Rebecca

Garden season has returned

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: the return of garden season! While we technically started our cabbages, broccoli and kale on New Year’s Day {and up-potted the seedlings mid-January}, our first real Garden Day is usually around Valentine’s. Pro tip: Scheduling your planting around holidays makes it very easy to remember what happens when.

Speaking of brassicas: those little babies are doing so good! They’re going to get to stay inside another month{ish}, then they’ll be planted out in the garden.

Cabbages
Kale

We decided to try a new kind of green pea this year, after our sugar snap peas cross-pollinated and lost some of their goodness. These are bush-type peas rather than vining, and while the pods are supposed to be “mini” they promise to pack a flavorful punch. We shall see!

It was also time to plant the onions. We started these seeds back in October, and they’ve been wintering on the porch. It’s a different variety than we grew last year, and at first we weren’t sure we’d have enough. But approximately 200 onions later, and I think we underestimated them. Last year we did plant them at the end of March, so we’re a month earlier, but hopefully the worst of the cold is over and they’ll be okay.

Tomatoes used to get started around Valentine’s as well, but with the soil blocks, they grow too fast and get too leggy. Last year we pushed them back a few weeks, and it worked out a lot better, so we’re trying that again this year.

We did start our peppers however, using seeds we saved! These started as nadapeños, and we think they may have slightly crossed with the giant sweet peppers we grew in 2024, because last year they got huge and were slightly less jalapeño-y. But still delicious, and we are excited to see how they turn out this summer.

It seems like just a few weeks ago we were scrambling to keep up with the harvest, and we’re already back to starting the next year of vegetables! Time flies, and gardening definitely moves you through the year. You have to start seeds early, so the plantlings are the right size for being planted at the proper time. Watering duties have returned, which are never quite as fun in February/March as they will be in May/June, but hey: the garden calls.

Have you started any seeds yet?
Are you planning a garden this year? If so, what do you want to plant?

16 comments

  1. I love the packets of heirloom seeds – seed packaging always makes me happy. But, I’ve given up on gardening. We usually only have about 65 days in our growing season, which is about enough to get some zucchini. Honestly, I don’t have a green thumb! Ha! Ha! I do enjoy reading about gardening and seeing pictures. Especially right now, when it’s only 10 degrees outside!

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    • I really love seed packets too! And some brands are so gorgeous: vintage illustration? Be still my heart 😍 That is a really short growing season! We end up with about 5 months, and I’m usually very ready for the dormant season by the time it comes 😂 There will definitely be more gardening posts and pictures to come 💕

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  3. Sounds like things are starting to get busy already. Thats a major amount of onions. I hope the pea variety goes well and it’ll be interesting to hear what you think of the peppers this year too.

    I havent planted anything yet but I brought a few seeds the other week. Including cornflowers which always fail to take for me for some reason, despite being labeled as easy to grow 🙈

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    • It is a lot of onions, but we also eat/cook with onions all the time. Hopefully they turn out good, and store well! The peas sound very delicious, and are already starting to show early sprout signs! 😀

      Buying seeds is at least half the fun 😉 Cornflowers are so pretty, and I’ve got 3 color varieties I’ll be starting soon! I’m going to grow the blue, the pink, and the dark burgundy. Hopefully! The blue ones grow wild around here, so I’m hoping that means I’ll be able to get these to germinate and flourish 🙂 Best of luck to you as well! ❤

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      • Thats a good point about them, they tend to turn up as a first step in so many recipes. Thats wonderful 🥰🥰 sounds like a promising start indeed.

        I do always love seeing what’s on offer 😂 ooh well I look forward to hearing how you get on with them…most likely a lot better than me. But I’m determined to have them take this time 🤞 aww thats lovely, they do always look so pretty. And thank you 🥰

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    • Thank you! I never gardened on this scale until we got married, but it’s surprisingly delightful, haha. And now I’ve got my separate flower patch as well, so we’ve got the goodies to eat and the pretties to admire {and hopefully sell}. 😀

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      • This is admirable! There is something magical in seeing how a plant grows and knowing that you take care of it is even more amazing! Here we say that the seeds are the children of the Earth and everyone should take care of them 🙂 it is very special and rewarding and also makes you self-sufficient at least in the veggie and fruit department:) Fingers crossed that you sell!!

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    • We had a major cold front move through today, and while we were expecting rain and wind, we looked out the window this afternoon and it was pouring snow!!! Did not stick, and did not last long, but it was like “what in the world???” 😂😂😂
      Yay for planting things though! 😀 We start most of our seeds inside, and then move them out once they’re big enough + it’s warm enough for them to not die immediately, lol

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