The last couple of months, my biggest project has been seed starting to prepare for the 2026 growing season. For those new around here, veggie gardening is my favorite and it consumes my summers. But I’ve lacked a plan and hadn’t yet put together my goals for the 2026 kitchen garden. Because of this, I’ve been seed starting kind of willy nilly, very likely starting too much of many varieties and not enough of others. Today, before I start one more tomato seed (those sungolds are screaming at me!), I’m forcing myself to think through my biggest goals in the garden.
Also, I always seem to call my garden a kitchen garden, because that’s how it started, but these days it’s more like somewhere between a kitchen garden and a homestead. Much to my husband’s chagrin, I always seem to expand it larger and larger every single year. But isn’t that the way of the gardener?! The garden space is currently quite large with more than forty 8′ x 4′, simple raised garden beds.
Before we begin, you can look back on my 2025 garden goals. While I didn’t share an update last summer, I nailed every single goal and felt great about the progress in the garden. Well, that was until a historic drought set in and we went into major water conservation mode to keep our well from going dry. But more on that below.
Goal #1: Production
I believe this will be my forever number one goal in growing a garden. What motivates me most in the garden is focusing on foods we eat regularly and growing enough to feed us throughout the summer and preserve or store some for winter.
This year, even more than last year, I’m feeling the pull to grow more food and feed my family with homegrown veggies instead of store-bought. We’re on a tight grocery budget, so watching some of our kids’ favorite snacks drastically jump in price is painful. For example, a pint of blueberries this time last year cost us $2.99, and I just bought some for $8.99.
Last year, I didn’t quite grow enough strawberries, green beans, tomatoes (although it was a weird tomato year for many Vermont growers last summer), shelling peas, summer squash, and winter squash for storage. I also ran out of space and never planted potatoes last year, which is a great winter storage crop for our area.
Goal #2: Grow Everbearing Strawberries Vertically
Currently, I have three raised beds in my garden that are dedicated to growing strawberries. I’ve grown June-bearing strawberries in that space for the last three years, and the production I’m getting from them is not worth the space. They put out one big flush in the early summer, then spend the rest of the summer putting off runners. The problem is that our chickens and some other critters are (partially) eating most of the strawberries produced. Many strawberries also sit on the ground, and if I don’t catch them quickly enough, they can start forming rot spots.
This season, I ordered 30 everbearing bare root strawberry plants, and have plans to plant them vertically in a Greenstalk planter on a swivel. I’ll probably keep them down near the greenhouse, at least at first. The beauty of a Greenstalk is that I can move them wherever I like. If it goes well, I’ll expand it next season, transplanting any runners to another vertical planter.
Goal #3: Start A Blueberry Patch
My youngest daughter’s all-time favorite snack is blueberries and raspberries, but mostly blueberries. Thankfully, we have a wildly successful raspberry patch in our garden. Fun fact: when our first daughter was born, nine years ago, I saw a meme that said “good luck if your kid’s favorite food is raspberries,” alluding to how much a tiny container of raspberries costs at the grocery store. That summer, I planted a massive raspberry garden with varieties that would ripen at different times of the summer for a continuous summer harvest. Colby thought it was ridiculous but my my has his tune changed since the girls picked the plants clean last summer.
But I have yet to successfully plant blueberries. I did plant some that same summer, but they didn’t come back after the first winter. I blame the gardener on that one. I didn’t take care of them very well to help them establish.
I ordered four different varieties of blueberry bushes from Stark Brothers (LOVE them!). Three of the varieties will go in a to-be-established blueberry patch in the ground, and a fourth variety is for containers. Speaking of which, I need to get ready because they’re expected to arrive next week.
In other happy news, per my kids’ request I ordered a fig plant and it arrived today. It’s meant to be a dwarf, indoor/outdoor variety since our winters are too cold for it to overwinter so let’s see how this goes. She also requested a kumquat plant but I don’t have high hopes for that one.
Goal #4: Create A Kids’ Snack Garden Near The Playground/Playhouse Area
Last summer, as Colby worked on the playhouse structure and I gardened, I noticed an opportunity for garden expansion in the open space between the two areas. At some point, it dawned on me that it would be a really great space to plant ALL of my kids’ favorite snacks for fresh eating from the garden.
Both children will canvas the garden for a fresh snack, which includes ground cherries (tiny husk tomatoes that taste like pineapple), cherry tomatoes, snacking cucumbers, snap/snow peas, snack peppers, and radishes (the sweeter ones like French Breakfast). Typically, I plant these varieties all over the garden. It will be nice to have them all in one space, especially since they’ll know everything in that space is for them. They’ve learned the hard way, especially with peppers to ask, “is this spicy?” before picking and biting into something.
For reference, it will be located in this space behind the playground. You can see me garden off to the right.
To differentiate the garden, I ordered a trio of metal raised beds from Birdie’s Beds with the plan to set them up near the kids’ outdoor playzone in our yard before filling them with kid snacks.
Goal #5: Expand The Raised Bed Garden
A few years ago, I dug up rows in the space between my garden and the meadow and planted peas, tomatoes, and peppers in those rows. I loved having the added space, but watering was a problem (the hose couldn’t quite reach), and they were hard to keep the grass and weeds from encroaching on the garden space. I haven’t planted there since.
This year, I would like to start using that space again, but not until we build some more raised beds out there. I’m not quite sure how I want to build them yet, but they need to be big enough for corn, potatoes, shelling peas, and perhaps tomatoes, squash, and pumpkins as well. Mostly things that don’t fit as well in the smaller beds or could benefit from permanent trellis structures.
This project is alot, and likely expensive to build, so I may not finish the whole thing. We’re currently trying to stay within a $200 per month house/garden project budget, which is getting increasingly difficult to work within. But if we finish even just one or two beds and get them planted, I consider that a success.
Goal #6: Develop A Better Watering System
Coupled with the garden bed expansion above, I also need to address our watering system. Currently, I’m watering everything by hand using a hose, which is fed from our well. The garden has gotten so large that I break up the watering into chunks so a different section of the garden is watered every morning before it gets too hot. It’s alot of work, and I run into challenges that include:
- The hose doesn’t reach some sections, and I have to use watering cans
- Sometimes I drain the well
- I can’t always water when I need to because of other commitments and schedules
- When we’re in a drought, I don’t water the garden because many of our neighbors’ wells go dry in droughts, and we don’t risk it; drought conditions have been increasing over the years
We have a brook running through our property, which isn’t too far from the garden, and Colby has talked about pumping some water from the brook to use for watering. We’ve also talked about doing better at catching and reusing rainwater. And another idea is to create drip irrigation using some of that upcycled water. We have so many ideas to explore before we start implementing, but the goal is to pick one strategy to focus on and take a little baby step toward easier and more sustainable garden watering.
Goal #7: Build Coldframes
I’m always looking for ways to expand our growing season, and one thing I’ve long wanted to do is grow and harvest cold-hardy plants in the winter. My goal for this winter is to build cold frames next to the greenhouse that are south-facing and plant beets, carrots, and spinach in them. If it’s successful, I’ll expand winter production for the following year.
Now if I could just finish that greenhouse…stay tuned!
Goal #8: Use The Greenhouse In The Winter
My final goal, which coincides with the cold frames, is to grow food in the greenhouse all winter long. Once the main structure is finished, I want to trick out the inside so it can house seedlings in the spring, while also provide some in-ground growing space for cold-hardy crops like cabbage, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower.
I also want to grow some of my peppers in grow bags this summer, with the plan to move them into the greenhouse to expand the pepper-growing season, or maybe even into the house once it gets too cold. I’m curious how that would work.
Someday, I’d like to try to heat the greenhouse in the winter using solar power. But that vision is years down the road. I’m already impressed with how warm the greenhouse was this past winter. I wish I had kept a thermometer in there and tracked the temps so I know what to expect this winter.
What Are Your Garden Goals This Season?
Okay, now that I shared my massive list of garden goals with you, what are your garden goals for the upcoming season? Also, does anyone out there already have things in the ground? If so I’m jealous!
The snow is finally gone from the garden, and last week, I was able to dig down into the dirt more than an inch before hitting frozen earth. I started hardening off my broccoli and cabbage plants this week, so hopefully, next week, it’s time to plant in the ground again. I cannot wait!
