Discover the delight of 'bloom-scrolling' instead of doom-scrolling, as advocated by Nigel Slater in his appreciation of maintaining a garden journal.

In the heart of a verdant garden, a gardener tends to their plants with a journal by their side. This gardener, who prefers to remain unidentified, keeps a meticulous record of their horticultural exploits in a garden notebook that resembles a colourful Victorian cookbook.

The notebook, a vibrant orange hue with a black paper spine and golden script, serves as a testament to the gardener's love for plants. It is filled with notes on planting, feeding, and the occasional 'dream time' planning sessions. The pages are a mix of horticultural facts and personal musings, creating a unique and engaging narrative of the gardener's journey.

One of the challenges the gardener faces is remembering when to feed certain plants, such as tomatoes, dahlias, and pelargoniums. To overcome this, the gardener keeps photographic records of the garden, which serve as a visual reminder and also help in identifying opportunities for new additions, like another vervascum or rose. However, these photographs can sometimes make the dahlias seem less healthy than they were in 2020.

The notebook also includes a record of where each plant was purchased, which comes in handy when the gardener needs to remember the origin of a particular cultivar. For instance, the note 'Canon Went' refers to a cultivar of Linaria. The notebook also includes weather notes and a record of what is out or coming into flower.

The gardener finds the record of plant feeding particularly useful. With many packets of mycorrhizal fungi tucked away in the gardening cupboard, the notebook helps the gardener keep track of when and which plants have been fed. This record has been instrumental in the gardener's success, as some plants, like the Cornus kousa, were over a month later coming into bud than last year, while the crocuses were only a day or two out of sync with the previous year.

Despite the availability of digital methods, the gardener prefers the written record. Reading a written record or scrolling through photographs on a phone can warm the spirit on a rainy day, offering a tangible connection to the garden when one can't be physically present. The gardener's watercolor planting plans, while inaccurate records, still hold a special place in the notebook, serving as a testament to the gardener's artistic endeavours.

The notebook also serves as a memorial to plants long gone, such as the author's enormous Pinus mugo. Each page of the notebook tells a story, a testament to the gardener's love for their plants and their garden. It is a living, breathing chronicle of a gardener's life, filled with triumphs, challenges, and the simple joy of nurturing life.

Discover the delight of 'bloom-scrolling' instead of doom-scrolling, as advocated by Nigel Slater in his appreciation of maintaining a garden journal.