Every garden year starts quietly.
Not with harvests or overflowing beds, but with the small decisions that shape the entire season. What to plant. Where to plant it. What to simplify. What to let go of.
This year I’m building my kitchen garden around a few crops I know I love to grow and actually use in the kitchen. Instead of trying to grow everything, I’m focusing on what works well in my climate and what I know I will harvest often.
Right now in my garden in Idaho, the season is just beginning.
The soil is still cold in the mornings, but the planning stage is fully underway. Seed trays are starting to appear on the counter. Beds are being cleared. Irrigation lines are getting checked. The garden is waking up again.
This year I’m keeping my growing plan simple.
I’m focusing on a handful of reliable crops:
• cilantro & basil
• corn, beans & squash
• lettuce & arugula
• tomatoes & peppers
• lavender & sunflowers
• seasonal flowers like marigolds and zinnias
These are the plants I return to every year because they are productive, useful, and satisfying to grow.
Some of these will go into my kitchen garden. Some will become plant starts I’ll sell from a small farm stand.
But mostly they are being grown because I love the rhythm of tending them.
Seed & Season will follow this garden through the entire year. I’ll share what I’m planting, what’s working, what fails, and how to build a garden that actually fits into everyday life.
Not a perfect garden. A real one.
If you’re here because you’ve been thinking about growing food, this is the perfect moment to begin. Early spring is when the garden starts taking shape.
The first seeds are small.
But they change everything.
Let’s grow something this year,
Ashley