Sacramento gardener creates notebook to make detailed record-keeping simpler
Rena Rodgers of Sacramento designed this Garden Planner & Notebook and included all kinds of information especially useful to the beginning gardener. Courtesy Rena Rodgers
Have your New Year’s garden resolutions gotten sidetracked? This handy planner will get you back on track – just in time for planning your spring and summer gardens.
“Garden Planner & Notebook,” created and self-published by Sacramento gardener Rena Rodgers, lets gardeners compile up to five years' worth of observations and important information in one place. This attractive 150-page paperback is generously sized – 8-1/2 by 11 inches – with wide spaced lines (enough room to actually write more than a few words). And the price is right: $12.99 plus tax and shipping via Amazon.
Well organized, the planner takes both novice and experienced gardeners through the seasonal process: Accessing your resources (including setting budgets for money and time), deciding what to plant (what are your family’s favorite vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers?), creating a general overview for the year and mapping out garden layouts.
There are also plenty of pages for to-do lists and invaluable plant-by-plant planting records, requesting information that could play a huge role in gardening success. Besides planting date and expected harvest, it prompts details on weather (average high and low temperatures on planting date), if the plant was grown from seed or transplant and other information you wish you had written down.
There are logs for harvest, pests and disease (including treatment) and fertilization plus plenty of room for random thoughts. It’s the kind of planner that inspires action and observation.
Before getting into the note-taking, this planner features helpful reminders to consider before digging in, such as hardiness zones, soil health (have you tested your backyard’s pH lately?), companion planting and “Gardening Golden Rules” (such as “Sunlight is the lifeblood of your garden” and “Water is vital for all living things”). The information is pretty basic, but solid, especially if starting a garden from scratch.
Gardening for relaxation, Rodgers used her own experience to create the planner she wished she had when she started her hobby. She uses her own planner now and says it has helped her stay focused and keep her vegetable garden on track.
“Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just starting your green-thumb journey, the ‘Garden Planner & Notebook’ is your essential companion for cultivating a beautiful and productive garden year after year,” Rodgers says in her introduction. “This comprehensive 5-year planner is designed to help you organize, track, and grow your garden with ease and confidence.”
“Garden Planner & Notebook” is available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Garden-Planner-Notebook-Planning-Reflecting/dp/B0DH8G1DK8
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Flowers in My Back Yard Series
May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens
May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend
April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look
April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower
April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact
April 7: Calendulas do double duty
April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come
March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)
March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots
March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums
March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come
March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy
Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?
Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come
Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers
Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses
Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?
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Garden checklist for week of May 10
Take it easy during that high heat – then get to work! Your garden is calling.
* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.
* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.
Contact Us
Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com
Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening
WINTER
Is edible gardening possible indoors?
Hints for choosing tomato seeds
Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees
When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
How to squeeze more food into less space
Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Win the weed war by tackling them in winter
Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables
Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
Ways to win the fight against weeds
FALL
Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden
Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it
Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come
Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying
Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
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