Back in the Garden: Fall/Winter 2025

If you’ve been following along, you may have noticed that I didn’t plant a spring or summer garden last year — and that was intentional. I made the decision to step back so I could fully focus on completing my Master Gardener internship. Between evening classes, coursework, volunteer hours, and continuing education requirements, my time and energy were committed to learning and growing in a different way. And I’m proud to continuously say… it was all worth it. 🌿

So when fall rolled around, I was more than ready to get back in the garden — even if it meant trying something new. This was my first time gardening in the fall, and I decided to keep things simple by working out of just one garden box. I’ll be honest… I started kinda late. Fall gardening usually starts in mid-to late August, however I started planting mid-October. I planted collards, turnips, kale, lettuce, spinach, and broccoli — a mix of cool-season favorites that I was excited to see thrive.

Right around Thanksgiving and into early December, I had a beautiful harvest. There’s nothing quite like stepping outside and picking fresh greens in the middle of the fall season. Even with my late start, my little garden box showed up for me.

I was able to maintain my garden all the way through late-January… and then came the snow. Everything was doing well until the winter snow storm. No, I did not use a garden bed cover because I didn't think about it until I saw the snow fully covering my garden box. At that point, it was more of a “well... we’ll see what happens. And what happened was… the garden didn’t quite make it through.

Gardening has a way of humbling you, teaching you, and reminding you that you’re always learning — no matter how much you think you know.

As I look ahead, I’m excited to take everything I’ve learned into the next spring and fall seasons.