Plant Mapping for the Lazy Gardener

A lazy gardener being one who’d rather spend time with plants instead of spreadsheets and sad attempts at drawing to scale. Even the lazy need some sort of record, so this is what I’ve been trying.

On the left is a photo of the raised beds out back, converted to black and white and with locations numbered; the plant list is on the right.

I took photos of all the planting areas and numbered them, so without much work I have at least a rough idea of what’s there.

Number 17, “unknown hostas” means the dog ate the plant labels – really. I know they’re either ‘Drinking Gourd’ or ‘Sum and Substance.’ Time will tell.

This system will do for a while, but in future the numbers might be done in a color so they’re easier to read, and the list stored as a file on the computer, so plants can be added and removed as births and deaths occur.

When the photos get cluttered up with cross-outs, I can just print more or take new pictures.

The best thing about doing it this way for now is it didn’t require a lot of time fiddling with things I’m not good at, like spreadsheets and drawing.

Here’s a cheap and lazy cold frame.

Leftover bricks and landscape timbers support an old shower door, with bags of soil conditioner holding it all together. Built in fifteen minutes, this is enough protection to harden off perennial seedlings like foxglove and agastache. There are also some agave pups that need to stay warm and dry. I don’t need to worry about overheating with such a leaky structure.

In prettier news, Arnold keeps his promise of big yellow blooms yet again.

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise'

And one little Tommy is in bloom.

Crocus tommasinianus