Garden Journal: Save Planting Notes & Harvest Records

What each record holds and why it helps

Each entry pairs a date with a crop or variety, a bed or container, and an activity such as sow, transplant, water, harvest or observe. Planned is also a separate activity: it marks an intention, not something you have done. A planned entry stays distinct from an observed sowing or transplanting, and nothing converts automatically between them. You can add an optional quantity with its unit and free-text notes.

Keeping the location with the date is what makes the log useful later: a record of where crops grew supports rotation planning, though the journal itself does not set a rotation interval. Dates, planting and harvest observations, and notes about conditions are the kind of detail a garden record can usefully capture. Write what you actually did and saw rather than what you hoped would happen, so the log stays a reliable reference.

1. Open the record form and enter the date, crop or variety, and bed or container.
2. Choose the activity, using Planned only for an intention and sow, transplant or harvest for what actually happened.
3. Add an optional quantity with its unit and any notes, then save the record.

Source context: University of Illinois Extension

Prefill, editing and deleting records

The form can prefill a planned date and crop from the calendar, but nothing is stored until you save the record yourself. The handoff fills in the Planned activity and remains unsaved. Treat the prefill as a starting point: check the date, crop and location, and change the activity if you are recording something you actually did. Existing records can be edited when a detail was entered incorrectly or when you want to add notes.

Deletion needs a second confirmation in the interface, so a single click will not remove an entry. The journal holds up to 500 records.

1. Review any prefilled date, crop and Planned activity before saving.
2. Edit a record rather than creating a duplicate when correcting a detail.
3. Confirm deliberately when deleting, since the interface asks twice.

Search, filter, export and print

Search by text to find a crop, bed or note, and filter by activity and year to narrow the list. Export the filtered view as CSV when you want a spreadsheet-friendly copy, or print the filtered view for a paper record. The export reflects the filters you have applied, so check the filter settings before exporting.

A JSON backup is different: it includes all records, not just the filtered view. Import accepts only the site's version 1 JSON backup, up to 1 MB and up to 500 merged records. Importing merges records without replacing existing ones or duplicating identical saved IDs. Conflicting IDs are rejected, so review the import result rather than assuming every record was added.

1. Set the text search and activity and year filters, then confirm the visible list is what you want.
2. Export the filtered view as CSV or print it.
3. Use JSON backup when you need a copy of all records, and import only a version 1 backup within the size and record limits.

Storage limits and data safety

Records are stored on this browser and device only. Clearing site data may erase them, and there is no account or cloud copy to restore from. If storage fails, the current session stays visible with an explicit export warning. That warning means the record was not confirmed as saved, so export before closing the page rather than assuming the entry is safe.

Keep a JSON backup if the records matter to you, and store backup files somewhere you can find them before clearing browser data.

1. Export a JSON backup after adding records you want to keep.
2. Watch for a storage warning and export the current session if one appears.
3. Store backup files somewhere you can find them before clearing browser data.