A record of what you’ve planted where can save you from accidentally digging up it.
When we look at the great gardens that have lasted centuries, it’s apparent those with grand architectural structures such as water fountains, sculptures and follies are the most likely to endure. Cultured forms such as hedgerows and 
avenues are also more likely to last the distance, whereas herbaceous borders and other soft plantings are subject to a succession of gardeners who might not always share the vision of the creator. For this reason, it is a good idea to keep a record of both the original design and adaptations made along the way.
British landscape designer and artist Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) transformed the way we plant. The herbaceous borders the world knows and loves were hers. In her lifetime, she worked on more than 400 gardens worldwide, yet few of her originals remain, many succumbing to development over the years.
One such garden that had been completely forgotten is at Upton Grey, in Hampshire, England, once the home of Arts and Crafts figure Charles Holme, editor of art and design magazine Studio. The manor house was bought in 1983 by John and Rosamund Wallinger, who had no knowledge of the historical significance of the surrounding gardens, which were at best wild and overgrown. As they researched the house, they came across a footnote suggesting the gardens might have been designed by Jekyll. Without the note’s discovery, the garden may never have been rediscovered.
Essential to the process of restoration were the original plans. These were tracked to the University of California at Berkeley, which had been given them by American landscape designer Beatrix Farrand. The Jekyll family had sold the plans to raise money for the Red Cross during World War II and they had then been acquired by Farrand, an admirer of Jekyll’s work, on a visit to England.
With plans in hand, the Wallingers and other garden experts have put in tireless work to turn the garden into a living record of Jekyll’s vision.
While this exemplifies the importance of records from an historical perspective, the lesson to be learnt is just as relevant for our own gardens. Lifting some topiary balls out of my borders and into pots the other day, I was reminded that I’d moved my Zantedeschia “Schwarzwalder” at the end of last autumn. As I then went to pop in some more dahlia bulbs, I remembered he crocosmia that must also be still lurking beneath the soil.
I realised that somewhere beneath my hovering gloves was a mosaic of bulbs and tubers that I’d laid down at a whim. I was now totally clueless as to what this creative vision may have been and would have to wait until the first shoots appeared before I could make sense of my “plan”.
If you’re a gardener who likes to shift plants and add new finds at will, it’s particularly important to keep a track of your impulses. A garden dairy is ideal.
This can be as simple as a notebook for jotting down what you’ve done, with the correct names of plants after each gardening session. Ideally it should include records of feeding, mulching and any pest management, but it doesn’t need to stop here.
Your journal can be enhanced by regularly photographing the changes, saving you the time of drawing up plans of your plot each time a change is made. It is interesting to see how a garden changes in the differing seasons, or as a large tree or hedge establishes. We can so easily be blinded to the changes that creep up on us.
A photo diary should not be at the expense of written records, with the correct names of different cultivars of plants and observations on growth and performance. These are valuable as a cultural record.
Although generalised weather records can be accessed at the drop of a hat, it is still of value to note what is happening in your own garden, as every backyard has its own microclimate.
You should also record seeds collected, cuttings taken and plants bought, including everything’s origin. Knowing when a plant flowers is important, as accurate flowering periods can be very valuable when you are trying to make combinations work to best affect.
Keep an eye on wildlife in the garden, too, from bad bugs to good ones, and birdlife. Reminders of the problems that arise in certain seasons can prepare you to be vigilant the following year.
Feeding programmes should also not be left to memory. Over- or under-feeding can lead to other garden problems.
A factual garden diary can be made more fun to keep if you include anecdotes of pleasures and irritations, be they about the thrush that has befriended you, the weeds that defeat you or the family of wetas that gave you a fright.
Sit in the garden with a cup of tea or glass of wine and your notebook, observing, listening and writing. Reading your diary from time to time is just as important as writing it, and this will make for a more pleasant perusal than lists of plants and measures of fertiliser.
Although most of our gardens won’t be rebuilt like Jekyll’s, they will be remembered by our children and grandchildren. My late grandmother probably would have regarded keeping a journal as preposterous. But when I recall her trudging into her kitchen with an armful of new potatoes, I think of how rewarding it would be now to browse an old garden diary of hers. After all, the detail of history is as important as the big picture.