Gardening – Diversify Your Garden
The weather in my part of the universe last year was…strange. And the vegetables I expected to do well didn’t. The vegetables I often planted for fun, however, did well.
I was happy that I planted a wide variety of vegetables.
The weather in 2026, I suspect, will be as strange. But likely in a different way.
So a big focus of my garden plans this year is diversity. I will plant just about everything and hopefully something does well.
(smiles)
Gardening is an adventure. Be adventurous in your plant selection!
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Gardening – Diversify Your Garden
Gardening – Know Your Last Expected Frost Date
If we start seeds too early, seedlings will be too large to care for inside the greenhouse/home and/or be difficult to transplant outside.
If we start seeds too late, seedlings will be too small to transplant outside when the good weather arrives.
This is why knowing our last expected frost date is key for gardeners in cold-during-the-winter climates. We use that estimate of when our last frost date is and then count backward to determine when we should be starting seeds.
To find out what your last expected frost date is, do an internet search on ‘last expected frost date (your city)’ and then choose a reputable result from sites like the farmer’s almanac or a seed selling company that have that information.
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Gardening – Know Your Last Expected Frost Date
Gardening – Plan For A First Quick Harvest
When I’m crafting my garden plans, I always include radishes as part of the first/Spring plan.
Radish is one of the easiest, quickest, cold-friendly vegetables to grow. Both the root and the leaves can be eaten.
Eating from the garden early and sharing that bounty is a huge reward. It keeps me excited and motivated.
And it keeps everyone around me on board with the gardening. They (and I!) see results right away. They benefit from these results.
And it’s fun to pull up radishes, uncovering how big (or small – remember the leaves are edible so small is okay too) they are!
Other fast growing crops are leafy greens like spinach and lettuce, snow peas (all of the snow pea plant is edible also – the greens are delicious), and bok choy.
Consider planting a fast-to-harvest, cool-temperature-tolerant crop first.
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Gardening – Plan For A First Quick Harvest
Multiple Garden Plans
Gardeners will often talk about crafting their garden plans for the year.
These are usually plans.
Plural.
Because many of the plants we grow will have lifespans shorter than our entire gardening season. And many of the plants we grow will only flourish in specific times of the year.
Peas, for example, love cooler weather. In Canada, they flourish during the Spring and the Fall/Autumn. They might be part of our garden plans for those months.
They can be replaced with another crop during the Summer.
So we might have 3 garden plans – 1 for the Spring, 1 for the Summer, 1 for the Fall/Autumn.
Garden plans help us…well…plan. Have as many or as few as you like!
Don’t feel like you have to stick everything on one (sure-to-be chaotic) plan.
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Multiple Garden Plans
Grocery Store Herbs
The herbs that we buy in plant form from supermarkets and grocery stores aren’t designed to live for a long time. They are meant to be used down to the soil and then composted.
Why do they die so quickly?
They are often overcrowded. There are 6 or more plants in the same small container.
And the soil is often not…optimal. It contains very little nutrients.
The best way, I’ve found, to keep these herbs alive is to first prune them (using the leaves in cooking, of course). Then I split the plants and transplant them into their own containers or the ground as soon as possible.
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Grocery Store Herbs
Gardening – 2026 – The Year Of The Herbs
One area of the garden I plan to really focus on in 2026 is
herbs.
Specifically herbs that overwinter well. I plan to split the 3 containers of oregano (assuming they survive the winter) into 6. I plan to plant more containers of mint, thyme, sage, try rosemary, experiment with other herbs. I’m super interested in growing chocolate mint. I merely have to figure out a way to source those seeds.
Herbs, fresh OR dried, are very expensive in my part of the world right now. And worse than that, they are often hard to find.
And they add such flavor to food. Plus many herbs ward off the bad bugs in our gardens.
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Gardening – 2026 – The Year Of The Herbs
Dreaming Of Gardens To Be
One of the things I love about the gardening off season, about the short time when I can’t (easily) garden outside, is…
It gives me time first to dream and then to plan.
I’m in the dreaming stage right now.
I’m thinking of all the gardens I could experience if I had unlimited time and space and energy and sun. (smiles) Which vegetables would I plant? Which flowers would I plant? What colors and tastes would I experience? What pollinators would the gardens attract?
I close my eyes and I feel the warmth of the sun’s rays on my cheeks. I smell the roses. (literally) I hear the buzzing of the bees and the fluttering of butterfly wings and somewhere in the distance, I hear the chick-a-dee-dee-dee of a chickadee.
It is relaxing and glorious.
Dream of gardens, my friend, lush and semi-wild and so very, very green.
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Dreaming Of Gardens To Be
Gardening – Inexpensive Indoor Grow Lights
Often a sunny windowsill doesn’t offer enough space or light to grow many seedlings inside a home.
We need grow lights. But these do NOT have to be those expensive lights specifically labelled as grow or plant lights.
All we need are lights offering the sufficient lumens – at least 5,000 lumens.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I use fairly inexpensive shop lights sporting that lumen level. These lights are purchased on sale and, because we plan to grow indoors for many, many years, in bulk.
And they tend to last for multiple years.
Shelving can be purchased used for very little also if you want a fancy setup (like the one the Dear Wonderful Hubby created for us – smiles).
Or the lights and their fixtures can simply be strapped to the ceiling above a table and then you can use different sized boxes to bring the plants closer or farther as needed from those lights.
(shrugs)
There are plenty of ways to do this.
Do what works for you!
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Gardening – Inexpensive Indoor Grow Lights
Preparing For Spring Gardening
It is winter in my corner of the universe. The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I aren’t tending to any plants outside. That’s for certain. (grins)
But we ARE preparing for the Spring.
Some of the little things we’re doing are
- We’re collecting empty toilet paper rolls to serve as pea growing containers. They are tall enough not to inhibit the roots. And they break down easily once they’re placed in the ground.
- We’re collecting eggshells, washing and crushing them. We put a handful of crushed eggshells in every hole before we transplant tomatoes and eggplants.
- We’re also collecting banana peels, chopping and freezing them. These are put in the holes also.
- We continue to put food scraps in the compost bin. Not much breaking down will happen when everything is frozen. But once the melt starts, we’ll be a great place.
- We’re getting ready to start plants likely in March. The seed start containers are laid out and we have figured out the order of sowing.
We’re doing a few other things (like cleaning and repairing tools, etc).
Gardeners always have things to do.
(smiles)
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Preparing For Spring Gardening
Garden Dreaming For 2026
It is winter in my part of the world.
Some more dedicated gardeners have cold frames or greenhouses or are even growing hardy vegetables in the snow.
That is not me.
(laughs)
What I AM doing is dreaming of our 2026 garden. And that is what it is right now – a dream. It is a fantasy garden with endless sun and space and time to work in it. The insects are under control. It rains the exact perfect amount. Everything germinates and grows and bears fruit.
Soon, I’ll start planning. Planning is more practical.
But right now, I dream.
(smiles)
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Garden Dreaming For 2026
