What We’re Growing in the 2025 Garden

This will be the third year I am doing a “What We’re Growing” post. This is one of my favorite posts of the year because it gets me excited for the upcoming growing season. Since I grow the same types of veggies year after year, this year I want to share with you the exact varieties that I will be growing in the garden. I love to experiment with new varieties alongside my tried and true favorites! Here is what we’re growing in our garden this year!

What We’re Growing in the 2025 Garden

There are so many different seed companies to choose from that it can be overwhelming to decide who to buy from. That’s why I mostly buy my seeds from my local nursery and hardware store garden centers. My favorite seeds to buy are from Botanical Interests, Ed Hume Seeds, and Renee’s Garden. However, I am not above buying seeds from Burpee or Dollar Tree, either.

Vegetables:

Root Vegetables

Last year was not a good year for my root vegetable game. I have a feeling that the soil in my raised beds was too compacted. My plan this year is to go through with a garden fork and break up my soil and then top it with some bags of good compost.

Carrots:

• Rainbow blend
• Danvers Half Long

Beets:

• Detroit Dark Red

Radish:

• Royal Purple
• Pink Lady Slipper
• Crimson Crunch
• Crimson Giant
• French Breakfast
• Garden Party – Five color mix with Purple, Pink, Yellow, Red, & White

Onions & Leeks

Last year I tried white onions from sets but they never bulbed out into larger onions. We were able to use them though for various recipes which I loved. This year I have decided to stick with bunching onions because I have had good luck with them in the past. I have also tried leeks from starts in the past but this year is the first time I am trying them from seed.

Bunching Onions:

• Evergreen White Bunching
• White Lisbon Bunching

Leeks:

• American Flag

Pumpkins

Last year was my first year growing my very own pumpkins. I loved it so much that this year I am going pumpkin crazy! I am not sure I have the space for this many but I sure am going to try!

• Casperita
• Jack-Be-Little
• Black Kat
• Cinderella
• Sugar Pie
• Jack-o-lantern
• Fairytale (from seeds I saved last year)

Squash

I am a master at growing zucchini! Aside from tomatoes, it’s probably my most grown crop because it is so prolific! I grow so much that a lot of times some of the harvest goes bad and I have to get rid of it. So this year, I am sticking with one type of zucchini. I am branching out to a new type of squash as well that I can train to climb over a trellis and am really excited to see how that goes!

• Black Beauty Bush Zucchini
• Honey Nut Squash (Baby Butternut)

Beans

I have had great success with pole beans in the past. My favorites are the purple pole beans and rattlesnake pole beans. This year I am going to try two varieties of bush beans so that I only have to put up supports for my tomatoes and my honey nut squash.

• Royal Burgundy
• Jade

Greens

I love growing our own lettuce and greens! Last year I tried growing spinach for the first time but I learned really quickly that slugs LOVE spinach sprouts. Slugs love greens in general so I will be paying extra attention to combating them this year.

Lettuces:

• Buttercrunch
• Spicy Mesculin Mix
• Red Sails
• Tri-colored Romaine

Kale:

• Lacinato/Dinosaur Kale

Other:

• Tendergreen Mustard
• Nobel Giant Spinach
• Mavrik Radicchio (Fall)

Tomatoes

I don’t think I will ever not grow tomatoes. Tomatoes are my favorite fruit/vegetable to eat. The taste of homegrown tomatoes is like nothing else; it’s the best! Growing them is also a lot easier than people think. And, if you take care of them, they will give you more tomatoes than you could ever think of eating! I really want to make an effort to preserve as many of them as possible all while eating and enjoying them fresh!

• San Marzano
• Italian Roma
• Oxheart
• Heirloom Beefsteak
• Sungold (Cherry)
• Sweetie (Cherry)

Peppers

I have struggled with peppers over the years. My most successful crop of peppers has always been the sweet banana peppers. In the last few years, I have been trying to get a better crop of bell peppers, jalapeños, and cayenne but with little success. This year, I am planning on trying more peppers in pots because the banana peppers did great last year in the pots on my patio. I also want to give snipping them a try to hopefully get them to branch out more!

• Sweet Wonder Bell Pepper
• Sweet Banana Pepper
• Early Jalapeño
• Heirloom Jalapeño
• Heirloom Long Red Cayenne
• Hot Pepper Anaheim Chili

Other

These varieties except the broccoli are new to me. The cabbage, broccoli, and celery will be planted for Fall crops later in the Summer.

• Finocchio bulbing fennel
• Romanesco bulbing fennel
• Small Fancy Mix gourds
• Copenhagen Cabbage (Fall)
• Utah 52-70 Improved Celery (Fall)
• TBD varieties of Broccoli (Fall)

Herbs:

I always love to have fresh herbs growing in the garden. We have chives that come back every year and English and lemon thyme, oregano, and rosemary that grow year-round. These other herbs are ones I love to grow every Summer!

• Cilantro
• Dill
• RussianTarragon
• German Chamomile
• Basil
  • Italian Genovese
  • Sweet Basil
  • Red Rubin
  • Gourmet Blend

Flowers:

Cosmos

Cosmos are such magical and whimsical flowers! I love the color and fun they add to my garden! I love to grow them every year!

• Seashell
• Velouette
• Picotee
• Bright Light
• Various varieties from seeds I have saved

Sunflowers

Sunflowers are gorgeous and I haven’t grown many in years past. I did get one mammoth sunflower one year and it was the pride of my garden! This year I am trying a few different varieties and am excited to see what I can get to grow!

• Mexican Sunflower
• Mammoth
• Drop Dead Red
• Teddy Bear

Marigolds

I fell in love with Marigolds the first year I ever grew them from seed! When I found out they were great companion plants for my tomatoes and peppers, I knew they had a place in my garden from then on!

• French Marigolds
• Various varieties from seeds I have saved

Sweet Peas

Sweet peas are such a gorgeous flower. They have the sweetest scent, and you can smell them from across the yard!

• Various Varieties from seeds I have saved

California Poppies

I grew a bunch of beautiful orange California poppies a few years ago and they have reseeded every year. I love the way they look and I am excited to add different colors of poppies this year!

• Sunset Mixed colors

Zinnia

I’ve had one really good year with zinnia’s but since that year I have struggled to get them to germinate. This year I am going to try starting some inside and outside as well.

• Cut and Come Again
• Envy
• Pinwheel
• Thumbelina
• Candy Cane
• California Giants
• Giant Double Scarlet Flame
• Giant Flowered

Other

I wanted to try out some new varieties this year to create more diversity!

• Rudbeckia
• Delphinium
• Gazania
• Arctic Fire Dianthus
• Part Shade Wildflower Mix

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