How many of you keep records.....

[longwinters]

When I'm out puttering in the garden this year it just seems as though things should be growing faster than they are.  I have loads of blueberries and red raspberries, but the veggies seem slower growing this year.  I think as I get older my patience with such things gets a bit shorter.
 
I probably should keep some kind of records just for my own sense of well being, but have not come up with a method that suits me. I was thinking pictures taken every 2 weeks (until harvest times) would be helpful but keeping it on the computer for years would be a pain, daily temps (night time temps), maybe some height measurements of my tomato plants, when blossoms 1st appear on various plants, 1st picking of various items etc...  What are you using?
 
Long

[336SC]

Great idea on the photos every two weeks.  However, use a guage such as a piece of wood of known length.  Then you can tell how tall
the stuff gets and at what height it bears "fruit".
336SC

[cjclemens]

I don't keep detailed records, but I do record when things were planted, when flowering started, fruit set, etc.  I also like to take notes on varieties, yields and quality.  Mostly I like to know I can look back and see how I did things and how they turned out, so I know if I need to change it up or try something new.

I work in agricultural research.  At work, I take a lot of plant growth data, such as growth stage, plant height, leaf area, chlorophyll concentration, etc.  To make any meaningful assessments based on that data, you have to have detailed climate data to go with it (i.e. daily highs and lows, %RH, PAR, precipitation, etc.)  Keeping all of those records can be very tedious.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that my garden is a hobby.  I don't like to make more unnecessary work for myself.  For me, the end result is most important, so yield and quality is the benchmark I use for my garden.  It really doesn't matter to me how tall my tomato plants get, as long as I can keep hauling buckets of high quality fruit out of there.  Unless you want to do a detailed, side by side variety comparison, don't over analyze things - you'll just drive yourself nuts.  Worse yet, you may end up second guessing your methods - methods that probably work just fine.