Garden Journal?

I've always loved the idea of keeping a garden journal to take meticulous notes on the performance different vegetable plants based on variety, weather, soil, siting... the list goes on but every time I began to put my grand ambition into action, to create a great garden journal in

the spirit of Tho. Jefferson's great journal I'd freeze up on page one from fear of making a mistake. After all, TJ never scratched through misspellings or tore out pages of goofed up diagrams. Then one day it occurred to me if Jefferson were living today he wouldn't record his journal with feather, ink, and blotter - he'd BLOG!

I live in Richmond, Virginia and I enjoy vegetable gardening.

I'm no professional, but I was raised in Raleigh, NC working in the yard with my parents who are both great gardeners and my grandfather from Mississippi who always planted tomatoes and okra... huge amounts of okra. I planted my first garden when I was 16. Carved out of our backyard right up against the house I planted tomatoes, beans, and maybe squash. It didn't seem strange to me at the time but looking back I don't think any of my friends ever even thought about that kind of thing. Fast forward a few years and I found myself living and working on an old plantation my parents bought to renovate in Southern Virginia. That's where my interest really flourished. With an abundance of space, fertile natural amendments, and sunshine it was a fantastic living laboratory.

Now I find myself with my wonderful family in Richmond. I started a garden in our backyard last year and really enjoyed sharing the experience with my three daughters ages 3, 4, and 6 (in

2009). This blog is primarily a journal to record what's going on in my own garden but I also hope to get advice from other gardeners and inspire new ones.