Get organized with this garden planner

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.”