Honestly, the 2025 summer gardening season felt like more of a BUST then a BOOM! I was able to grow food but there were certainly things that were odd, out of order, strange or whatever you want to call it. These things didn't prevent food from coming but they certainly reduced the outcome. Let's talk about it.
The Good
In spite of odd weather, and bugs, I was able to get some good produce.
OKRA: If I grow nothing else in my garden I will always grow Okra. It is so hardy and easy to grow as long as the weather is HOT. It just keeps producing and has very few bug issues until the very end. I got lots of okra this year. One of my faves.... I call it nature's natural Retinol because of it's high vitamin A and vitamin C content.
Chili / Hot Peppers: I grew a heap of chili peppers this year because I wanted to dry them and make my own cayenne powder. They produced until I pulled the plants. Keep a eye out for a future edition on this.
Bell Peppers: I planted six grow bags of peppers. They all did well; producing daily. They were still producing when I pulled the plants last week.
Garlic: I plant garlic every year. In spite of the weather, I still got a decent crop although they were smaller in size. Check out my edition on growing garlic.
Cucumbers: I planted the cukes on a new trellis. They did better this year. Last year was a wreck but I figured out that I was underfeeding them so when I gave them more nutrition they grew and grew.
Butternut and Spaghetti Squash: These were so-so. I did get a few but not nearly as much as I thought I would with the number of plants I had.
Grapes: Had an unexpected mighty grape harvest! Read about it here in this edition.β
The Bad
Squash Bugs: Oh my good gracious! By the time September came I was totally fed up with the squash bugs. Don't let the name fool you, these bugs were on ALL of my plants, not just squash. I had a full infestation that I really need to fix.
I had sunflowers, which are supposed to be a trap plant. Meaning, if the squash bugs were attracted to the sunflowers then they'd leave your other wanted plants alone.
Well, they absolutely covered the sunflowers then migrated to all other plants.
*trigger * Here is a picture of my sunflower right before I cut it down, It's COVERED with squash bugs. It was so gross.
βSo, next year I either need MORE sunflowers, or a stronger deterrent.
Rabbits: You already KNOW about my beef with rabbits from previous editions so I won't elaborate here but I will show you this video.
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Weather: This Spring was soaked! It rained so much. Then, the rain stopped and it was a million degrees and as humid as Hell's breath out there. With all the humidity I fought mildew and fungus on my plants.
I'm so grateful that when this HAIL storm came, most of the summer crops had finished and I had my newly planted collards and kale covered with netting. Just had a few big pots get blown over.
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Tomatoes: I planted eight tomato plants and I got a decent crop but if the weather had been favorable I should have gotten a bumper crop. I didn't. Thankfully though, I didn't have a bad hornworm issues. It was just not a good year for tomatoes. That's how it goes.
Cantaloupe: Last year they were GREAT! This year was a bust. I got 3 and they were tasteless and small. No bueno. I'm not sure why though; of course I'll try again next year.
Changes for the 2026 Summer Garden
Live and Learn ... that's what gardening is all about.
Here are some things I plan to do next summer season.
- NEW SOIL: I have reused soil for the last 2-3 years in my pots. I will buy fresh soil as I hear squash bug eggs can live in soil and hatch in the spring. Maybe that was my bug issue this year - old soil.
- GRAPES AGAIN: Now that I have some experience with grapes, I'm going to try it again on a larger trellis. We'll see what happens.
- DOWNSIZE: I'm going to downsize a bit. I always said I wanted a bigger plot of land to grow on. However, at some point while I was out there tending to all the things I was growing I realized that if I grew any larger I would not be able to keep it up, so I decided to cut back some of the plants so I can manage and enjoy the fruit of my labor. I sold four blackberry bushes and put a diseased pear tree down. That will certainly lighten the load.
Overall, here's to a great garden season. I always love to see it come in and, honestly, I'm a bit ready for it to move on. It gives me time to reflect, rest, and prepare for next year.
I plant just a few things in the fall. I'll show you in an upcoming edition.
Well, that's all for now. I will leave you with this great quote
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