Garden plans

New year, same garden plans. Will this be the year I finally grow something??

I had a decent little container garden on our back porch in 2020, but since then I’ve really slacked in the gardening department. To be fair I was home 24/7 at that time (thanks, global pandemic), didn’t own my own business yet, and didn’t have a toddler to take care of. It felt easier to commit to a garden back then. Every year since then I’ve seemed to have this excuse or that excuse that prevented me from really getting back into it. Something about 2026 feels a little different though - maybe it’s because my daughter will be 5 years old and I can’t use “being in the throes of toddlerhood” as an excuse anymore. Maybe it’s because I’ve owned my business for 3 years now and have the system down, so I can commit more time to personal projects. Maybe it’s the downward spiral of the United States in general that’s making me feel like growing my own food is more important than ever this year. Whatever the case, I am feeling the gardening bug again! I genuinely enjoy so many aspects of gardening, and I’m ready to give it another earnest shot.

The What

So… what do I actually want to do with my yard? “Gardening” has 50,000 different meanings, but what does it mean to me? This is honestly something I struggle with. Historically I've defaulted to vegetable gardens with a few fool-proof plants for kitchen use. This has included tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, peas, onions, and a handful of herbs. All easy to grow in a container on the back deck with minimal maintenance. But this time around, vegetable gardening just isn't calling to me like it has before. Maybe it's because we've joined a local CSA for the past three summers (resulting in an abundance of produce), or because aphids ate every single zucchini last time I planted them. Regardless, what I'm more interested in is a complete overhaul of the existing flowerbeds, bushes, and trees scattered around the property.

Cut it all up! Tear it out! Burn it down! It's all gotta go! This is a slightly exaggerated paraphrasing of what goes on in my mind when I look around my yard. We've got two flowerbeds by the front door/porch, one in the middle of our U-shaped driveway, another on the side of the garage, and a few sad trees/bushes plopped here and there. Everything is dilapidated, unmaintained, dying, and visually unappealing. (Can you tell I hate my yard?) Nothing has been changed in the seven years we've lived here, except for two forsythia bushes I planted on a whim without researching them at all. Big mistake - they are massive weeds that take so much time and effort to trim back, and they only look pretty for like two days a year. Many regrets!

When I visualize my ideal yard, I see big plants and only a little lawn. I'm talking tall, wispy, flowery grasses and bushes, whimsical flower beds, creeping ground cover, birds & (good) bugs aplenty. I imagine a small strip of turf in the backyard for my daughter to play on and my husband to satisfy his urge to mow something. I can also see us maintaining a few raised garden beds eventually, just to have something “productive” in the yard.

I have a picture in my mind of native plants lining a little stone walkway from the front yard to the back. Gentle vines making a small, natural trellis up the garage wall (or on the nice deck we eventually want to build). A secluded sitting area in the backyard encircled by short stone walls and colorful wildflowers. The words that come to mind are inviting, enticing, vibrant, and seasonal.

The How

Is this vision possible? More importantly, can it be achieved inexpensively and quickly enough for me to keep interest in the project? Because I know myself - if it takes too long or I run out of money, it's going to take an act of God for me to see it through to its completion. There are a few factors to consider when I outline my 2026 garden plans:

• Time: How much time can I realistically devote to the yard? I wear many hats throughout the week, including Mom - Wife - Business Owner - Speech Therapist - Home Chef - Housekeeper - Creator/Hobbyist - Community Member and probably a few more. Adding Gardener to the list will inevitably take time and dedication away from some of these other obligations. I need a solid expectation of just how much time my garden plans will need.

  
  

• Cost: Everything costs money, even nature. My husband and I are now very disciplined with our budget, but it took us (okay, me) many years and many hard discussions to get to where we are today with our money. Some might say gardening isn't super expensive in the grand scheme of things, but if I’m not careful, I could very easily fall back into old, bad money habits - wasteful purchases, mental hoops to justify costs, lying to myself about my bank account health, and so on. My husband is my financial accountability buddy, so I need to lay out a very specific plan with him if we are to jointly approve any gardening costs.

  
  

• Stakeholders: There are several people who may be affected by my garden plans. Obviously I don’t live alone and my yard is visible to many neighbors. I need to be cognizant of others when designing a yardscape and maintaining its looks over time. My husband has told me several times he’s fine with planting native flowers/plants and replacing lots of lawn, but it has to be thoughtful and tasteful. The last thing I’d want to do is overhaul the whole yard and create something that he hates seeing everyday. I’d also like to be neighborly and make sure I’m not planting something invasive or luring tons of unwanted pests (insects, rodents, etc.) to everyone’s yards.

  
  

• Maintenance: Gardening isn’t a once-and-done type of project. I can’t just plop a few plants around the yard, wipe the dirt from my hands, and never touch any of it again. (Well, I could, but it’d look just as blah as it does now in no time.) What do I need to do year-round to ensure the garden I’ve created is sustainable and enjoyable? Is it something I can maintain by myself? If I need help, who do I need? Do I need to hire someone? What foundations can I lay now to offset future problems and minimize maintenance work? Said another way, I gotta put in the effort, research, and time now to reduce the amount of corrections, costs, and hard work needed later.

After I take all of the above into account, I can make a detailed plan to purchase, plant, and cultivate my dream garden/yard. My plan for 2026 is to start in one small-but-impactful area: the flowerbeds by the front door and porch area. These beds will be my experimental sandboxes where I can test my green thumbs without major risk. The beds are a defined space, they can be started over completely, and they're easy to correct if plans fail. Here is my preliminary plan for the flowerbeds in 2026:

• Replace the rotting wooden borders with pavers, stones, or short rock wall. Or maybe some natural-looking wood that can be easily replaced as it degrades?

Actually, if I could just replicate this garden bed, that might be perfect!

• Remove ivy and overgrowth from left flowerbed. Research the best time of year to do this so it's easy and it's less likely to grow back.

• Remove the four bushes/trees (they're some sort of small arborvitae).

• Transport the hydrangea to a better location if possible. Right now it's squashed between one of the arborvitae bush-trees and the front steps. Every year it grows through the stair railing and we have to hack away at it, making it look stupid and haphazard.

• Upgrade the playroom window? It might be a good time to do this since the flowerbed will be empty and easy to tromp through. We've slowly replaced 8 out of the 13 windows in our house over the past seven years, and it might be time for the ninth.

• Research sunlight and growzone before designing!!

  
  

The When

Much of the initial work can begin as soon as it's warm enough for me to tolerate being outside for more than 30 minutes at a time. Maybe by late February or early March, I can begin hacking away at the rotting wooden borders. Debris and dead plants can be cleared away. Once it's a bit warmer (consistently over 60 degrees), I can take a stab at removing the ivy and overgrowth. At that time I'll probably remove the arborvitae as well, since the ground won't be frozen solid and I can dig them up sufficiently. By early summer, I should have a blank slate upon which to make my new and improved flowerbeds!

The Why

So why am I putting so much time and thought into this little project anyway? Why did I even bother to type this all out, too? Well, I've recently resolved to fall back in love with my own yard. Actually, I can't really fall back in love with it if I never really loved it to begin with. When we moved in over 7 years ago we inherited a sad little yard with no personality or curb appeal. Lacking the time, knowledge, and funds to fix that, I've basically just avoided dealing with the yard as much as possible since then. I would love to snap my fingers and have a beautiful, thriving oasis of a yard, but I've been in denial about that fact that that involves actual work. I'm looking at it as a chicken-and-egg sort of thing - if I can actually put in the time and effort to make my yard beautiful, then my beautiful yard will make me put in the time and effort to maintain it.

As I've been working on this blog post over the past day or two, my husband actually brought up the topic of the yard without me even prompting it. He thought a good New Years resolution for me would be to spend at least one hour in the yard per week this year. His suggestion is to spend that hour each week either tinkering with something, tidying up, or improving a small part of the property. Starting with small easy wins will make me more motivated to keep at it week after week. I didn't even tell him I already had basically the same idea! Clearly he knows me inside and out. So, now that I have the plans laid out and the motivation slowly building, let's see if I can keep it going and make this the year of successful garden plans!