Confessions of a Bumbling Gardener 2.0

I have a confession. I am a mess. Not only is my garden a mess right now, but my house is a mess. I have order invoices, seed packets, gardening books, notepads, spreadsheets all over the house--I have yet to find the Blue Spice Basil from Baker Creak that I misplaced (no worry dear reader, with their free shipping I ordered another). Add in all the seed starting paraphenalia I've collected over these past six months and I could easily be mistaken for a gardening hoarder.

Seed addiction is real. That's a major part of the problem. I keep saying, I'm done now for the season; then I read or watch a video and the overwhelming urge to place another order takes over. If I was totally honest with myself, I know, logically, there is no way I could plant all these seeds--I don't have the time or the room! I will say this. Other than a few new varieties, bulbs, and filler flowers, I will not be purchasing any seeds next year. All joking aside, I have got to get a handle on it. The first step was getting organized so I could see everything all in one place. I have a lovely seed organization box and spent the morning getting all the new deliveries sorted and filed. Not gonna lie... there was some guilt attached to seeing the end result. I reminded myself that many of the flowers I hope to grow will be given away. It made the seed glut a bit more palatable.

Another area to be addressed is garden plans and journals. Another confession. Last year, someone at school shared something called a Happy Planner with me. Oh dear reader, I caution you now, do NOT go down that rabbit hole. I was so excited about the Happy Planner that I bought friends and family a Happy Planner--You get a Happy Planner, You get a Happy Planner, You get a Happy Planner... etc. Each Happy Planner came with ions of accessories that go with... chaching chaching.

Admittedly, I had a ball shopping for this stuff... spent endless hours pouring over the many sticker books... this was just the ticket to get my life organized. I meticulously planned out the first month with coordinated stickers. I carried my Happy Planner with me every day for a month. Unfortunately, my Happy Planner ended up as coaster...collecting dust and water rings. It was just too much effort to keep it up. I would rather be doing the stuff in the planner than logging it into the planner. So... again... I'm embarassed to say, I have a lovely decorative box filled with the results of my temporary Happy Planner insanity.

What have I learned? I need simple. So for the micro vegetable and cut flower garden I'm planning this year, I'm going to stick with three components.

1. Spreadsheet to keep track of my seeds--varieties, planting times, days to germination, height, etc.

2. Log book to keep notes out in the field (kinda sounds like I'm going to be on a multi acre farm taking copious notes... friend... I'm going to be 10 steps from my backdoor--I could just go to my computer, however, I still have a bit of old school in me and like the idea of making handwritten notes in a journal). I found this lovely gardener's logbook on Amazon (affiliate link below). Late one night I was watching some gardening YouTube videos and someone (sorry can't remember who) recommended it. It's so pretty...covered in flowers how could I resist? The pages are laid out simply and include a spot for key information--plant name, supplier, cost, date germinated, date planted, etc. There's a place for notes and a leaf rating system from 1-5.

3. Folder with all my gardening plans, sketches, and invoices. I was using an app on Gardener's Supply to help plan some beds, but they are renovating their site and it went away. If anyone knows of some good (low cost) garden planning software give me a holler. I need something easy and quick.

Through the years, many "hobbies" have come and gone--I have boxes and a craft room/office filled with the evidence, but at the end of the day, the one hobby I have continued to pursue is gardening. Who needs flower stickers when you can grow the real thing? Ahh... confession IS good for the soul. Thank you for letting me unload! Happy gardening from the Bumbling Gardener!