From recording the placement of bulbs and the amount of rainfall to corralling ideas and inspiration, agronomist and horticulturalist Eddie Seagle, who writes a gardening column in the Albany (Georgia) Herald, suggests landscapers use technology to keep digital gardening journals.
Eddie SeaglePhoto: AlbanyHerald.com
Doing so, he writes, will enable you to “to better improve how you design and maintain your landscape sites. If not recorded, then the potential for loss of such information is greater and makes your landscaping efforts more difficult!”
Seagle tells readers of the Albany Herald to use a digital camera (including smart phones) as a way to record anything from placement of plants and flowers to the appearance of weeds and insects. He suggests keeping the following information organized on a hard drive:
- Bulb orders: when you ordered, from whom and if there were any damaged bulbs.
- Flowering: refer to your notes from one year to the next to ensure color throughout the season.
- Planting: the placement of bulbs, along with plot diagrams can inform future choices.
- Pruning: what was done and when, including photos.
- Pesticides: note the name of the product and observations about its effectiveness.
- Seasonal inspiration: note areas that need a splash of color during the spring, for instance, so you remember to order and plant flowers the following year.
- Soil amendments and fertilizer: this includes the date, rate of application, equipment used, soil test results and observations.
- Weather conditions: this includes things like the date of the first and last frosts, precipitation amounts and unusual weather patterns.
- Resources: articles, notes, websites, newspaper clippings.
