Good records are invaluable tools to the serious gardener. They can help you learn from your mistakes, or build on your successes. It doesn't matter what form your recordskeeping takes, just as long as you keep the information up-to-date. It's a good idea to update your gardening records on a weekly basis so that you don't forget something, like when you planted something and when you thinned it.
Keeping track of what vegetables you planted and where will help you from year to year in planning crop rotations. You don't want to plant things from the same family in the same spot or you might have problems with diseases and insects. It'll also help you to better utilize soil nutrients. Taking a few snapshots from time to time and dating them is an easy way to keep track. It also gives you a visual of what was successful or not, what was too crowded or spaced too far apart.
Include notes on any soil amendments you added, such as compost or fertilizer, and lime or sulfur to correct pH levels, to help fine-tune your garden plan. It'll be easier to remember to put heavy feeders where you added the most compost, or to keep carrots out of beds where legumes were grown last so they don't get too much nitrogen.
Being aware of when pests typically appear in your garden allows you to prepare in advance to protect your crops with row covers or pheromone traps or whatever other method you choose to do battle with garden-unfriendly bugs.
Keeping track of harvest and yields can help you choose the cultivars most suited to your needs. Compare your notes to the seed catalog's days-to-maturity information to get a better sense of what will mature when you want it to. If you grow more than one variety of certain vegetable, it can help to pinpoint which ones seemed most disease-resistant or had the best yields. You'll be better able to judge if you need to plant more or fewer plants next season to get the yield you want.
Other things you make want to make note of include frost dates and rainfall amounts so you can determine the best time to plant certain crops, and gauge the length of your growing season.
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