My 2025 Goals Recap
Last year I had 4 things I wanted to accomplish in my garden.
- Create Content
- Permanent Greenhouses
- Pollinator and Bug Habitats
- Rainwater Collection
To read more about my reasons and plans for these projects, visit last year’s post here.
Suffice it to say, I did experiment with each of these things. The greenhouse wasn’t erected until early this year. Everything else went OK. So what did I have hopes for this year?
Invest in More Perennial Foods
My favorite thing about perennials is how they provide for more than one cycle. I had already invested in raspberries, a grape, and a pear tree. But how much else can I add that will enable me to continue harvesting year after year without additional investment?
I’m adding berry bushes. I will be attempting asparagus again. I will be reseeding cold friendly crops like kale and cabbage and scallions as well as my pollinator friendly flowers, calendula and marigold. I will also be upping my seed saving game, making sure to save seed from peas, beans, peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
Extend the Growing Season
Now that I have a greenhouse in my arsenal, I will be attempting to grow crops into the fall and early winter. Heck, if I’m lucky maybe all year long. I just ordered a solar powered fan to help keep my greenhouse cooler in the summer (it already gets up to 115 in there!) and will be investing in a solar powered power station for the cold months. This will enable me to have warming mats and additional light as the days grow shorter. I will plan to move some plants into the greenhouse as the year progresses in order to keep them producing. I’m thinking kale, scallions, lettuces, etc.
Make Mushroom Spores from Cuttings
I inoculated a garden bed with wine cap mushroom spawn about three years ago. I worry that it will stop producing and plan on attempting to make additional spores using trimmings from the ones I hope to collect soon. I’ll use those to create spawn and add it to the rest of the garden, improving the soil as well as providing an additional food source.
Prioritize Creating Compost and Plant Food
My first year gardening involved a lot of trips to the garden center for soil and fertilizer. Last year I improved things a bit, reusing soil and planting most things in the ground instead of containers. I added compost occasionally but added store bought plant food whenever I added plants to the ground. I did start making my own fertilizer using grass and weed clippings. This year, however, that’s all I’m going to use. I have put a lot of time this winter into saving vegetable scraps and adding carbon to my compost. I will be using fermented grass clippings and an alfalfa tea mixture as plant food.
Bunny Proofing the Garden
Last but certainly not least is to bunny proof the garden! I’ll be creating a post on this later, but I have already been battling these adorable nuisances and it isn’t even June yet. I am behind in my planting because of surprise guests…
I hope your gardening plans are going well so far this year. If you’d like to follow along in my pursuits on a more daily basis, follow me on social media and on YouTube. Thanks for reading!
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