I recently
shared with you that I had purchased a Better Homes & Gardens gardening
book dated 1966. I decided to also make
it my garden journal of sorts and I actually worked on it during one of my
camping trips.
I could tell
this book had been well loved and well used at some point. Many of the pages had had the holes torn
where they slip into the binder so I took the time and with a box of clear
reinforcements I repaired each page that was damaged. Hopefully, by doing this, these pages will now
stay inside the book and last longer.
I recovered the inside of the cover with this floral paper
I added this folder and decorated it to match
The outside of
the cover had one small bit of damage that I was able to repair with a dab of
glue. The inside of the front cover was
worn and kind of crumbly so I chose a piece of scrapbook paper that I thought
went really well with this book and gave it a refresh. I cut it to size and carefully glued it on
and I think it looks fantastic. The
paper I chose looks like it should for the period of the book and like it was
always there. After making these few
changes this book is in really great shape.
The folder fits in nicely & holds my seed packets
I cut down a
yellow folder I had and tucked my leftover seeds from my garden inside to use
again next year. I hope to add more
seeds as time goes on. After punching
some holes in the folder with a hole punch I placed it into the book.
I also took my
first attempt at tracking last year’s garden progress and redid it to fit inside
this book and added additional information for this year’s new plantings. Now I have a record of what I’ve planted in
my flowerbeds and if I have questions about caring for them I have the tags
that came with them to refer back to.
I keep it on my bookshelf with my other worn out old cookbooks
This old book,
which is nearly as old as I am, is right up my alley. The advice offered about gardening is simple,
basic and makes sense to me. It is still
very relevant to today. I absolutely love
the illustrations. I love even more that
I can combine a book and a garden journal together. Now I have the perfect place to seek out
information, plan my garden projects and track my progress.
I love this!
ReplyDeleteI love using regular binders but my attempt to use one for my gardening has fallen flat. I forget about it and often never look at it again. I didn't even update it this season. I'm going to keep an eye out for this book or similar and do the same thing. This is exactly the kind of project I love doing.
~margaret
I completely understand and I've been in the same boat myself. This particular journal however I've been using quite a bit lately. It makes me happy. :)
DeletePerfect. Looks great.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. :o)
DeleteI picked up a couple of this same gardening book. It was well loved by the previous owner. It included pricing for her favorite annuals over the course of 18 years. It also had an estimate for the installation of a backyard pond to be installed in 1978. I wonder if she went ahead with the project.
ReplyDeleteOh, that is so cool. I hope she did. :)
DeleteAltering that vintage garden book to be your garden journal and seed keeper : what a great idea! I keep my seeds in an old shoe box now. My recent Botanical Interests seed order came with a very pretty box (with green floral line drawings) so I may switch to that if the packets all fit. I really enjoy your blog and your creativity. Dee/NY
ReplyDeleteThat box sounds so neat. I'd try it, for sure. I'm so glad you enjoy my blog. Thank you. :)
Delete