It’s been a whirlwind summer. There is so much to do and only so much time. Do you feel the same?
But I love this time of year when I can finally take a deep breath as the garden is done. Finalized. And then I can focus on watering and adding amendments.
Today I’m going to tell you about our garden 2025 with the hopes that you’ll tell me in the comments what you planted. If you are done planting or continuing to add. Flowers can always be added…..right?
I’m hoping to hit up a few garden nurseries and am crossing my “green fingers” there’ll be a few plants on sale! We’ll see!
Read more: July 2024 Garden – How is your garden going this year?!?
Peppers for picking and plucking!
My pepper plants are nothing less than beefy. Huge due to the amendments I added. Lots of flowers are a good sign as flowers equal peppers.
I only planted six pepper plants this year. Enough for my family to eat when the time comes. Our family will only eat colored peppers, so no green pepper fans here. I’ve learned over the years not to plant crops no one will eat.
Pointless. So I planted red peppers. But only for fun because they are so cheap to buy at roadside sides.
Flower power
I did plant tons of flowers this year. It just felt right! And they did me a ton of good! Lots of bold, beautiful color.
Portulacas stun. That’s all I can say! Yellows, oranges, red and pinks. Lots of vibrance. What flowers do you like to plant? What’s your favorite colored flower?
Herbs in rotation
I’ve gotten to the point where I only plant herbs that I use and will dry. So it’s mostly basil, oregano, cilantro, parsley, and rosemary.
I always double-check my parsley for yellow swallowtail eggs and usually, there’s at least one!
But I digress. Are any of you out there dill people? Not us!
But with basil in particular, it’s tricky. At the local garden center, basil is $5 for 4-inch pots. I can’t pay this much and use too much basil for that price.
I planted all my basil from seed, which does very well starting in late May. And every three weeks I plant another row.
In the picture above, you can see my first seedlings followed by the succession plantings. This way I always have fresh and tender basil to use.
Do you find your basil gets buggy and tough after a few weeks? For this reason alone, newer plantings are valuable!
Red raspberries for the win
Last year I found an Amish garden nursery selling healthy-looking raspberry bushes for $10 a plant. Score!
I only bought two for my 2024 garden and figured I’d buy more this year if they turned out to be a success.
The bushes are doing well in full-sun on the brick side of my house. I only got a few berries but anticipate getting more as the bushes thrive and hopefully grow in the coming years.
There’s such a difference in taste between grocery store raspberries and warm, fresh homegrown berries.
Cute story about that Amish nursery. There’s no one working. Nope. There’s a cash register and handwritten step-by-step instructions on how-to use the cash register if you want to pay by credit card. We all thought this very funny! Since I didn’t have any cash, this was the route we went!
Blueberries for the 2024 garden
While the local U-pick blueberries farm is where we go for large quantities of blueberries, it’s super fun to grow our own. We have six bushes in the backyard which for whatever reason are doing terrible!
But I also planted six blueberry bushes in our front landscaping which are producing marvelously! Lots of flowers turned into numerous blueberries. Sweet and delicious.
My 7-year-old son was picking them last night and wanted me to get the big ones. But he quickly gobbled the rest down.
Then the birds found out about my bushes and you can imagine where the rest are going. I should have put up my nets but ran out of time this year!
More flower power…
I love huge pots of flowers similar to the ones you see displayed in villages. Every street corner boasts a big, beautiful pot.
This year I wanted a red, yellow, and Key Lime color scheme and found success with red salvia, yellow million bells, and Key Lime potato vine plants.
I threw in a unique coleus plant and am very happy with the result! These plants are pretty sturdy. Some waves get a little wild and hit the plants. Not to mention vicious winds over the lake and the flowers are forgiving.
And yes…I fertilized them to get even bigger and bolder blooms.
Cherry tomatoes for the 2024 garden!
I planted 30 cherry tomatoes in my raised beds. Then I planted another 10 in pots around the house.
Last night, inspecting my garden, I picked my very first cherry tomato. Guilty I popped it into my mouth. Delish!
Maybe 40 plus cherry tomato plants seems excessive, but it’s not! They are my most requested crop from friends and family. And it’s nice to have some to spare.
I find no matter how many cherry tomatoes get planted none get wasted!
I also have a raised cedar bed that I put three plants in by mid-May! Those three plants are doing the best by far as they are growing up against a brick wall.
The brick wall attracts the sun and my plants simply thrive. They are growing so tall that despite trellises are toppling over!
Sadly, I planted beans and zucchini from seed but super late. I am not optimistic I will even see a fat summer squash or zuke. However, even with the crazy inflation going on…I’m happy that roadside stands are still selling them for 25 cents, or 50 cents max.
Amazing content and I love that rug
slowly
It’s going pretty good, but I’m having a hard time keeping up with the weeds this year. They are growing in so fast.
I don’t have a garden
I like the variety of things there! I usually do at least tomato plants here.
I wish I had more room to garden.
I planted some flowers this year, but as usual I don’t know what I’m doing.
Love the raised cedar garden box, it is doing so well too!
Beautiful garden you have.
Looks amazing!
i dont currently have a garden but I have been meaning to start so hopefully I will have enough time to start in the upcoming month
Pretty dry until this past week. My hydrangeas are full of leaves but sadly, few blooms.☹️. I love the colors of the rug and pillows!
My garden is doing great, but my water bill is really high because of the heat. We’ve already been eating some of the yield.
Thanks for reminding me about portulacas, a favorite childhood memory for me! I wanted bright color, too, and ended up with marigolds!
I am so jealous…lol seeing the beautiful garden! I have tomatoes that are ok and bellpeppers which are small I don’t know why!!!
I love the ideas on this site. 😃
Thank you for allowing me to enter the giveaway such a beautiful rug and pillows and I could sure use them
Great way to start up a garden with these ideas.
I love your giveaways and all the wonderful ideas you have!
My garden isn’t doing so well this summer – it’s just too darn hot! South Florida is a kiln of heat. Even my “loves full sun” perennials are perishing. I will have to start again in the fall. I’ve been looking at your suggestions and tips and taking notes. My new garden in the fall will be super!
Ty so much for this awesome giveaway
great site to learn
Hope I win your contest
Well, the tomatoes got sunburned. LOL. The herbs are doing well, except for when the dogs knock planters over. Strawberries are exploding with juiciness. Everything else seems to be okay, middle of the road. 🙂
I live in FL so gardening is always a struggle.
Because we’re serving overseas, I am super into the container gardens and straw bale gardening right now. Rental or GSO housing you can’t dig and may not have a yard at all. I love putting the plants in pots, it’s amazing how much you can grow that way.
42 quarts of dill pickles so far. 3 quarts of dill beets. Green beans did great. 1 row of sweet corn, 20 tomato plants, yellow squash, small watermelons, cantaloupe, and cabbage. I finished planting for my fall garden a few days ago….more of the same stuff.
I LOVE the color of the rug!
The weather here has been way too hot for my garden.
I sold my house in Illinois almost two years ago and moved to Florida. We rent the house we live in now. I never thought to ask if I could garden. I’m still trying to get use to the hot weather here! I really love your flowers. My flowers are in a hanging pot bought already planted from a store. You flowers are gorgeous!
Love this rug!
happy days
Love your giveaways!
Great ideas!
My garden is going well but nowhere near as well as yours with all of those beautiful pictures
awesome tips love them
It was too hot and dry here in NC. The corn all dried up in the drought. We had a few cucumbers and okra, but lots of squash. I kept the tomatoes watered until we had a couple of downpours a week, so then they have had to much water and the leaves have all curled up.
Great tips. Always love your content.
We have tried growing sweet corn in the past – unsuccessfully! This year we have one volunteer corn plant and it is doing great!
My daughter and her husband have a double plot in a community garden and it’s looking good with veggies and herbs.
It’s been a very busy summer.
Working on the soil to make it better and I have a Gopher who just loves the yard right now too.
Back problems have kept me inside this year.
I love portulacas. So colorful!
love Summer gardening!
Pretty cool
So much great inspiration! We just moved into a house this year and I can’t wait to get our garden started!
Gardening this year has been a challenge. I’ve had to replant squash three times and corn twice (the crows love to snatch it up as soon as it comes up!) and it has been a bit dry, but things seem to be coming along just fine right now. Hope your garden turns out lots of yummy tomatoes and other veggies! Take care and enjoy summer! Thank you for the giveaways!
Our garden has been good so far. It’s been nice having our own tomato’s and peppers not sure what else my step dad grew it wasn’t much this year though as he started late.
We had a lousy tomato season last year. But this year is making up for it.
Veggies coming out of my ears!
Wow, these are exactly my colors. I’d love to have this the rug and pillows in my home 🥰
Very inspirational .. and motivating!
Such a beautiful rug and pillows. My wife would absolutely love them.
I used to have a plot in the community garden at the church next door, but sadly they closed it down during Covid and never reopened it. Would love to garden again.
Beautiful rug and pillows! My son just bought a new house. Would love to give him your amazing rug and pillows as a housewarming gift. Just lovely!
My My garden is fantastic this year. I have so much green beans and zucchini!
Awesome!
I am just learning to garden so not great yet!
Next year you will be great! Start planning now though!
Great tips on this blog!!! Thank you for sharing all of them. Super helpful for us newbies! 🩷
so beautiful
A favorite memory of my late mum is how much we loved our beautiful flower garden and our huge vegtable garden (gathering items cooking baking canning freezing) and eating it all then our fruit garden every fruit imaginable also the herb garden I was so proud that mmom did it with the family help it was delitious
Awww! How sweet. Thanks for sharing.
Great color on rug & pillow
I didn’t have a garden this year. I really hope to have one next year.
You will love it if you do!!
The other day my concrete pump broke, and I had to switch to a different mix design. Buildcalchub’s volume calculator handled the change with no issue. The density adjuster let me input the actual pounds per cubic foot from the batch ticket. My revised order was accurate to 0.1 yard. That saved me from a second truck fee. Incredible. Tool Collection compares traditional and modern methods.