THE NUTS AND THE BOLTS OF A GARDENING NOTEBOOK

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The "Seed Age" listing uses little space but provides plenty of insight into the vitality of the seeds planted. On the one hand, if t germination is poor the gardener looks at the chart and easily determines if the seed, are too old to sprout. On the other hand, the gardener may quickly decide that age is not a consideration if the seeds are relatively new. You can then contemplate other factors such as improper storage overwatering to explain poor germination.

Knowing how many plants of a particular crop were grown during previous years often proves quite valuable, especially for the home gardener with limited growing area. We grew too many spinach plants last year, but how many were there?

Likewise, maybe there was enough room for a few more broccoli plants but it's difficult to remember if we grew 10 or 12 plants. The "# Planted" column eliminates this guesswork.

The number of days to maturity and days to germination usually appear on seed packets, and you can use that useful information on the gardening notebook chart under the heading "Maturity/ Germination." Knowing the number of days to maturity for each vegetable is vital to successful garden planning. A Northern gardener, for example, knows not to purchase seeds of a melon variety that matures in 120 days because the Northern growing season will end before the melons ripen. Also, if a grower knows that a spinach variety matures in 42 days, he or she has a pretty good idea when the spinach will be harvested and when that plot will become available for planting a second crop.

The days to germination entered on the chart often puts my mind to rest when dealing with difficult-to-germinate seeds. If I plant parsley seeds and two weeks later they haven't sprouted, I don't panic. I look in my gardening notebook and see they need 18-24 days to germinate. On the other side, let's say I planted lettuce seeds a week ago and they haven't sprouted. The info in my gardening notebook indicates they should have germinated four days ago. Obviously, there's a problem and I replant that variety.

The "Date Planted" column is for recording the date that seeds of each plant variety are sown, whether indoors or outdoors. These dates aid in garden planning by providing an exact point in time that can later be referenced and future planting dates tailored to. An obvious application to such a reference concerns growing tomatoes. Most gardeners want ripe tomatoes as early as possible, earlier than the year before. Want to plant tomato seeds a week earlier than last year? Simply check your gardening notebook for the exact planting date last year and plant accordingly.

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