*This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the winner, Fawn!*
It’s mid-February, cold, rainy, and snowy in many places – the perfect time to start thinking about our gardens! And that’s not completely sarcastic, because in the plans and dreams we make now, everything is perfect in our gardens – the sun shines, there are no bugs, drought, or lazy gardener (a-hem) to ruin the perfection of the garden. So I say let’s bask in it…while we can.
It’s with that thought that I bring to you Ready…Set…Garden! a series over the next month or so – until the new season “officially” starts with the opening of the Tuesday Garden Party on March 5 – that will cover lots of things we can do while we are waiting for the full-fledged season. I know there are many of you who are in the south and have been continuing to garden, but I hope you’ll placate us northerners for a bit – we’ve still gotta get our ducks in a row. You can whet our appetites by sharing all you’ve already accomplished.
I plan to write about normal things like varieties of flowers and vegetables, starting seeds, planting transplants and prepping soil and beds. I’d also like to share with you some of my favorite gardening tools, books, shrubs and plants, tips for selecting and buying them, and where to shop – and hear from you about your favorites (yeah, I’m selfishly hoping you point me to some new things).
And I’m very excited to start things off with a review and giveaway from one of our own TGP friends, Angi from SchneiderPeeps who has just released an awesome resource for gardeners, The Gardening Notebook!
The Gardening Notebook is an ebook you can buy and print out as a place to keep all your garden ideas, plans, records, and such in one place. While there are some helpful tips for growing fruits and vegetables, Angi describes the ebook as being “designed to help you keep track of the information you come across in your gardening journey, not to teach you all that you need to know about gardening.”
With that said, this book is full of printables – and I was blown away by the thoroughness of all Angi’s included! There are pages for recording the seeds you have and need to buy, a place to keep a record of the seeds you started, plants you have, and varieties you want to try. Additionally, pages at the beginning will help you determine why you garden and record the specifics of your corner of the world (like your last frost date – wouldn’t that be awesome to have in one place to refer to?) as well as create a garden plan.
But what I was thrilled to see were the individual pages for varieties of vegetables and fruits (plus blanks for herbs and ornamentals you want to remember). I LOVE this – to have one place to record the varieties of carrots, beets, or tomatoes that I want to grow – but more important to me, what I DON’T want to grow again!
If it’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that a variety that everyone else seems to love may just not work in my garden for whatever reason and I need to remember that. So underneath the tips for growing the plant, possible pests and problems that I may encounter, and how to harvest and store it, I’ve added the heading “Varieties NOT to grow again.” Perfect.
Did I mention how many vegetables and fruits that are included? There are more than 30 -from beets to plums and everything in between, plus blanks for any that aren’t listed! It’s going to be so helpful to have one spot to record my notes for the plants we grow each year, as well as to be reminded of spacing, harvest, and storage. I can see it working together with my Organic Gardening Checklist in my Gardening Binder to help keep me organized even as the season gets crazy with soil prep, planting, and harvesting.
You can click here to buy the 110-page Gardening Notebook which is 50%-off through the month of February – only $4.98 – OR you can see if you might win a copy of The Gardening Notebook that Angi is giving away to one lucky AOC reader!
No weird hoops to jump through, either, simply leave a comment telling me what gardening task you’re planning next. You can earn an extra entry by tweeting or mentioning the giveaway on Facebook or Twitter, too – just leave a separate comment with the url. And don’t delay – this giveaway ends at 10pm (PST) on February 13th!
Happy planning!
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
I’m still in the planning stages. I only have two 4 X 4 garden spaces and a couple of containers, so I want to make sure what I plant, we will eat.
I’m also in the planning stages. I had my first ever veggie garden last year, so learned a lot about what NOT to do. I love the idea of this notebook to keep a record of it all. Brilliant!
Looking forward to putting in a big garden due to a lot of land available. Would love this book.
I have been gardening for about 4 years, making all the mistakes most people do and trying to learn from them. I will be planting peas, kale, and potatoes in the next few weeks. I am planning to build a compost bin out of old pallets. I would love to have this gardening book to help me organize all the loose papers, notes, and printouts I have accumulated over the last 4 years. Thanks!!
Would love this – I hope to clear out a space this year to actually plant a garden – at least one that has more than herbs and tomatoes in it!
Thank you for the offer. Hope her sale will last until after the giveaway in case I don’t get it for free…
I just did my first winter sowing so I have 20 jugs sitting in the rain and sun in a small corner of the yard. The next thing I’m going to do is clean out my garden. I have a watering blanket covered in chickweed I need to pull up and work on. From there I should be good to go.
My next gardening task is to build/put in a new garden for herbs and flowers.
Going to start some lettuce seeds in the next day or two…..neat notebook!
I would love to win this planner. I usually do my planning on loose sheets of paper which isn’t the best method. I need to get some compost delivered for the raised beds and the flower garden. I also need to sort through my seeds and get some seeds started. Thanks for hosting this giveaway.
I would love to win this! I am ready to plan my garden!
I am ordering seeds right now and hoping to very shortly start seeds under lights to get a jump start on the season. I LOVE LOVE LOVE gardening! If I had the energy all summer I would probably have enough garden to feed several families!!
Just bought seeds to plant peas, radishes and a mix of lettuce. We’re excited to see the sun (and a few dry days)!
I’d love this planner! I’m terrible at actually planning things out… So far my plans include a respectable herb garden and tomato plants, but that’s liable to expand considerably!
Thanks to your inspiration, we hope to start seeds indoors for the first time.
This is my 3rd year of gardening and with the drought things didn’t go so well last year. My task at hand is the layout of my raised beds, and deciding which veggies I can move to pots. I’m going to do some companion planting, and hope to have some luck with that!
I have my tomato seeds ready to plant & start for my garden. I would love to win the ebook, it sounds like it would be so helpful.
This year our hobby garden gets serious, as we need to feed our family on half the income
. What a boon this notebook would be, but thanks for the inspiration to HAVE a planning notebook, no matter who wins!!
My next gardening task is buying seeds.
I’m planning a grape arbor over the walkway to our front porch. Also, expanding our garden plot again this year (4th year at our new house, and we’re working on it step-by-step). In some of the terraced beds, I’d like to expand my herb garden to include chives & cilantro this year. A garden planning e-book would be very helpful indeed to a newbie gardener like me.
You have inspired me to try some new things this year! Loved your article on how you use the black plastic to kill the weeds for spring planting! Doing that for sure! And building raised beds.
And starting seeds indoors. Im ready to get gardening! Thanks Jami!
I’m planning to expand my garden to about twice the size….still working on plans!
I only today stumbled across your site and I have to say that I really love it … excellent work. I am classified as disabled after falling through a roof several years ago so mobility at times is not good. We not so long ago, bought a property of which the gardens are a blank canvas, and I am just trying to plan it all out for a vegetable garden. This Garden Planning book would make life so much easier for this old girl and revitalise my passion for gardening once again. I have never won anything in my life but just maybe this will be a first for me.
I am working on setting up an indoor cold weather pot to help me through until spring springs. I want toplants some radishes, lettuce, spinach and I already have chives that I planted last year that came up when I brought the pot inside.
I haven’t grown a garden in the last two years. Working gets in the way!! I’m back at home this year and hope to fire up the little greenhouse and grow lots of veggie plants from seed. First on the agenda is go over the seeds I already have and purchase the ones I will need, along with some fresh seed starter soil.
This sounds great. I always say I am going to keep notes on what I do in my garden but don’t. These would make it so much easier to do.
I shared the link on my FB page too:
https://www.facebook.com/marylee.renfree
My kids and I need to start some seeds indoors soon since it is almost spring here down in the South!
If it’s February, then I must be pruning the fruit trees a little bit each day–hoping that the weather won’t turn cold again until AFTER I finish!
Here in Florida I’m in full gardening mode! Each year is a new ‘experience’ with our hot then cold (well cool) weather days.
We tilled our garden twice in the fall (it was a new patch, full of grass/weeds), but the next thing we will do is to till it again. I’m going to start some lettuce and tomato seeds indoors pretty soon.
I was just out pulling a few weeds in my raised beds today and thinking about planting some lettuce. I too am in Oregon, like you, so I want to maximize my growing times as much as possible. Just starting my list of seeds I want to start indoors under my grow lights.
I am still cleaning up fall leaves and about to trim my grapevines. My large potted elephant ear is yearning for porch time. I need patience now.
Wow, this would be great to organize all my gardening notes and plans. I look ahead to each spring and planning and planting the new garden. We get pretty tired of winter here in northern Michigan. I keep incomplete records of each years garden-failures and successes and this would help me keep everything organized and in one place
It’s been such a mild winter here in Oregon this year! I’ve done two yard posts this month already.
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First task on my list is spring clean up. The yard is a MESS! Can’t wait to uncover all the babies that are starting to peek out. So exciting!
I would love to win this, one of my goals is to be more organized about keeping track of what I grow. My next chore is starting seeds indoors!
I too would love to win this. I have 3 more (home made) tomato cages to finish. I have aprox. 178 sq. feet of above ground gardening space ready for a little more compost and fertlizer. Most of my seeds were shipped yesterday from Burpee. Last year I ran undrground PVC water lines to the garden because the garden is too far from the hose bib. I live in planting zone 9 in Texas. My cabage is still growing so I don’t want to up root them yet. I have a lot going on in my garden and I think The Gardening Notebook would help me stay organized. Happy Gardening!
I need to start my lettuce seeds!
Here in southeast Idaho we still have several feet of snow! But I love dreaming about what my garden will be like this summer. Since we have such a short growing season (about 70 days) and it gets very cold at night even in the summer, I can only plant cold hardy crops. My favorites are peas, pole beans, beets, russets, red and Yukon gold potatoes, green leaf lettuce, spinach, carrots, zucchini and strawberries!
Well, since I live in Minnesota, I am still in the thinking/planning stage. I am trying to downsize since my children are adults but it is so hard!
I have been harvesting chard leaves for salad. The parsley is just about big enough to start using. Next, I will plant some arugula. Everything is in pots so I can move them inside if it is going to freeze at night.
After 2 1/2 feet of snow last weekend, all I can muster in the way of gardening, is to remember that there is a garden under there somewhere!! Hoping to start seeds indoors next month.
I’m in the planning stages still. This weekend I will start some of my seeds indoors.
I’m direct-planting carrots, and starting my hot pepper and tomato plants inside.
Thanks for the fun!
I live in Florida and have decided to garden because of the price of produce. We are starting a container garden due to the soil here is mostly sand. This is my first year and I have high hopes to be able to be picking my own tomatoes, lettuce, peppers etc in the months to come. My 15 year old daughter is helping me. Wish us luck!
I am hoping to begin a garden this year and this would be so helpful in thinking through what I want to do and what the garden may look like.
I want to start a container garden, and love organizing things on paper, so this would be awesome!
I’m going to start some blue salvia (Victoria, I think?) indoors in the next day or two as they’re slow growers.
Thanks for the awesome opportunity!
My next step is to chart out our plant placement in our raised beds. I had that on my list for today, but it will move to tomorrow’s list.
I usually only plant mostly tomatoes and peppers for canning but I think this year I want to try some more interesting foods.
This will be season number 1 in a new apartment with a different balcony, so I am presently sketching my new plan for my container garden.