Comparing year to year with a biotime journal?

I like to record what's happening in my garden and when, especially so I can compare from year to year...but it's hard to figure out how to do that in an easy-to-access and record way.

I currently record things by month, with all the winter months together, and the spring months together, etc, becuase that's how the journal I was given was arranged. So, it looks like this:

December 2015
January 2015
February 2015
December 2016
January 2016
February 2016
December 2017
January 2017
February 2017
December 2018
January 2018
February 2018
March 2015
April 2015
May 2015
March  2016
April 2016
May  2016
March 2017
April 2017
May 2017
March 2018
April 2018
May 2018

Etc

There's got to be an easier way than this, though, right?! I really don't want a new journal for every year, because then I would probably never be able to compare from year to year. But, how do I keep it all organized?

At the moment, the things that come to my mind are:

-Excel
*you have your 365 days per year and one day per row
*every year could be a new column

-loose leaf paper and folders
*separate every folder into months
*date every paper and stick it into the appropriate folders
*use an appropriate grouping and organizing strategy for yourself and how your mind works within each month's folder (or more broad and organize by season and/or phenology)
*(I don't have a biotime journal, but for organizing my own personal records and notes I prefer reverse chronological order with grouping by months or by semester)
*an example organization tree might look like this:
>>Separate folder for each month
>>>Individual loose leaf papers for each day
>>>>hole punch and tie same days from different years together with string (more work) or tie full month from one year together (less work)

-there's probably more out there, but this is what hits my mind first

I use a small notebook, lined 8x11
I record for the year over several pages but separated by activity.

The planting one includes columns for
Date, plant /seed name, germination or transplant date
Quantity, row location, harvest date, and comments
Another page is for weather including temps and precipitation.
One page for seed ordering
Another for watering log
A garden map for crop rotation purposes

Makes it easy to flip back a few pages to the previous year/years

Have you seen those diary/notebooks that have 10 years for each day on a page? (they are available through Amazon and other outlets). That way, at a glance, you can see exactly what you did on any particular date over time. I would think 5 years would give more room for writing, and it would be easy enough to make your own. Just an idea.

Blythe Barbo wrote:Have you seen those diary/notebooks that have 10 years for each day on a page? (they are available through Amazon and other outlets).

I have not! Is there any chance you could send me a link to one--I'm not quite sure what to even look for!

I am not recommending any particular one because I haven't tried them - but if you search for Garden Journal or Gardener's Journal, some come up that might give you ideas. Personally, I am looking forward to trying out Maddy Harland's Biotime Log, which sounds like a whole lot more than just a calendar entry notebook.