Log in Subscribe

Write it Down...

Jim Boxberger - Correspondent
Posted 10/22/19

With October almost to an end, now is a good time to look back on the year and make notes as to what worked well in the garden and what didn't. Of course making a mental note will probably be …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Write it Down...

Posted

With October almost to an end, now is a good time to look back on the year and make notes as to what worked well in the garden and what didn't. Of course making a mental note will probably be forgotten by next week and, if you just write some notes in a notebook or on scrap paper, they probably won't last a month in the junk drawer before they are thrown out.

I suggest keeping a gardener's journal, a diary of temperatures, rainfall, insect and disease problems. Having something to look back on will help in years to come. What year was the last big gypsy moth caterpillar outbreak or just how many japanese beetle traps you bought last year. For years my grandfather had calendars where he would write the temperature at 7 am at his house in Liberty, and he would get a call from his brother-in-law with the temperature in Briscoe as well.

These calendars stretched from the mid 1950's into the 1980's and looking back through them you can see patterns in the weather, just like the cold spring we had this year. With the colder spring weather my grandfather would plant more cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts and other cold crop vegetables that didn't mind the cold weather.

He would start other vegetables like tomatoes and peppers indoor in peat pots and only plant them outside when the threat of frost was long gone. He didn't just guess at when that would be, he would look back at past years and compare temperature patterns. Okay so this wasn't a perfect system, but it helped to make a much more educated decision on what and when to plant.

If you start a journal write about everything at first, after a few years you will be able to pick through the data to see what is really important. I keep a journal of the weather at the store which comes in handy when some years sales seem to be through the roof and then I look back and we had a snowstorm on Thanksgiving Day and had a stellar Black Friday.

Also between October seventh and the tenth try to avoid traveling east bound on route 17B between 7 am and 7:20 am near Maplewood, the reason is that if it is a sunny day the sun rises directly over the center yellow line and will blind you driving directly into it as you rise the knoll. Likewise you might have a great year for cucumbers one year and practically none the next. If you can go back and look at differences in the rainfall and temperature you might be able to better prepare for years to come.

There are also lots of other useful tidbits that can be added to the journal, like remembering to plant your corn where your pea and beans were planted last year. Why? Because peas and beans are nitrogen fixing legumes that leave more nitrogen in the soil than before they were planted, and the corn will need that nitrogen to grow.

It's important to write it down because you think you'll remember, but you never do. Likewise it is easier to figure what type of shrub you can plant in an area that only gets four hours of sunlight a day, when you can actually remember that spot only gets four hours of sunlight a day. Make notes on pruning, harvesting, planting, watering, etc..... You name it, now write it down!

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here