21 Years of Garden Journals

And a few lovely photographs!
Moosey Journal Pages

I've always enjoyed gardening and writing diaries. When I first arrived at Mooseys in 1994 it didn't occur to me to combine the two, so those heady early days are poorly recorded. I soon became an obsessive gardener, and the obsessive garden writer wasn't far behind.

My earliest scribblings in notebooks consist of important advice copied from books, and my own lists - highly detailed and highly impractical, often containing expensive plants to buy. Lists of garden tasks came later, in an attempt at gardening self-discipline.

My proper gardening journals started in 1997, a time when the word 'blog' wasn't even invented. The first entries were a bit erratic, but by mid 1999 I was dutifully recording every gardening moment. The journals were then published online, with much amusement - who on earth would take time to read them? Sixteen years and millions of gardening words later...

Garden Journal 2023Garden Journal 2023...
Welcome, 2023, to my garden and my life in general. Please let your surprises be good ones. Please be full of good gardening, kindness, and moderation - not too much growth from all my lovely leafy trees, not too many extreme weather events, and so on. And if you don't mind, some of 2024's journal pages will be listed here as well.
Garden Journal 2022Garden Journal 2022...
Ooh goodie. Another year in my lovely garden. So what will grow well? How much taller will the trees get? And how many more roses can I fit in? There'll be lots of gardening joy to look forward to in 2022.
Garden Journal 2021Garden Journal 2021...
Hello, 2021. Best not to think too far ahead about you. One day at a time. I promise write lots of happy journal pages (no moaning allowed) and enjoy my garden. That means relaxing and looking, as well as working hard in it!
Garden Journal 2020Garden Journal 2020...
The year 2020 : there's a lovely symmetry to its numbers. Hmm... Maybe each day I could do twenty good gardening deeds, take twenty photographs, write twenty pages of my journal... Just a thought! Twenty minutes compulsory weeding each day would be very useful. Aargh! Here are my garden journal pages for 2020.
Garden Journal 2019Garden Journal 2019...
Another year in the garden. Aargh! No - let's start this again. Another lovely year in my lovely garden. And 2019 is divisible by three. That means that each gardening day can be broken down into three parts - weeding, weeding, and then weeding. Aargh!
Garden Journal 2018Garden Journal 2018...
Welcome to my world, 2018. Please spread yourself out comfortably in my garden, take all the time you need. Enjoy the passing hours - no need to rush anything! As long as you provide me with lots of good things to write about...
Garden Journal 2017Garden Journal 2017...
Oooh, goodie! A new year, another new if arbitrary beginning, and another chance to change this and that in my garden, plant new shrubs amd flowers, and write all about each gardening day. As in my gardening, I will try to be deep and meaningful in my writing...
Garden Journal 2016Garden Journal 2016...
2016 is the Year of the Better Gardener, namely me. I'm going to spend all year doing my very best to be better, hee hee. Seriously, the plan is to concentrate on consolidation, rather than innovation, and enjoy myself. Hope you enjoy reading my 2016 Gardening Journal.
Garden Journal 2015Garden Journal 2015...
2015 - a new year, new expectations, the same garden - with the same older but wiser gardener? Aha! We'll see. As the years go by I seem to become more random and rather less responsible. But I love my garden even more, and I try my very best to be a good gardener. That's all that matters, really.
Garden Journal 2014Garden Journal 2014...
Yippee! Another gardening year - it seems like just yesterday that the Moosey garden was an untamed toddler, and the garden journal was as young and fresh as a daisy. Now both are nearly twenty years old! Surely by now I've matured as a gardener?
Garden Journal 2013Garden Journal 2013...
2013 is a year which is not only odd but divisible by three primes including three. Phew! Will it be my best gardening year ever? I'm aiming for three things in my gardening this year - energy, creativity, and consistency...
Garden Journal 2012Garden Journal 2012...
Aha! I love a good leap year, and I have high hopes for 2012. An extra day of gardening, for one! The Moosey Journal is well and truly a teenager, having been going now for sixteen years. Same old, same old? Maybe just a little...
Garden Journal 2011Garden Journal 2011...
2011 continues my virtuous themes of being budget-minded and totally committed to garden maintenance. Aargh - sounds terribly sensible, and hopefully will not turn reader off from peeping at my 2011 Moosey Journal pages. I promise there'll be some small eruptions of serious fun...
Garden Journal 2010Garden Journal 2010...
Ha! In 2010 I am transforming into a budget minded gardener, one who will exercise restraint and act sensibly at all times. This new improved attitude should be reflected in my 2010 journal. Let's see how I make it through the year.
Garden Journal 2009Garden Journal 2009...
2009 is to be a year of enhanced garden quality. It's the year in which I pay huge attention to detail. This could be interpreted as concentrating on the garden I have already got, rather than expanding ever outwards and starting any huge new projects. Hee hee...
Garden Journal 2008Garden Journal 2008...
Another year, more plans, more garden expansions, more spending on new shrubs and plants - and more journal pages in which to celebrate! When will my garden be finished? Hopefully, never... Well, certainly not in the year 2008!
Garden Journal 2007Garden Journal 2007...
Ten Moosey Garden Journal years have passed - my goodness, how time flies. And so much in the garden changes, too - as my plants grow far too big for their alloted spaces. But I still have far too much to write about. And I have some some serious questions. How many new roses can I justify purchasing? Where will I possibly plant them all?
Garden Journal 2006Garden Journal 2006...
It's quite simple, really. I am still here. My garden is still here. I am still obsessively gardening. And every day, faithfully, I am writing all about it in my journal. In fact, I'm thinking of expanding the journal entries to daily pages...
Garden Journal 2005Garden Journal 2005...
Will my garden journal for 2005 contain even more detail than past years? When will I run out of things to say? When will the Moosey Garden finish expanding and reach some natural equilibrium? Pressing questions, to which the answers are 'yes', 'never' and again 'never'...
Garden Journal 2004Garden Journal 2004...
2004 is the very first year I am a semi-retired gardening person. I will be able to garden every day of the year. Mooseys will be transformed into the most amazing, well cared-for garden. Eek! What happens if I get sick of it by March? We'll see...
Garden Journal 2003Garden Journal 2003...
2003 starts out as any normal year, but ends in triumph, as I become a retired person, ready to try my hands at full-time gardening. There's an odd twist healthwise, as I discover I'm not superwoman. The garden is, of course, completely oblivious to all this drama.
Garden Journal 2002Garden Journal 2002...
Weather, weeds, edges, and plans for retirement seem to dominate 2002. As usual I get far too busy when the garden needs me most. The garden at Mooseys hardly notices - as usual, it has a life of its own. I'm wondering if I could be a full time gardener and not get bored...
Garden Journal 2001Garden Journal 2001...
My 2001 gardening year seems to be full of new plant arrivals. Armies of rhododendrons and armfuls of roses keep on appearing, and the garden, of course, has to expand to accommodate them all. So there is much digging...
Garden Journal 2000Garden Journal 2000...
It may be the new millennium, but the year 2000 is just a normal gardening year. The garden keeps expanding, and I am definitely going through my stone edging phase.
Garden Journal 1999Garden Journal 1999...
I don't seem to write very much about the year 1999, but there are huge changes on the property, with many trees being felled. The old gorse hedge over the water race is cut down and burnt, and the long thin paddock by the water becomes available for development. Yippee! New gardens, new plants, and lots of new ideas...
Garden Journal 1998Garden Journal 1998...
My 1998 journal contains very random writings. These were the days when I tended to scribble lists in notebooks which I then promptly lost. I was definitely in my growth phase as a gardener - not totally sure of things, still trying to do what the sensible gardening books said.
Garden Journal 1997Garden Journal 1997...
My very first garden scribbles, found in scruffy old notebooks, are rather minimalist - they contain lists, lists, and more lists. In early 1997 I was an uniminative garden chronicler of few words. Finally in December the first of my 'proper' Gardening Journals appears, with dreams and schemes for my garden, and my thoughts and feelings...
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