What’s Inside

It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—all in one. It’s a single spot for you to:

• Check on spring and fall frost dates in every province and territory

• Decide when to start seeds and when to move seedlings outside

• Record what you bought, sowed, or planted

• Remember flops, successes, and surprises

• Draw plans for your gardens and planters

• Find Canadian suppliers in the comprehensive Canadian sources list

This is a perpetual diary, so you can make it last 1 year, 2 years or even 3!

Bilingual English and French.

Who This Book Is For

This book is for Canadian gardeners from coast to coast. It’s a go-to reference and a place to jot down your gardening thoughts

Why This Book Is Unique

This garden journal has a touching story behind it. Founder Margaret Bennet-Alder’s son was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Aged 22. As he got his life back on track, Margaret noticed the homemade booklets he used to track meds and appointments.

Gardening was her therapy in a challenging time, and his booklets inspired her to approach gardening the same way. She filled her homemade journal with seasonal garden jobs. And she also collected sources for hard-to-find plants.

Encouraged by editor friends, she created a first edition of the journal, a modest 50 copies.

People loved it. So next time she printed 500. By its 25th edition in 2017, when Margaret retired, she’d sold over 18,000 copies. That’s when she handed the reins to Helen and Sarah Battersby of TorontoGardens.com. They won awards for their expanded editions of the journal.

Margaret passed away in 2025, shortly before her 98th birthday. With over 20,000 copies sold, what she started as a local gardening journal in 1992 is now a resource used by gardeners across Canada.

Loved by Gardeners

The award-winning Toronto & Golden Horseshoe Gardener’s Journal enjoyed 33 years of success! Canadian garden gurus Mark Cullen and Paul Zammit called it, “the greatest” and “amazing!” “I can’t speak highly enough about the Journal,” raved garden designer Matthew Dressing. And author Tara Nolan said, “I rely on it to stay on top of my to-dos.”