Garden 2026 Update #1 - Planning, Winter Sowing & Some BIG Changes!

My garden planning updates are mostly for me to keep a journal of what works, what didn't, and what I can do to improve my efforts.  I've decided to make them public to help anyone who might be along the same gardening  journey as me. I sure hope you find them helpful!

GARDEN PLANNING

Now that Christmas and New Year's celebrations are over, it's time to get back into the garden mindset and get to planning!  While I always look forward to the last few months of the year when the garden is put to bed and things are a little slower, I also look forward to gearing back up and getting ready for another amazing year of growing. 

This year planning it's a little more enjoyable since my sister-in-law gifted me a really cute little, spiral, lay-flat garden journal. She had no idea but over the winter I've been busy creating some custom, personalized garden journals and coordinating garden supplies myself!  For the last few years I've been using a simple, plain 3 ring binder and notebook paper but I've opted to create some custom binders as well as lay-flat spiral journals that can easily be taken out into the garden for quick note taking. Just a little prettier, and personalized so they make a wonderfully endearing garden-lover gift as well.  You can see the newest lay-flat spiral journals and 3 ring binders here at my zazzle shop. 

WINTER SOWING

The first update this year is the winter sown seeds. Last year I discovered winter sowing for the first time and sowed many seed types. It was tremendously successful for my Sunflowers, Yarrow and Chamomile. Much better germination rates and stronger, taller plants than I've ever grown. Checking in with my notes & updates from last year reminded me I needed to add more rain water intake holes in the tops of my containers, and more drainage holes in the bottom. So I've done that with a little help of my hot glue gun by simply melting the holes in my dollar store lidded totes. This year the winter sown seeds are Purple Cone Flower (Echinacea) and Lavender. 

GARDEN CHANGES

My garden plans this year are to make some pretty big changes, that make growing & tending to the garden even easier. Since I built my first garden beds many years ago I've made some pretty ambitious choices but now I'm dialing it back quite a bit. I gave up the "experiment" garden last year and dedicated that space to what I know grows really well here in growing zone 6a. To make that even more useful, my plan is to rebuild that bed and reduce the size slightly to make room for another comfortable seating area right in the middle of the garden. While I will lose a small amount of growing space, I still have more than enough to grow what we eat and what grows well, so adding the seating area is just an added bonus that benefits anyone spending time in the garden.  You can never really have too much comfortable seating tucked here and there in your garden. 😊

This year I'll be growing less than what I've grown before (no potatoes, onions or beans) but will be growing some sweet potatoes in a new bed I built last year & using the main trellis for Sugar Baby pumpkins. I just prepared the organic sweet potatoes today, so they'll rest here on the heat mat & grow their slips, and hopefull they'll all be ready for garden planting come spring. Next to the sweet potatoes are a few pots of cinnamon basil I picked up recently. I love basil but I've never tried the cinnamon variety so I'm really looking forward to that.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope this helps you in some way as you begin to plan your own garden.  Please feel welcome to leave a comment or question & have an awesome day! 💖