This is my 2026 food garden plan. Color-coding is the amount of sun. I’m intentionally leaving some blank space for new suggestions, nursery finds, donations from friends. The greenhouse is on an almost perfect east-west axis so the south side gets sun almost all day except mid to late afternoon the south-west corner is shaded by tall trees.
This is start of my 4th year gardening inside the greenhouse; each year adding to the infrastructure so now there are some raised beds, an arbor, walk ways with wood chips (brown) and some with slate tiles (grey). These plants have wintered over and are not moving: potatoes, olive tree, peach tree, peppermint, bee balm, strawberries, asparagus, and artichoke.
Currently topping all the beds with fresh compost – nets are temporary protection from cat scratching. As the beds are planted and irrigation is laid, I’ll put up the pvc & bird net fencing I trialed last year.
This is zone 8b but we’ve had a very mild winter – only a few nights below freezing and no snow. Fortunately the peach tree got enough chill hours and it’s already starting to bloom. Average day time temperature outside is in the mid-40s but inside is getting to the low to upper 50s during the day.
This year I’m going to experiment with more direct sowing rather than starting seeds in trays that need to be transplanted.
Sounds as though your garden is coming into its own after the building and settling in period. Looking forward to seeing it in full production later in the year. Remember – a plan is merely a suggestion 😉
It really does feel like I’ve crossed into the enjoyment phase. Getting the pavers laid last spring has made it easier to just pop out to the greenhouse without having to put on foot protection. Having the arbor and raised beds on each side ready in time for spring planting I have vision that this year it will be covered in good things to eat. And, such a little thing, but moving the bench to the food garden has made a huge difference! I can rest there between tasks and sit there in the morning or evening observing the garden.
How lovely. We’ve had a winter of mom-stop rain, so nothing done here yet. Looking forward to reading your stats on how much produce you grew and which was the most prolific.