My 2025 Gardening Plan
The most wonderful time of the year is back! The kick off to gardening season will be here before you know it, and if you’re seed starting, now is the time. Once the holidays come and go, I’m essentially ready for winter to end, and gardening season to begin. Depending on what you’re growing, you may be starting seeds in February (some even in January!), or a bit later in March.
Seed starting has been such a fun learning experience for me, and every year I find myself growing more and more from seed. Personally, my love for growing is primarily in flowers, but I do enjoy growing herbs, vegetables & fruits on occasion as well! I like to grow food on our balcony, whereas our flowers go in a 9.5 x 2 ft 17” Modual Raised Garden Bed from Sproutbox, and we’re taking it one step further this year with a second bed entirely dedicated to growing ranunculus and anemones in the spring, and dahlias in the summer through the fall. So let’s talk about what’s growing & where!
Herb Garden on our Balcony
When thinking about the gardening plan for 2025, I like to keep in mind that most of our balcony space leans more to partial-sun than full-sun (we get approximately 6 hours of sun a day on the balcony at the peak of summer along the outside of the balcony), herbs tend to prefer this lighting, and have done extremely well growing out there. Instead of fighting against our growing conditions, I decided to lean into it (but I had to throw in a couple of flowers too!). Here’s what we’re growing on our balcony this year:
· Basil: Dolly, Lettuce Leaf, Basil Blend.
· Cilantro: Santo Long Standing.
· Dill: Heirloom, Bouquet.
· Garlic Chives: Heirloom.
· Lavender: English.
· Oregano: Greek.
· Parsley: Curled Parsley.
· Rosemary: Rosmarinus officinalis.
· Sage: Salvia officinalis.
· Thyme: English Thyme.
· Tomato: TBD.
· Pansies: Nature Antique Shades.
· Hydrangea: TBD.
Cut Flower Raised Bed Garden
Buckle up everyone, this section is going to be lengthy. As much as I love growing vegetables & herbs, my real passion in gardening lies with growing cut flowers. There’s nothing that makes me smile quite like having a fresh bouquet of flowers in my home, and after getting a taste of having them on hand, to cut whenever they were ready & sprinkled around my home without spending money at the store, I became addicted. In the last couple of years, we’ve continuously expanded what we’re growing, and 2025 is no exception because now we have two raised garden beds to fill! Here’s what flowers we’ll be growing throughout the entire gardening season, and they’ll be split in Spring (April-June), and Summer (June-September).
· Ranunculus: ‘Bianco’ (White) & ‘Rosa Chiaro’ (Pink), Ginette (Soft Pink) & Purple Jean (Purple).
· Anemones: ‘Rarity’ (Soft Purples & Pinks).
· Dahlias: Café au Lait (Dinnerplate, Light Pink), Coralie (Decorative, Magenta), Hy Suntain (Ball, Burnt Orange), Mystique (Decorative, Dark Pink), Sweet Nathalie (Decorative, Pale Pink), Apple Blossom (Collarette, Pale Yellow), Apricot Desire (Waterlily, Pale Orange), Dark Spirit (Ball, Dark Burgundy), Jowey Winnie (Ball, Magenta), Peaches & Cream (Ball/Decorative, Light Pink & Orange).
· Cosmos: Cupcake Blush (Pale Pink), Velouette (Light-to-Dark Burgundy Red), Purity (White), Xanthos (Pale Yellow) & Double Click Rose Bonbon (Pink).
· Zinnias: Queeny Lime Blush (Lime Yellow), Queen Lime Orange (Orange), Queeny Red Lime (Pinky-Red & Yellow), Zinderella Lilac (Light Pinks), Floret Originals Alpenglow (Soft Orange & Pinks), Floret Originals Golden Hour (Muted Yellow & Oranges).
· Stock: Apricot (Pale Pink), Lavender (Purple), Appleblossom (Soft Pink), Lemon Chiffon (Pale Yellow), Vintage Brown (Magenta).
· Snapdragons: Chantilly Light Pink (Light Pink), WPF Sunrise Mix (Orange, Light Pink, Magenta), Lavender (Pale Purple), Costa Apricot (Pale Yellow), Madame Butterfly Bronze (Magenta), Costa Silver (Very Pale Pink), Chantilly Light Salmon (Soft Oranges, Pinks & Yellows).
· Statice: Sunset Mix (Yellow, Muted Pink, Pinks), Light Blue (Blue).
Some of the flowers farms and retailers I purchased these seeds, corms & tubers from include Antonio Valente Flowers, Whistling Prarie Flowers, Roam Flora and Floret.
Investing in Quality Materials & Tools
Lastly, one thing that I’ve done over the last few years was upgrading my tools and supplies to better quality items, and I can definitely tell it made a huge difference in the quality of the plants. Even though I didn’t have perfect growing conditions, the small amount of things that did bloom on my balcony thrived & were stunning. You may be wondering what I mean by “upgrading to better quality materials & tools”, well, when it comes to soil, you ultimately could buy the cheapest $3/bag option at the grocery store, but good quality soil is going to make a difference in how happy & healthy your plants are, regardless of if they’re food or flowers. If you think about it, the soil your plants grow in provides them with nutrients they need! Now, I only purchase OMRI certified, organic soil from Pro-Mix for all of my planters, and start all of my seeds in their OMRI certified organic Seed Starting mix.
Additionally, I purchased a natural fish emulsion fertilizer and even upgraded my containers to UV-protected, all weather planters in various sizes (+ they have drainage! No more roots rotting in overwatered soil!) last year, which I’ll be reusing this year. Of course, I’ll also be watering all of my herbs (& radishes) using a galvanized steel watering can, while our flowers will primarily be watered from a Flexzilla Watering Hose that is completely safe to drink from.
If you’ve made it to the end of this blog, you’re truly the MVP, because she was lengthy! I have really fallen in love with gardening over the last few years, and it only gets more intense each year — I really could talk about it all day! Even though half of this plan involves growing flowers in a raised bed in a backyard, I hope this blog has inspired some of you who maybe live in apartments, or don’t have a large backyard to give container gardening a try… I always say that you don’t need a backyard to be a successful gardener!
* Note: Links and linked products featured in this blog post are commissionable links. Should you purchase a product with these links, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you.
