God’s garden girls + garden planner pages

feb garden girl

“The flowers appear on the earth. The time of singing of birds has come!”

Song of Solomon 2:12

{don't miss the journal download at the end of the post!}

The smell of emerging green surrounded me

I breathed deeply, inhaling its heady scent, and thanking God for the beautiful day, I continued my walk. Each year around this time, as the sun begins to warm the earth and we are blessed with the occasional faux spring day, I begin to dream about growing things.

Gardeners all do!

We imagine the myriad of plants that we can fit into our growing space allotment, and then hunt for seeds and seedlings to get us started. The garden centers have had seed packets out for over a month now, and I have already begun collecting some to add to my “gathered seeds” from last year’s veggie crop and flower heads. I adore looking through seed catalogs to see the beautiful colors, of both food and flowers, displayed in all their God given glory.

mmmmmm…..spring

by far my favorite time of year! Flowers emerge from their winter slumber, and the trees fill with the sound of birds. It is time! So, as I sit and plan this year’s bounty (God willing) I decide to be a bit more organized than usual.

this year will be different

this year I will be proactive

this year I will implement a plan

and what better way to do that than to write in a garden journal! This is a great way to take note of what is happening in your garden in each season. It will assist you in making sure that there is something interesting to look at year ’round, or that there is food for the creatures that you want to attract to your humble abode.

Here are a few things that I like to put in my garden journal:

Plants I’d like to add (I seem to remember wanting to plant something else here last year…what was that now?)

documenting conditions in particular areas (can I grow roses here?)

Color coordinating choices for the birds and bees (how can I bring more of the good beneficial things to my garden?)

Without fail, if I do not write it all down, those thoughts from last year’s wanderings through my garden, are gone. I can’t remember which plants needed to be replaced, or which ones thrived once  I moved them.  So, in an effort to have the best garden yet, I am putting together a journal to take with me on my travels, to note changes and reflections, to paste pictures of successes and ideas for improvement.  I can seal up seeds gathered in envelopes, then pasted to the pages for sprinkling next year in areas that need a little color.

Here are a few ideas to make your journal sing:

  • Take a picture once a month and staple it to a page in your journal. This will show you what is going on in that area and remind you of where to make needed improvements. Do this even in the winter. You will see where you might need some foundation plantings or evergreens, so that the landscape doesn’t look so stark.
  • use watercolor pencils or crayons to shade in areas of your beds. Use colors that are close to the actual flower or vegetable colors. Vegetable gardens can be beautiful too! Seeing the color scheme all laid out can give you an emotional boost!
  • Walk in your garden at all times of day. Take note of when the sun appears in each area and how long it lasts. This will aid in choosing which plants to add to a particular area.
  • Test your soil. This doesn’t necessarily have to be an official soil test by the state, unless you want to grow picky plants that require specific types. I just like to do a squeeze test. You want the soil to stick together, but not so much that it dries into an un-penetrable rock. Mildly crumbly works best for most plants. I also dig my hand in to see how far down the soil is loose. If you are finding that you need to dig with a shovel instead of your hand, you may need to add some leaf mold or compost.  I typically use very small shredded bark each year to mulch the bed (4-6 inches the first year, and 1 inch thereafter) In the spring I turn in the mulch and top with another inch.  As the year progresses, the small pieces break down, helping tremendously with the drainage and weed suffocation.

As an added bonus today, we have a journal pages download for you. Print these pages off and slide them into a binder, or even a notebook. Each page is 8 1/2 x 11, but you can print them any size you like. Simply edit in the print manager of your print software…or select fit-to-page.

This is what is included:

 

and 12 monthly dividers:

download the pdf’s here-

cover: garden journal cover

inner pages: garden pages

monthly dividers: monthly page dividers

For the seeds page, you can either fold up the bottom to create a pocket, or glue in some envelopes, label and fill. I also suggest putting the pages into a 3-ring binder so that you can add pages as needed, and even keep new journals together from year to year.

Enjoy your garden planning and being God’s garden girls!! (or guys :)

Soli Deo Gloria!

Tags: garden beds, garden journal, garden journal download, garden planning, gardeners, God's garden girls, plant planning

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