It comes as no surprise that surrounding yourself with plants and lushness of foliage truly is food for the soul…

The addition of beautiful green spaces both inside and outside of your home, is a common way to sooth and relax your mind and help to bring a sense of calm into our busy lives. In addition to being surrounding by plants and spurts of natural bliss, there is a new coming of age in the wonderful world of planting and gardening. 

Seen mostly as an activity for those with time and space to spare, the tending of plants is now a mindfulness activity that everyone should look to fit to help bring peace in busy moments. There is also abundant health and overall wellbeing benefits to being around plants and having them in your space including aesthetics, cleaner air and the incorporation of the colour green to bring peace and harmony. 

So now that you have some plants and are (hopefully!) able to keep them vibrant and blooming, creating and keeping a plant journal is a wonderful way to track and document your greening progress. A specific plant journal will help you to record important tips, tricks and gardening aspirations you have along the way.

Here are a few of our ideas to help start and keep a useful plant journal to accompany the greening around you.

Use your plant journal to record not just the boring bits but also the fun experiences like new seeing your plants grow and mature, the adaption you see when plants make a new home, the warm feeling you get from seeing that first bloom open, and the calmness achieved from surrounding yourself with greenery.

Get a journal that fits the task

As there are many aspects to keeping plants like watering, feeding, re-potting and pruning, it’s important to have a journal that allows you to write down observations as well as sketch out designs, draw different foliage and plan plant arrangements together. Look for a mixed page format journal that allows your creativity to run free as well as compiling everything you need in the right place. 

Start with the seasons

Your plants and their needs will change between seasons so start by documenting seasonal routines as a way to categorise and organise your thoughts. Using seasons as markers is a fantastic way to record changes in sunlight, moisture, fertilising options, blooms, the emergence of new growth and even when everything just needs a good prune. By taking down all these more regimented details, you are able to record everything in your own words and with a routine that is familiar to you. 

It’s important to have a journal that allows you to write down observations as well as sketch out designs, draw different foliage and plan plant arrangements together.

Don’t forget to record your mistakes

No matter what sort of plants you might be growing, the reality is not all your little green friends will make it. Whether it is due to lack of watering (in Australia, an educated guess would say its most probably this), lack of nutrients, bad positioning, not enough space or just old age, an important part of your plant journey is to understand and record your mistakes. This is done in high hopes that your brown thumb doesn’t strike twice!

Have fun and do it for you

Keeping a journal of any kind is a personal and enlightening experience and this is certainly no different. Use your plant journal to record not just the boring bits (see tips above) but also the fun experiences like new seeing your plants grow and mature, the adaption you see when plants make a new home, the warm feeling you get from seeing that first bloom open, and the calmness achieved from surrounding yourself with greenery.

Use your journal to design your space, draw foliage patterns and preserve the colours of changing seasons. It’s a place to write, jot, sketch, plot and scratch away with only you able to translate it all together. Enjoy your gardening and ensure that your plant journaling is a true reflection of the joy that comes from this most wonderful hobby. It is with this enjoyment that the longevity of your plant journal will live on. 

Shop the Notely Plant Journal and start documenting your plants today!