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UGH!!! The pitfalls of not labeling or taking notes
judsoncarroll4
Posts: 3,017 admin
Something has been growing very well in the garden... it was small and I thought it was an herb.... Gosh, it seemed to be the most bland herb imaginable!.. I kept pinching off the tops and tasting, hoping for an identifiable flavor... I finally realized, it was not an herb.. it was lentils!
Comments
I always think I'll remember stuff. I am so often so wrong. Thanks for sharing this reminder to take good notes.
At least you started out with known items. I am in the process of letting my weeds go so I can identify the weeds and plants that grow in my new area of the world. I have full sized posters to help me identify endangered wildflowers.
I am only hand weeding known noxious weeds. I am also developing areas of native wildflowers.
The neighbors volunteered to share their weed killing services, do you think that was a hint?
No glyphosate for me or the wildlife on this plot, thanks anyway.
The crazy thing is that I've grown lentils before - now, I look at them and am amazed I didn't recognize them!
@judsoncarroll4 you are not alone in this. I ordered elderberry plants (Bob Gordon variety) this winter. When they came I looked at them thinking I have seen these before. They finally got big enough to plant in their forever home and it struck me. Yep, I had done everything I could to get rid of this shrub looking thing at the side of the deck but a little bit had survived my two-year long attack on it. *palm smack to forehead
I’m right there with you! I bought a root herb from a nursery I had not seen in nurseries before but I use regularly and was excited to have one! It’s not ginger or tumeric. Idk what it is! And my nursery is closed due to covid-19. So I guess I will just let it grow...
I hate it when we do this. Every year I have had great plans for tracking everything including the weather. That way we would know what caused any issues or if there was a bumper crop what contributed. It works great for a couple weeks. Then we get busy, and miss a couple days here and a couple there and pretty soon we have quit completely. Same thing with our chickens, both the layers and the meat birds. We plan to track conditions that cause them to slow down or stop laying and so on. We might get how many eggs they laid, but weather, feed costs or changes and so on always gets lost through the season.
I agree... the best laid plans... Well, I definitely put this garden together more haphazardly than I otherwise would. Next year, I plan to keep a small notebook in my pocket so I can write things down as I plant them, just numbering the rows or beds in my notes. Ditto on all the other things that go into good gardening.
I bought a box (1000, I think!) of little wooden ice cream spoons- the flat ones that look like paddles. I always carry a pocketful around with me along with a Sharpie so I can label as I go. My daughter has helpfully pointed out that they look like little tombstones.
I can hardly remember my own name some days, but that innate optimism always kicks in and I think- oh, I’ll remember...
This brings up a question--what are you using to mark your perennial plants? I've tried several things but after a year the labels are gone. I've tried Sharpie, indelible pens, plastic, wood...Nothing lasts beyond the first year. (Of course I could write it all down and keep a journal, but that never seems to happen...)
@Melissa Swartz I've wondered about those nice markers they have at botanical gardens. I imagine they are expensive, but surely worth a bit to have them permanently identified. I haven't found where to get those yet. But here's a video of one way to do it.
Thomas Jefferson did it with the very basic resources of his times.... if you read his horticultural journals... well, never mind... the average American with a graduate degree is not as educated as a 5th grader in Jefferson's time... so most cannot understand anything he wrote.
I have to label every single plant, even the dups, or this happens.
@Mary Linda Bittle Thanks for the video--I would never have thought of using those materials for plant labels. Very helpful!