Book Review: Three-Year Gardener’s Gratitude Journal

Whenever I review a garden book, my goal is to share a good source to learn from. It might be about growing vegetables, propagating plants, landscape design ideas, or cool DIY projects.

This time, I’ve found something to help you learn from yourself. I’m referring to the Three Year Gardener’s Gratitude Journal from Chelsie Anderson and Donna Balzer.

I love the idea of a three-year journal! It’s an excellent way to learn from our successes and occasional mistakes. You’ll also discover growing and planting patterns to help us schedule our gardening tasks correctly.

As the authors write, “Unless you are tracking your success, you are only guessing about the effects of global warming, results from amending your soil, or better yields from new plants. Tracking what you do, by observing it now, will shape success later.”

Each month starts with two pages to record things like what you like about the month. You can also list seeds you’re starting, or goals for the month or season. Perhaps a favorite smell in the garden, what you’re harvesting, critters you might be dealing with, and so on.

Then the authors break down each month by day. There’s a slot for notes for each day over a three-year period (see photo at right). What a great way to compare what’s happening year after year, and side by side! This is an excellent way to look for patterns, weather variations, good timing to prune or harvest, etc.

Also included in each month are four “Garden Good News Stories” written by the authors. Examples of the wide-ranging topics are making realistic garden resolutions, growing asparagus, building your soil, and a funny tale about the use of a “tiger torch” to eliminate garden weeds.

Wouldn’t it be fun to go together with some gardening buddies by each getting this book, making a pact to keep up on your entries, and then getting together each month to share what you’ve written and learned?

I’ve long maintained the importance of keeping a journal and feel the Three Year Gardener’s Gratitude Journal allows us to take it to the next level by helping us be more observant and appreciative for all our gardens give us.

This journal is available directly from DonnaBalzer.com and from Amazon.com. Those who order from the author will receive a sheet of charmingly-drawn stickers (see photo) to call attention to things like later or early frosts, the first tomato, insects that are “bugging me,” great ideas, and good work accomplished in the garden.