Quarter IV – Module 7

CLEAN-UP ON
COMPLETION
OF
KENNEDY B. SADORRA JHS Teacher III 1
Quarter IV – Module 7

GARDEN PLANTING
LOG
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Introduction
• Accurate records are essential to maintain the value
of the living plant collections. Plant documentation
staff should keep tabs on all plant material arriving
and leaving the garden and conduct annual
inventory of collections to ensure accuracy.

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• It is important to keep records to evaluate what
varieties and techniques work the best. A garden
planting log is a valuable tool for evaluating which
plant varieties are producing quickly and efficiently
versus those that are not.
• It is good to start using varieties and processes that
produce the best taste and yield, in the fastest –
most efficient manner possible.

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GARDEN PLANTING LOG
• Here is a sample of an Excel garden planting log,
where you can record all the pertinent information
on what gets planted, where it’s started, how long it
takes to germinate, etc.

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 HOW TO USE THE GARDEN
PLANTING LOG

• CROP & VARIETY (COLUMN 1)

Record not only the crop but the specific variety to
evaluate which yield, taste, and perform the best.
The only way to do this reliably is to track all the
crops from year-to-year.

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DATE PLANTED (COLUMN 2)
• This is to record when seeds were started indoors
or in the garden and it’s used to estimate when
harvest will occur, as well as how long each variety
takes to yield. It’s also important in determining
how early spring planting can be done next year.

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 SOIL BLOCK SIZE/SPACING USED
(COLUMN 3, 7, & 10)
• Record what size soil block seeds were started in or what
plant spacing was used in the garden. This column is
repeated in the log to accommodate transplanting mini-
soil blocks into larger soil blocks and transplanting into
the garden. This information is used to evaluate what the
best method and spacing is for starting, transplanting,
and growing each crop.

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NUMBER (COLUMN 4, 8, & 11)
• Identify the number of seeds/plants that are being
started or transplanted. This information is used to
determine which varieties germinate and transplant
best, and eventually which varieties provide the
greatest yield.

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GERMINATION DATE (COLUMN 5)
• This is to record the date that the seeds germinate.
The “days to maturity” given on seed packets do
not usually include the span from seeding date to
germination date; so this information is useful in
determining the true span from planting to
harvesting.

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DATE TRANSPLANTED (COLUMN 6 & 9)
• Identify the date that seedlings are transplanted into
larger soil blocks or into the garden. This column is
repeated in the log to accommodate transplanting
from smaller to larger soil blocks, and into the
garden.

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DAYS TO MATURITY (12)
• This is for the “days-to-maturity” information
from the seed packet. This information is used to
estimate the harvest date.

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INITIAL HARVEST DATE ESTIMATE (13)
• Record the day when the harvest is estimated to
begin based on the germination date plus the “days-
to-maturity” from the seed packet. This information
is also helpful in planning when additional garden
space will be available for new plantings.

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ACTUAL INITIAL HARVEST DATE (14)
• This is to record when harvest actually began and
is useful in planning the actual dates for starting
seedlings in subsequent years.

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NOTES (COLUMN 15)
• Of course, notes in the garden planting log are
where to record observations you
make throughout the growing season for each
variety.

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 • SAMPLE OF A HOME GARDEN REPORT
Home Garden Report

• Varieties, Planting Date and Size:

• identify the common names of each variety you are growing, the
approximate date it was started and the height (or some other way
to measure growth).

• Examples:
- Broccoli 10/1/2013 5 cm
- Lettuce 10/1/2013 3.5 cm
- Parsley 7 cm
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Source of Plant:
• identify from where you acquired the seed or
transplants, or where you started the seeds.
•
Examples:
- Broccoli and Parsley transplant starters purchased
at Lowes
- Lettuce started from seeds in the Urban Ag
classroom
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Growing Conditions and Timespan:
• include the following information for each variety
planting dates (when should it be planted),
Approximate days to harvest, sun needs/exposure, soil
type preferences

• Examples:
Parsley – plant September through November, harvest
in 70-90 days, prefers morning or filtered sun, prefers
well-draining soil.
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• Broccoli – plants in mid-September through
November, harvest in 45-55 days, needs filtered
to full sun, but watered well, soil with lots of
organic matter in it.

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Successes and Challenges:
• include information here describing your
experience doing this project. A response such as
“no challengers” will receive no credit.
Examples:
- The parsley keeps drying out and is slowly dying
and I do not know why, but parts
that are still green are still usable.

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• - The broccoli and the lettuce continue to grow, but
a very slow pace. I am now being more diligent
with using the organic fertilizer, but I think It will
still be quite some time before either is ready to be
harvested.

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Consumption, Use or Appreciation:
• include information here about how you are using
your plants, consuming them or appreciating them.
In other words, how are they contributing
to your quality of life?

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• Examples:
Once the broccoli and the lettuce are ready, my
family and I will eat it. We have already
started to use the parsley when we cook now. I
really enjoy taking care of these plants. I did
not realize until now how much I enjoy gardening.

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DOCUMENTING PLANTS IN YOUR GARDEN
• Royal Botanical Gardens is a museum of “living”
plants collections, which are documented in the
way that most major garden document their plants
collections.

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ACCESSIONING
• Just as people have names, addresses and phone
numbers that allow us to be found, plants are
assigned accession numbers which allows them to
be tracked throughout the garden. An 8-digit
accession number is assigned to each new addition
to our collections.

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• The first four digits indicate the year in which the
specimen was acquired by the garden and the last
four digits are assigned in sequence of acquisition.
For example, the first plant acquired in 2008 was
assigned the accession number 2008-0001.
• Once a plant is accessioned, the plant
documentation office uses 3 important tools to
track plants in the garden: Database, Mapping and
Labels.

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a. Database
• Royal Botanical Gardens is currently using Bg-
Base collections Management software to manage
living plant collections. This powerful tool allows
us to maintain accurate taxonomical information
about each plant in the collection as well as track
the location and movement of each plant
throughout the garden.

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• This helps us in our day-to-day operations by
allowing us to label and locate plants in our
collection. In addition, we can store information on
provenance, phenology, plant rarity, pests, diseases
and various other information, which can be used
for research and education.

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b. Mapping
• Since 1997, the Gardens have embarked on a
program to map and document its cultivated and
natural lands using GIS (Geographic Information
Systems) technology. This technology allows us to
maintain electronic maps of each cultivated garden
area, allowing us to locate plants quickly and
easily.

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• We continue to improve electronic mapping of our
collections and display gardens as a foundation for
future horticultural management. Much of this
work is completed by students from the Fanshawe
College GIS program.

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c. Labels
• Two types of labels are used in our cultivated
garden areas. The first is a very small, rectangular
label known as an accession tag. This tag includes
both the botanical name of the plant as well as the
accession number, providing the essential link of
the plant to the database. The second label type is a
larger display label, used to convey information to
the public.
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HOW TO READ PLANT TAGS AND
LABELS
• The plant records office at Royal Botanical
Gardens is responsible for tracking all plants in our
cultivated gardens. To do this, plants are given
accession numbers. This number links the
information held in the plant records database to
the living specimen in the garden.

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• The plant records database contains information
such as the plant provenance, nomenclature, plant
verification and plant health. This information adds
research value to each plant in the garden.

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• To ensure this link is maintained, plants at Royal
Botanical Gardens have a dual labelling system –
accession tags and plant display labels. If a tag or a
label goes missing, it is replaced as soon as
possible

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SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

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