track of the varieties and problems or successes you've had if you didn't keep a log of some type?

[camochef]

I've been keeping Garden journals for years now. From the first seed started till the last tilling in the fall. With the hundreds of varieties of tomatoes that I usually plant its a necessity.
I keep track of everything, when I water, when I weed, prune. Maps of the gardens, when the first tomatoes appear, when I fertilize, it's all in the journals.
While watering yesterday I spotted the first tomatoes...2 Barlow Jap plants, an Earl's Faux, and the Kosovo each had tiny thumbnail sized tomatoes on them. Noted in the journal.
Also have 8, 6inch or longer peppers on my Anahiems and lots of little Anchos. From here on in the journals will be getting daily entries, including ripening dates and taste results, especially on the new to me varieties.
I honestly feel that keeping a journal is a very important part of gardening, especially as I get older and my memory isn't what it used to be. Then too, nothings like it used to be!
Happy Gardening!
Camo

[danwigz]

I started to keep one this year, which reminds me I need to put in an update!
When you've got so many varieties, its the only way to be sure you remember what you liked and what worked, what didn't, to know when pests hit, what diseases to watch out for, etc.

I also keep my "want to grow" list in my garden journal. The want to grow list keeps growing the more I read on this site.

Danwigz

[discrepancy]

When your memory resembles a sieve like mine does, you need to keep a journal. I wouldn't know when I sprayed last, or what fertilizers I've used, or when.

I keep track of what pesticides/fungicides I've used, when, the temperature, whether or not there's been blossom drop, pests seen, pretty much anything I do or observe gets written down.

[ubergoober]

Thank you so much....I must show him this thread now lol.

I have started to write down my "must try" list as well.

[rxkeith]

i keep a log of what i start each year with the peppers, and tomatoes, and germination rates, a little note which ones to save seeds of. i don't get too detailed due to laziness. i also chart how everything is planted in the garden, so i know whats what. i do that primarily with the tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and now pole beans. i have a dozen different varieties of pole beans planted this year. also charted are the 19 tater tubers from tom wagner this year.
a journal is a good idea, and can be as detailed as you want it to be.


keith

[nctomatoman]

I actually now manage three information sources each year....starting with what becomes a stained, tattered spiral notebook with all of the seed starting details - vial numbers, germination dates and seedling number, leaf shape and color (for hot peppers), drawings of garden layouts. Once things are going, I then keep an excel spreadsheet as my annual garden log, with locations, plant and pick dates (so days to maturity from transplant), color, size, shape and flavor, then columns with observations (I use a small hand held voice recorder as I walk through my gardens, then transcribe into the Excels). I take photos of the research projects, and name the pictures cross referenced to the Excel plant number and date.....finally, I decided this year to essentially live blog what is going on any particular day - here. http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/nctoma...rden-blog.html

This year I also started doing some Flip Videos of techniques, activities and observations.

So, it is quite the hobby...takes up a good bit of time, and I treat it like an annual project.

[kath]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

I actually now manage three information sources each year....starting with what becomes a stained, tattered spiral notebook with all of the seed starting details - vial numbers, germination dates and seedling number, leaf shape and color (for hot peppers), drawings of garden layouts. Once things are going, I then keep an excel spreadsheet as my annual garden log, with locations, plant and pick dates (so days to maturity from transplant), color, size, shape and flavor, then columns with observations (I use a small hand held voice recorder as I walk through my gardens, then transcribe into the Excels). I take photos of the research projects, and name the pictures cross referenced to the Excel plant number and date.....finally, I decided this year to essentially live blog what is going on any particular day - here. http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/nctoma...rden-blog.html

This year I also started doing some Flip Videos of techniques, activities and observations.

So, it is quite the hobby...takes up a good bit of time, and I treat it like an annual project.

This may be the only post you need to show your husband, ubergoober!

[nctomatoman]

Good one, Kath! Actually, either my wife thinks I am sane (from her point of view)...or, she has adjusted to my oddities....or, she is odd as I am (but about her particular stuff, such as her endless ongoing quilting and knitting projects and infinite fabric collection!)

[kath]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

Good one, Kath!

You're a good sport! Actually, I admire both your dedication and your ability to organize and track all of those details-very scientific and completely necessary for research projects. You're amassing valuable data for future tomato breeders/enthusiasts. If I find it amazing, imagine the look on ubergoober's husband's face when she shares it with him!

[Dak]

I'm using a site, plangarden.com to track my veggies. They offer a 45 day trial, then it's $20 a year. Works for me.

[feldon30]

I take hundreds of photos, and transfer them to the computer in such a way that the date/time info is saved.

It's not as good as a diary, but at least I get some date information I can refer back to.

I do print out a chart of my varieties and count tomatoes every few days. I know that sounds nuts, but it's useful data for me. I've got 4 years of counting # of tomatoes per plant and on what day the fruit set.

[TomNJ]

I keep a rather detailed spreadsheet each year with tabs for the garden plan, garden map, garden log, yields, and canning batch details. The garden log has entries every few days covering dates for things like seeding, germination, transplants, fertilization, first fruit, and first ripe, as well as many observations on plant size & health, weather, etc.

I have attached last year's spreadsheet - it may have lost some formatting from translation from Lotus to Excel.

As I pick tomatoes I fill in another spreadsheet showing the number of tomatoes and their weight for each variety each week.

Yes I know I'm a bit anal, but that happens when a scientist retires.

TomNJ