How often have you scribbled a quick note about what's happening in your garden on the back of seed packets, calendar pages, or even nifty little cards you've designed, only to lose them as swiftly? I bet you may even have bought a graph book for your designs, with the notes scribbled eligibly over the grid?

And all of this done in great faith that your stumbling upon a gardening journal, in which you could keep these scribbles, was just around the corner; a visit to the bookshop away.

It was these very erratic methods of journaling that led Barbara and Christine of the www.thegardeningblog.co.za to design a journal that they could use. Enchanted with the result they decided to make the journal available to other gardeners in similar positions of note dithering.

Designed in an annual diary month-by-month style, that isn't tied to any given year, you can pick up the journal and begin in any month.

In the journal, you will find space for:

*what's growing and blooming
notes for what you're considering planting that month
*daily gardening chores for the month in a grid on one page so that you can see everything at a glance
*observations and notes,
*a page for your shopping list
*a page for drawings or photos
*reviews of different products, nurseries or gardening books you're reading

At the end of every month follows an overview section where you can make notes in hindsight – “those pumpkins took over the vegetable patch, perhaps I should try training them over a bower next time; bad idea to try and grow jasmine against the back wall as the afternoon sun is scorching and, whilst it flowered, the leaves are dried brown.”

And the back of the journal is a dedicated plant ID section, which is where journaling can get really interesting. For every plant you put in the ground, you can note its species, variety, colour, light preference, soil requirements, medicinal and health benefits etc.

And, because one invariably ends up with gardening contact details tacked to the fridge door, there is a contact section for adding contact details of all of those people and businesses who contribute to one's gardening experience. And for those who doodle, a graph grid section for garden design.

And the ladies from the Gardening Blog not only have green fingers, but a green philosophy too. The journal is printed on eco-friendly paper, and only printed on demand so that no paper is ever wasted.

Get your copy.