A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by a local nursery/garden center that is just a stone’s throw from my house. I’ve driven by it often and wanted to stop in, but I knew I wasn’t ready for planting until after the roof was replaced and the exterior painting was done. We finished priming and painting the front and “garage side” last fall, so I was ready to do some planting as soon as spring started to emerge. I knew I wouldn’t be able to tackle the landscape in the front of the house all at once, but I wanted to get a good start on the foundation bushes on the front of each “wing” of the house and get the beds in front of the porch prepped and tarped. I’ll explain the area in front of the porch more as I share about the work I’m doing, but that section has bishop’s weed and also needs to be graded. In addition, we’re looking into burying the gutter that sticks out into the bed. I’m feeling impatient to plant, but it would be best to tarp the area to kill off the bishop’s weed and then bring in new healthy soil next spring to start fresh. It also doesn’t make sense to do a bunch of planting only to have to dig it all up when we want to bury the gutter. This plan means waiting a year, but in the long run, I’ll be glad I waited.
Anyway, I wanted to get some sort of guidance when creating a landscaping plan for the front of the house. It is a wide house with a lot of area for planting and also that blank wall of siding. The house is not quite symmetrical, which also makes things a little tricky. I looked into some online design options, but the fees were pretty high and it involved getting a survey of the property. I didn’t mind investing in a detailed plan, but I was also concerned it might be more than I could realistically implement. When I asked about it at Lovell’s, our local nursery, the owner would come to my house and draw up a plan for $20. That seemed like a great bargain and the best option since we could also chat about what I currently have, what will do well in my soil and lighting conditions, and what he has in stock or can order for me. We had a casual conversation about the kinds of plants I liked as well as the look I wanted. I’ll share the full experience as well as the details of the plan he put together for me, but as I was trying to keep these two pieces of sketchbook paper uncrinkled, I realized I needed to start a gardening notebook.
I wanted to start one in the past, but I always got hung up on silly things like the layout of the pages, the order of the book, and how it could be a functional resource. I mean, would I need to add a table of contents and number the pages? It seemed daunting, but I realized I was overcomplicating the matter, sucking the joy out of it entirely, and making myself scared to even start. I was just taking it way too seriously as I sometimes do. So, I decided to start one and not care at all if anything is in the “right order” or if all of the bushes and perennials are in their respective “chapters.” Just chill, Marian, and make the book.
So, I got out THIS NOTEBOOK and started to put the book together. I filled it with a few inspiration photos, pictures of plants that were in Lovell’s plan as well as plants I’ve had in the past that I love and plants that are already established in our yard. It’s been such a fun project! I’ve been working on my gardening notebook in the evenings, writing down ideas, notes, things I read, or things I learned.
I’ve also been keeping all of the labels from the bushes and plants I’ve purchased to put in the gardening notebook for reference and record. I’ve been making notes about when and where they were planted and I’ll keep adding to those notes over the years. I’m also going to research each bush and plant and make notes about the best times to fertilize and when and how to prune. Reading and writing it out will help me learn and remember so I won’t have to reference my notebook as often. Just for fun, I’m even going to press cuttings and keep them in the book.
I tape the plant tags in the gardening notebook so I can flip them over and see the information on the back.
And, one of the best features of this notebook is it has an envelope in the front! I am keeping the receipts from plants guaranteed for a year so I can get a refund if they don’t make it.
This is the Ranger brand notebook that I have in several sizes and have shared before. (You can find the one I used for this gardening notebook HERE.) I customized the cover with some blue and white checked paper to Marian-ize it.
You can find a tutorial for how I customized a smaller version of this sketchbook HERE.
These notebooks have nice, thick paper, they lay flat, and they can expand as you add paper cuttings, pressed plants, and other things. It’s really perfect for something like this. The only downside is it doesn’t have lines for notes, but I can always glue in a bulleted page if I need to. I think having the pages blank is better for sketching, drawing plans, and taping in tags.
I’ll probably film a tour of my gardening notebook at the end of the season when there is more to show. Do you keep a gardening notebook or journal? Any tips?
I don’t keep a notebook on my garden, but have to stop procrastinating about it. I totally agree that it would be helpful to keep the tags and receipts together and I love how you’re adding in clippings. I’m going to order a notebook now and begin! Thank you for the inspiration, Marian.
Welcome to the world of acid gardeners! Something to consider adding to your collection is a garden diary to record weather, frosts, when seeds and plants are planted and where. Then you can add entries thru the growing season about if they met expectation and if you would plant again. When you are going thru seed/plant catalogs in winter to plan ahead for next year, you can refer back and decide what you loved or failed, if it should be planted earlier or later, or might work elsewhere in your garden or never again. Garden diaries have been around forever. And can be very helpful. You mention moving or burying the leg of the gutter. There are wonderful books about the benefits of capturing rainwater ( best source of nitrogen) from your roof and directing it to trees and bushes and plants on your property using swales, providing a stronger water table to encourage them to send roots down instead of out into the lawn or foundation. The swales can be quite beautiful as they too can be planted and will provide different levels and texture to add interest and even privacy to a flat landscape.
The person who provided you with plans at the nursery may be able to assist you with this too.
AVID is what I meant of course!!
You might consider dressing up the bishop weed spot with a container garden this summer into the fall. Small bushes and periniels fare well in pots for up to 2 years in my experience. And you can bring them up on the porch or into the garage when the wether changeds/ freezes next year…then plant them as soon as the seasons change. Just a thought if you don’t want a bare bed all summer. Natural Terracotta pots of all sizes would look great with your Green and brick colorway
I love all the suggestions and comments from your readers. I wish I’d done a garden notebook back when I had a garden. Hope to see you referring to it again in the future.
I have kept a a garden notebook for over 20years but it’s somewhat less “artistic” than yours as I have very limited drawing ability. At the end of each growing season I do a “location map” of the plantings ion each area of the garden. The map uses circles (of varying) sizes to designate specific plantings. These are numbered and below the may I identify the name of the plant, height and color.
Any planned changes for the next season are done on an overlay of tracing paper with the same notations of plant names, height, color, etc. I will also note the name and pages of any books from my own garden/plant library I have referenced.
A separate section of the notebook is used for magazine clippings of inspiration pictures; while another references other gardening books I want to check out.
I have also added several of the envelopes of varying sizes depending on the contents – seed packets, plant labels, etc. Front of the envelop[e is used to identify the nursery, store or friends garden from which the plant originated.
We recently purchased a home that has 4 raised garden beds and 10 underground containers for herbs, etc., all with drip irrigation. Exciting if you’re a gardener, terrifying if you’re not. After all of my “starts” failed to thrive, I purchased plants, and created an “Adventures in the Garden” notebook to keep me on track. (Did you know tomatoes can be “determinate” or “indeterminate” ? I sure didn’t. ) Besides all the plant details, I wrote down maturity dates for the vegetables so I’ll know when to be extra diligent. Happy planting!
I started a garden notebook, once, twice, I have lost count of how many times.
Every time I overthink and design it then abandon it because it’s too complicated to maintain with a busy family living life. Maybe someday I will create a beautiful journal of my gardening journey, but for now I put all of the tags, receipts, etc. in a pretty box in the utility room. Seeds go in another. After a couple decades of fails I decided a less than ideal system I use is better than nothing. At least I’m no longer playing find the receipt when one is needed. Thank you for such lovely inspiration!
I have kept a gardening journal for at least 20 years now. I purchase mine ready made. I love going back and reading about gardening ideas I had years ago and how they look now as fully grown. I hired a landscape architect to draw up a plan for us when we first moved into our home. We have followed that plan and added our own personal touch over the years. I love gardening and Spring is the time of year that our gardens are at their best. Gardening is something that is never done- there are always plants that need to be moved because they got too big for the space or just didn’t thrive in that location or perhaps didn’t make it through a tough winter. I never run out of ideas to try.
I know you will enjoy planning and planting your new gardens.
A gardening is an excellent suggestion and one I must implement. Was looking at your house and thought that maybe a grouping of trellises with a planting of a foundation plant might work for the section of the house to the right of the front door. An espalier might work as well.
No matter where you start or how simple your system, keep the plant labels of alI permanent shrubs or perennials you purchase. I have kept every label from permanent plantings for the 30 years we have lived in this house and pictures of the original size when planted, Recently, I did a to-scale drawing of the beds so I could draw in plant shapes. I took those labels and bed by bed numbered the shapes by type. I then typed a list of the correct botanical names from the plastic labels of the plants that were still remaining. It allowed me to reduce my gardening books to two 5″ x 8″ notebooks. My daughter will have an invaluable record of the plants, size, care, etc. when moving here from a desert location to the Pacific NW.
I love watching your progress and methods of recording your progress.
I kept a garden book of every garden I had in every country I and the kids lived. It feels almost like a dairy, as little snippets of my life are woven through it. This house is, hopefully, my last house and garden, and no moving is involved anymore. COVID gift to my work. Yesterday I was sitting under the trees and the June bugs had a party that involved my cats jumping around. The old trees, the ponds, the little squares. I am lucky to be here. I took notes in my garden book, I put the day, temperature, and occasion in it too. I now know the June bugs were a month later last year, and the frog spawn was too early. You will love it over the years. By the way, I have the same books.
You have inspired me to start a garden notebook. I always keep my plant tags but I also need a reference for pruning and fertilizing. We had to take out several overgrown trees and shrubs when we moved in so I have a lot of blank space to work with. Would you mind sharing which direction the front of your house faces? I’d like to adopt some of your plant choices if the can handle facing north. I’m also trying to convince my husband to build a similar trellis for the bare brick wall beneath our porch. I desperately want to grow some climbing roses. Thank you for all that you share!
It faces south but, in our case, the back (which is north-facing) seems to be even sunnier than the front!