Customer Reviews

The New Three-Year Garden Journal: With Regional Gardening Guides

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great book. There is plenty of space provided for you to write about your garden for every week of the year. It is also very informative. It gives specific info. for every zone in many different gardening topics for every month. And it has a special topic it goes into depth for for every month of the year. There are beautiful photographs throughout the entire book. It also has graph pages for designing gardens. I have recommended this book to quite a few friends who have loved it.

As an experienced gardener, I've used a number of journals over the years. This one ranks among the best for utility and beauty. There are a number of full color photos scattered throughout, along with (loosely) season-specific design guides: Designing with Vegetables in summer, Designing with Houseplants in winter, etc. The back of the book also includes garden maintenance information on pruning, winter protection, propagation, and other areas. None of this maintenance information is especially new or comprehensive, but it's handy to have as a quick reference. There are also blank graphing pages throughout for your own design ideas.

The real value in this book for me is in the week-by-week "to-do" lists for each region and in the many blank lines for my notes. For example, in the second week of October in the mid-Atlantic, the book advises that you prune and fasten climbing plants against wind damage and take hardwood cuttings to increase plant stock. These to-do lists are great reminders for when to fertilize the lawn, prune woody plants, plant peas and lettuce, etc.

Each week also has three columns of blank lines for your notes, with a blank header line to fill in the year. This layout is especially appealing to me, as I may use all three columns the first week of January to lay out my design ideas one year, but I still have three weeks of note space left for the following years' January notes. During growing season, I use only one column per week to track weather, pests, and so on.

The only gripe I have about this book is that while it is spiral-bound to lie flat, it's not possible to fold in back on itself like most spiral notebooks. It's also a fairly large book so you pretty much need to lie it flat on a table to be comfortable writing in it -- or at least I do. If it folded on itself, it would be a lot easier to take notes with the book resting in my lap in the garden.

Otherwise, highly recommended.

While there are wonderful photos and a very nice layout in the book, the regional gardening guide completely omits the Upper Midwest. I was very disappointed because the growing conditions in places like Minnesota, Wisconson, Iowa and Illinois are not represented. I would also conclude if you live in places like Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, you may also be disappointed because those climates and growing conditions are also not represented. While one could follow the regional guides for the Plains, Mid South or the Northest in these areas, omiting these regions really is not acceptable. For about a third of the country, this is not a good choice for a garden journal.

This is the beginning of my tenth year using this book. It is very convenient to look back and see where the garden is in relation to past years. It is especially fun in an unusual year like this one, when winter hasn't seem to arrive yet, though it is nearly February. When and if it comes it will be much shorter than usual. I use the book to record rain totals, bloom times, maintenance issues and to put reminders for next year where I will notice them in time. The book binding and pages hold together very nicely for the three years, despite some dirt and water from the garden, and many repeated openings and closings.

This book gives a column for each week and a grid map for each month and that is all. There is no space alloted for email addresses, nursery listings, plans, etc. Despite being spiral bound, the book will not bend enough to make it comfortable to write on the left side. It does give plenty of information, but it is really a gardening book not a gardening journal. Those of us who make copious notes are out of luck. A cheap notebook from the grocery store would have been better.

I have just ordered my eighth copy of this 3 year journal. My first entry was Jan. 1990. I keep receipts from purchases stapled to the pages and make notes of hints I learn. I also make note of plants that have failed, therefore it is a wonderful resource for my gardening years. Each year I can look back and see what needs to be done.

This is a beautiful journal. It's well made and thoughtfully designed. I just get so bogged down in my many duties and responsibilities that I forget, or don't have time, to do any journal entries. For those who are more organized than I am, this is a beautiful way to keep track of what you did and when you did it in the garden and/or greenhouse. My fear is that the end of the three years will come and I will have failed to use it.

This journal makes you smile from the first look at the happy cover. It is a great journal for the gardener at any level. I would have to say the only thing I would like see in the future is a section geared more for Alaska. The Northwest Section is too vague this locale. Other wise I would suggest it to anyone.