I looked out the window this morning and there was no green in my garden, just brown dirt. Nancy had pulled up the last of my plants. The little garden will now sit fallow for about 5 months, then it starts anew. I will have my garden tilled again, to make for easier planting, but I read that the best time for plowing a garden is in the late winter or early spring. This allows your soil enough time to settle before planting season begins. It also allows the soil to break down organic matter into usable nutrients for plants and improves the structure of clay soils.
We backyard gardeners were certainly blessed with near-ideal weather in 2025. We had lots of rain when needed, and then plenty of sun. Everything I planted came up and I had bumper crops of onions, lettuce, cucumbers, peas, potatoes, and okra.
I learned something by mistake about okra. I had planted a dozen baby okra plants exactly 3 feet apart in all directions, but only half the plants were able to squeeze through the overpowering cucumber vines. That meant that each okra plant had twice as much room to grow. The branches on the okra stalks were able to spread and I believe I picked as many okra pods from those 6 plants as I would have from the 12. In the future, I’ll give my okra plants more room to grow. In fact, I believe most everything in a garden does better when it’s uncrowded.
I’ll try to remember that come March.
