Hi everyone! This is Bea, from the Archer & Olive Ambassador Team. You can find me as @bealettering on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
This is the perfect time to start planning your gardening journal for the months ahead! Whether you’re growing houseplants or starting small outdoor gardening projects, a bullet journal can help you keep everything organized, from watering routines to repotting schedules and seasonal care.
In this post, you’ll find plant journal ideas, tips to create a functional plant care tracker, and ways to plan your plant care schedule for the whole year. We’ll walk through an annual overview, monthly trackers, a planting project section and plant profile pages. And we’ll decorate it with lettering, doodles and lots of washi tape and stickers.
Supplies I used to create my plant journal
- B5 journal. A B5 notebook gives you more space to create layouts for your gardening spreads, but an A5 works perfectly too if you prefer a more compact journal! I’m using the B5 from December sub box, but I also considered using the Snowdrops notebook from the Snow & Stillness collection (the embossed floral cover is perfect for this kind of journal!)
- Small and large brush pens and acrylic pens, such as Calliographs and Acrylographs.
- 0.5 - 0.3 mm black ink pen.
- Washi tape and stickers from the Signature Floral Everyday Theme Kit. Archer & Olive has a lot of plant themed kits that can help you decorate your plant journal.
Start with an annual gardening overview
Begin your gardening bullet journal with a yearly overview to see your entire plant care schedule at a glance. This spread will help you visualize your plants’ rhythm throughout the seasons: when to feed them, repot, trim or simply let them rest.
Draw a 12-month calendar verticaly in the left hand side of your notebook, and write the tasks horizontaly at the top of the two pages.
I use Calliograph brush pens for the title and Acrylograph pens in seasonal colors for the months and tasks.
Once your calendar is ready, add small doodles around it - a sun for light adjustment, a watering can for fertilizing, a little plant pot for repotting - to make your spread both functional and beautiful. I used stickers from the Signature Floral Everyday Theme Kit from the Everyday Collection to decorate.
Here are some ideas for the main tasks to include in your calendar:
Fertilize plants | Repot & Prune | Plant new seeds / Propagate | Harvest or trim
Adjust light & move plants | Check for pests & clean leaves | Buy or adopt new plants
Remember! the best time to do each task will depend on where you live and the climate in your region throughout the year.
Add monthly plant trackers
After setting up your annual plan, it’s time to get more specific with monthly plant trackers. These pages will help you stay consistent and notice patterns in your plants’ needs throughout the year.
Create one tracker per month (or per season) and include the plants you want to monitor most closely, or group the ones that have similar needs. You can make a simple chart or a dot grid with color-coded marks for watering, fertilizing, pruning, leaf cleaning...
Try using the big tip of the Calliograph pens, in different colors, to write the name of the month. Then, write a legend for the tasks (blue for watering, brown for fertilizer, yellow for sunlight adjustment) using the small brush tip or Acrylograph pens. You can also draw icons for each task, and small doodles or accents around your page.
If you are looking for a more detailed watering tracker, check this awesome idea using dutch doors: How To Create A Houseplant Watering Tracker.
Plan your planting projects
Even if most of your plants live indoors, dedicating a page to your planting projects is a great way to dream and plan ahead for spring. Use this space to write down what you’d like to plant or propagate, when to start, and where each plant will go.
For decorative lettering, use your Calliograph pens for the headers and the Acrylographs to draw tiny leaves, flowers, pots, or seed packets.
If you also grow outdoor plants or small veggies, leave space on your page for your harvest tracker. This can include what you’ve planted, when it sprouted, and when it’s ready to harvest.
Even if you only have a balcony or small outdoor area, this little section keeps your garden planner notebook feeling complete, and it’s so satisfying to fill in!
Create your plant profile pages
Once your yearly overview is ready, it’s time to focus on the details of each plant. This is my favourite part of the journal!
A plant profile helps you take note of the watering schedules, sunlight needs, and any special notes or facts that you want to remember about your plants, all in one place. You can create a simple table or dedicate one page per plant if you want to get more creative.
I usually draw my plants with Acrylograph pens. You can get a lovely texture if you leave some white space bewteen your strokes, and it doesn't need to be perfect. But if drawing is not your thing, a wonderful idea is to take a picture of your plant and paste it in a hand-drawn polaroid frame.
Here’s an example of how your plant profile pages could look:
You can expand these sections with last repot date, or growth notes. Take note of anything that helps you keeping your plants alive. If you go for a more simple table, you can color-code your plants by type (greens, succulents, or flowering) and add as many rows/pages as you need. Your plant collection will surely grow this year!
Watch the video and download your free templates
To make it easier to star your gardening journal, download our free plant journal templates, with two printables sheets that include an annual gardening overview and monthly plant trackers.
And last but not least, head over to our YouTube channel to watch me set up my gardening journal for next year.
I’d love to see your plant journal! Share your pages on social media and tag @archerandolive and @bealettering using the hashtags #AOShare and #archerandolive.
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