Howdy y’all 🧑‍🌾! Spring is just around the corner and as such, I’ve started thinking about what I’m goin’ to do gardenin’-wise in 2026. Last year was the first time I’ve ever tried to grow anything, so I wasn’t particularly ambitious. I grew some cherokee purple heirloom tomatoes which turned out amazing, and I harvested some blueberries from a bush that was already in the yard from before I bought the house. That’s it though. This year I’m planning on expanding the garden to additional zones and planting a wider variety of things. Exciting!

The Plan

Last year I used this tiny 3ft-by-8ft (ish) area to plant a few tomatoes. This year, I’m looking to expand my usable garden space into a few other zones to accommodate more stuff. But what should I grow? My decision making process here came down to, A. What can I grow in my zone? (7B), B. what do I and my family like to eat, and C. what isn’t terribly difficult to grow given my space parameters and general skill?

So here’s the list of things I came up with that I am going to try and bring to life… 🌱

  • 🍅 Heirloom Tomatoes (e.g. probably those Cherokee Purples again): These were delicious and made for great BLTs and by-the-slice-eatin’.
  • 🍒 Cherry Tomatoes: These will be great in a salad or dunked in hummus. If I’m lucky, I might even be able to get my kids to try some.
  • 🥒 Cucumbers: I’ve always wanted to grow cucumbers—just like my grandma did when I was growin’ up. I love to dip ‘em in ranch.
  • 🫛 Brown crowder peas (i.e. “cowpeas” / “field peas”): Now here’s a crop I always enjoyed while dining at my grandmas house, but never thought I could grow here. Well it turns out maybe I can! I’m not 100% sure this is the exact variety she used to grow but it looks pretty similar so I plan on giving it a shot.
  • 🍐 Pear Tree: I’m not 100% sure on the variety yet, but pear trees are supposed to grow pretty well in this zone and my kids LOVE them.
  • 🍑 Peach Tree: Same as the pear tree. ⬆️
  • 🫐 Blueberry: I already have one blueberry plant on the side of the house, but I have space for another and have been told that a second variety can help with cross-pollination. One problem though, is I’m not sure of the variety I already have! Oh well, what’re the chances I choose the exact same one??
  • 🫑 Pepper: I might try to sneak a red/green pepper plant in somewhere (as requested by my wife).
  • 🌻 Sunflower: Unrelated to the back yard, but I want to plant a sunflower in the front of the house. We had one when we first moved in and loved it! Time to bring it back.

Alright, I’ve got a handle on what I want to grow and I have taken some measurements for the areas I plan to grow this stuff in. Doing a little research I found the following recommendations for how much space to give each of these crops…

  • Cucumbers: Plant them 8-10 inches apart and in rows 3-5 feet apart.
  • Cherry Tomatoes: Plant them 2-3 feet apart.
  • Heirloom Tomatoes: Plant them 3-4 feet apart and 4-5 feet inbetween rows.
  • Field Peas: Plant them 3-6 inches apart and with rows 2-3 feet apart.
  • Fruit Trees (e.g. pear/peach): Plant them with a ~10 foot radius.

So with all this together, here’s a concept of how things would look…

Garden Plan Sketch

In this diagram I consider there to be 4 distinct zones…

  • Zone 1: In front of my screened porch is a ~14.5ft-by-6ft area that I plan on making into a net-new garden space. In here I’d like to try planting the cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, field peas and peppers.
  • Zone 2: In front of the sunroom, where I planted the heirloom tomatoes last year, I plan on doing the same thing this year.
  • Zone 3: Where I currently have my lone blueberry bush (and fledgling raspberry plant), I’d like to drop another blueberry bush. (This is on the side of the house)
  • Zone 4: Further back in the yard (away from the house) is a sunnier, and more spacious area that I’d like to see if I could get some larger fruit trees goin’.

There ya have it! A plan is born.

Plan Execution

They say things are easier said than done, and in this case—that is 100% true. Yeah sure, I grew some delicious tomatoes last year, but that was nothin’ compared to growing all this stuff I want to do this year 😬. There’s a lot I need to do! I need to acquire the plants, probably grow some of them from seedlings (which requires infrastructure and know-how I don’t yet possess), dig up or otherwise build new garden areas from scratch, and do plenty of research along the way. Phew!

Here’s some random resources I’ve collected that I suspect might help me this year…

So yeah, there’s a lot I need to learn, figure out and then ultimately do. I’ll probably get into more of that in future posts. For now though, I’ve got what kinda looks like a plan. Wish me luck!