diff --git a/vcsh b/vcsh
index 6de5f56722277741a9caf8ade2a0e97806eb6c4d..9736bc69062b2cfa1ac9b8ffe6082fea37b93842 100755
--- a/vcsh
+++ b/vcsh
@@ -6,13 +6,14 @@ SELF=$(basename $0)
 
 [ -z "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME" ] && XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$HOME/.config"
 [ -z "$VCSH_BASE" ]       && VCSH_BASE="$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcsh/repo.d"
-for check_directory in "$VCSH_BASE"
+for check_directory in "$VCSH_BASE" "$HOME/.gitignore.d"
 do
 	if [ ! -d "$check_directory" ]; then
 		if [ -e "$check_directory" ]; then
 			echo "$SELF: error: $check_directory exists but is not a directory" >&2
 			exit 2
 		else
+			echo "$SELF: attempting to create $check_directory"
 			mkdir -p "$check_directory" || (echo "$SELF: error: could not create $check_directory" >&2; exit 2)
 		fi
 	fi