My 2025 Garden and 2026 Garden Plans

Happy Tuesday! Today I wanted to spend some time looking back on my 2025 garden and looking forward to my 2026 garden plans! See past gardening posts here.


Before the season really started (end of March) we found out we'd be moving at the end of 2025, so I knew going into this season that it would be our last in CT. I'm grateful we had one more full season in our garden. I took it as an opportunity to try out some new-to-me things and use up old seeds. One thing I finally had success with this year was sugar snap peas! I had tried growing them before, but always in containers that would go on to have tomatoes in them, so I would have to pull them out to make room for those before they really had a chance. I only had a few plants in a small pot, but they did great! And I loved how cute the flowers were, they took me be surprise. Will definitely grow some again!


A last hurrah for our container driveway garden. It served us well for many years! We skipped the peppers this year and did less tomatoes than usual since we wouldn't be freezing any. We grew sungold, chocolate pear, and patio choice yellow bush cherry. We tried to grow golden jubilee tomatoes, but ended up with a red roma tomato, must have been an error when they were packing the seeds! This year I'd really like to branch out from the cherry varieties and grow a slicer. We were able to enjoy some of our neighbors heirloom slicers when they were on vacation and they were delicious. I haven't decided on a variety yet, but I'm excited!


I grew green beans for the first time! I planted them on a whim in amongst our tomatoes that were growing in galvanized tubs. I really didn't expect much, but we got a couple of great harvests! I'm really excited to grow green beans again.


Last in the veg category was pumpkins! I grew a few different small pumpkin varieties this year. Some in ground and some in containers. They did okay. I got maybe six pumpkins? Not sure how I feel about doing them again to be honest. They just take up so much room!


Something I will definitely be growing again are nasturtiums. I've had pretty mixed luck with them in the past, but always tried growing them in containers. This year I grew this trailing variety in ground as a border. They were SO vigorous! I still can't believe how well they did. I was able to collect a ton of seeds from them to stash away and share.


On the note of sharing, that was one of the great joys of our garden in 2025. At the beginning of the season and towards the end, I collected and shared tons of seeds through our little free library. It was so fun and even our 2 year old got excited to help collect seeds. At least one person in our neighborhood said they grew something from seed for the first time from our library, which made me so happy. I look forward to our library going up here in our new home so that I can keep filling it with fun stuff like seeds.


Onto perennials! I finally got a lupine to bloom and thrive! I had tried in the past, but didn't give it enough sun. I think I got 4 or 5 spikes off of this small plant this year? I was thrilled. And the color, so pretty! I saved seeds from this and brought them with me, I hope I can have success again!


Our front yard perennial patch has really established over the years. The echinacea kind of took over, but that's okay. I slowly moved other things out of this space and just let it run wild. I'm happy to say it has become a goldfinch haven!! It was also a great year for the hydrangeas. So blue! I am curious to see what color the hydrangeas will be here. In seven years I never amended ours in CT, they were that blue with the native soil, which is so cool.


I really love how this little shade garden came together in the backyard. Over the course of the season it changed as I dug plants out to take with us and moved plants from other parts of the yard to fill it back in. It won't look like this again, but I hope it will still look good for the new owners of our house.


On that note, early in the season I dug up all the mini hostas I knew I'd want to take and arranged them into three big pots. I love collecting the minis and they can be difficult to find (beyond the classic mouse ear). I did it for practical reasons, but they really were so adorable all together like this.


Of course I grew lots of dahlias this year! I only purchased three new tubers this year and all from a local farm (Two Meadow Farm in North Haven, CT). I also grew some other new-to-me varieties from my friend and neighbor Halina! We made a day out of our dividing this year on her driveway, which made what can be a tedious task so much fun. Highly recommend making gardening friends, they're the absolute best.


I really pushed the limits of the tubers I planted this year, because why not! This teeny tiny tuber grew into a full size plant with blooms!


One of the varieties I bought this year, Zaaling. I wish I had more photos of it that really showed off the color variations. Every flower is different on this plant!


Looking toward the 2026 gardening season I know this year (and probably the next few) there will be a lot of trial and error. There is a lot of space in this yard and we should get a lot more sun. But until we live through a season here, I can't be sure what all is already here, and where the best spots will be for things like the dahlias and a vegetable garden. There are a lot of beautiful mature bushes and trees here, but generally the gardens are overdue for maintenance so that will be an ongoing project. We are not starting from scratch like we did in CT, but there will still be lots and lots to do. First order of business will be removing as much landscape fabric as I can and just generally cleaning things up and evaluating. Definitely a lot of opportunity for planting here in the future, just need to do some groundwork first (literally, haha). Looking forward to getting started, that's for sure!!

Happy Gardening!