A beautiful tray full of healthy seedlings

The Big 2025 Gardening Post

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So 2025 will go down in my history book as the year I became a farmer.

Kidding…kind of.

In the dead cold of January, I decided I needed something new in my life. Something I could do with my hands. Something that would keep me outside. Something that would pull me away from the news, and remind me of my humanity. I needed plants. But…it was January. So I did what any red-blooded American would do:

I went to the dollar store.

The Beginning

I bought giant wire shelves and some cheap LED grow lights. I bought a shit ton of cheap, genetically-engineered Burpee’s seeds (because the perfect is the enemy of the good), and I bought seed starting soil and trays. By February, I had my requisite spreadsheet of start times, etc. etc., and I was ready to plant.

A set of large wire shelves in front of a window with 3 blue LED grow lights shining
The monolith is complete
A wide array of seed packets on a dining table
Burpee’s is like the McDonald’s of seeds
A planted seed tray on the seed-starting shelf
At this point, I didn’t believe any of this would happen.
A seed-starting tray with tiny seedlings beginning to grow
Holy shit, those are plants.

Given the goings-on in the United States in February and March 2025, it’s not an exaggeration to say that starting seeds was crucial to my mental health. Having my seedlings to tend to every day, seeing them grow, and planning for the garden gave my mind a place to be that wasn’t scary or dark.

Preparing the Garden

Speaking of planning, I knew if things didn’t go WAY south, I would need a place to put these seeds come May or June. So I did MORE SHOPPING! I bought two 4×8 metal raised beds and 4 yards of 50/50 soil/compost mix.

A tan metal raised bed, ready to be filled
This is where the dirt goes, see?
A big pile of dirt next to the bed
This is the dirt that goes there, see?
The dirt is in there, see?
A relaxing deck chair covered in inches of snow
A brief April interlude, because New Hampshire

Gardening is an Outside Activity

By the end of April, everything was ready. Of course, April is too early to plant almost everything in New Hampshire, so I kept tending and waited. But at the beginning of May, the weather looked very favorable, so I started hardening off my little babies.

A seed starting shelf lit and full of glorious seedlings
The seed-starting station was a success
4 trays of seedlings on a porch
Basic training
A tomato seedling with a stalk coming out the bottom
There were a few surprises even
A beautiful tray full of healthy seedlings
Lil babies looking good!

Once planting happened, gardening life became a bit of a blur. A happy, green, tasty blur! So instead of bloviating more, I’ll just share a huge wad of photos. (And if you love my witty prose, just look to the captions!)

The Spring Garden

Raised beds with trellises and a few plants in place
Direct seeding some plants. It begins.
Young plants in a raised bed with
It was a wet spring, so I didn’t use the soaker hoses until August.
Bok choy crop ready for the freezer
Bok choy was the earliest crop. It was delicious.
Bok choy in freezer bags
A little spring for this winter
Beds are growing
Still in a state of disbelief that it was happening
I replaced a dead peach tree with a new one. Spoiler alert: I had 15 delicous peaches in August!
Swiss chard on the counter
Another early and excellent crop

The Summer Garden

Peanut is proud of the garden
That’s a lot of plants
I was amazed by my first zucchini. By August…I was less amazed.
The sugar snap peas were delightful
Mom’s dog Ludi loves carrots.
A summertime bouquet!
If you get really close, a raised bed is a jungle.
Bounty!
Basket of yukon gold potatoes
Potatoes were a success, although I won’t put them in the raised beds next year.
Butternut squash curing on a potting bench
Likewise, butternut squash grew well, but took over the raised beds.
Tried direct sowing some seeds in July…
It was an utter failure. The birds ate everything. 🙁

So it’s now October, and supposedly, the planting season has drawn to a close. Although it’s 80 degrees outside at the moment, so, not sure about that.

So here’s my conclusion, especially for those who love bullet points:

  • growing food is amazing,
  • my body and brain are both better off
  • I recommend it!

In fact, I loved it so much that I’m killing more of my lawn so I can better grow less polite plants without taking over the raised beds with them (potatoes and winter squash, I’m lookin’ at you!)

The Fall Garden

Of course, fall is the time to plan for next year’s garden. The worst part about my 2025 garden? It wasn’t big enough! So let’s fix that.

A large area of a lawn covered in cardboard
All the cardboard from my garden purchases did get put to use
Die, lawn, die!

Post Script

Here are a few other outdoor projects I did this year.

Two upright Japanese maples in planters
I happily took delivery of these two special Japanese maples
They are called Twombly’s Red Sentinels, and they will grow UP, not OUT!
I ended up with some free slate
I made a walkway
And a patio
And a bigger patio
Got this awesome archway trellis from Greg. It’s waiting for plants next year!

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