Your tips for recording production/journaling?

[VirginiaClay]

I've tried to keep a garden journal for the past two years, and my experience was similar to yours I think. In 2020, I managed to write in it fairly frequently through August 11, at which point I stopped cold and never went back to it. Then in 2021 I did a decent job through mid-May, took two weeks off, started up again in June, and quit on June 22, never to be heard from again. After that, there are just some random cell phone pictures of harvests.

I use small, cheap, spiral-bound memo books. Past two years were 4"x6", small enough to fit in the pocket of my shorts or in the pocket of my bag. This year I'm stepping up to 5.5 x 8 because the smaller ones are awkward to write in. I use cheap ones instead of nice journals so I don't worry about sweating on them or getting them dirty.

I draw ugly freehand diagrams of the garden to record what is planted where, and it looks like a 3-yr-old drew them, but it gets the job done. (My brother creates beautiful, color-coded diagrams of his garden in Excel, multiple ones for spring planting, 2nd planting, etc., all perfectly linear and neat and logical. I don't show him my drawings.) I note planting dates, soil prep & amendment info, fertilizing, first blossoms, first harvest dates, signs of disease, significant rain events, watering days, pests.

I try to keep track of amounts harvested but it ends up being something like "picked two trays of big tomatoes and one tray of romas & cherries." I can't figure out how people are able to track specific numbers and weights of the tomatoes they pick, when they grow multiple varieties. Do you carry a scale into the garden and record weights/names/numbers as you pick? Do you mark a variety code and a plant number on each tomato with a Sharpie and weigh them later? Do you have a paid assistant? I tried the Sharpie method and it took three times as long to pick the tomatoes that way, not what I want in mid-summer when it's a billion degrees out there.

Still, third time's a charm, and I know this will be my year of journaling success.

[HastingsMN]

Originally Posted by VirginiaClay

I try to keep track of amounts harvested but it ends up being something like "picked two trays of big tomatoes and one tray of romas & cherries." I can't figure out how people are able to track specific numbers and weights of the tomatoes they pick, when they grow multiple varieties. Do you carry a scale into the garden and record weights/names/numbers as you pick? Do you mark a variety code and a plant number on each tomato with a Sharpie and weigh them later? Do you have a paid assistant? I tried the Sharpie method and it took three times as long to pick the tomatoes that way, not what I want in mid-summer when it's a billion degrees out there.

Still, third time's a charm, and I know this will be my year of journaling success.

Yes, it's this bit that I have trouble figuring how I will do it. I have about 20-25 plants (and I do the ugly freehand drawing too which is handy when the labels get lost under the mulch!). The first few to fruit get more attention paid to them, but by the beginning of September -- and some of my favorites aren't ready till then -- it's a rush before or after work, and it's 87 degrees and humid, and all the buckets are already full on the deck, so I have to find some boxes to take produce to share at work or the food shelf.

I do like the Sharpie idea, I mark the ones I'm going to use for seed. I don't do it for all of them because I give away so many, and I think people might not like ones with marker on them. Maybe I could go to the dollar store and do a color=coded bucket arrangement.