Well, hi there. Happy 2026! I hope your new year has started off beautifully.
We have had fog for the past 4 days so the hoar frost is thick and gorgeous on the trees. Looks so beautiful out there… from inside where it is toasty warm ; )
I have been trying to sense what kind of year we are going to have this year, but getting nothing. No sense of joy and happiness, but no sense of gloom either. Just… nothing. My gut is often wrong though. The last time I was super happy and hopeful for the year ahead, my daddy passed away one week into the new year. So… I cannot trust my gut or my heart when it comes to intuition.
I am hoping for a great garden year. Perhaps a nice holiday somewhere in late summer. No plans for anything, just vague ideas of what to do with this brand new year.
Have you made resolutions? Affirmations? Do you have a word for the year? I am working on getting healthier now that I am more mobile. I know that is cliche, but having a new hip helps with mobility a whole lot so I am hoping to put it to great use this summer. I have no affirmations but will be coming up with a word for the year… still working on what that will be though.
Have a sense of how your 2026 is going to go? Do you trust your intuition? Any big plans for the new year ahead?
- Your January 2026 horoscope: tarot predictions to kick off the new year – because, why not? Always fun to read : )
- Year of the Horse: Fortune, Personality, Horoscope (2026) – Chinese new year predictions.
This amazingly cute greenhouse plan popped up in my Pinterest. If you have a handy person who can build this greenhouse, it is (7’x8′) absolutely adorable.
- How to Plan Your Garden (A Simple, Seasonal Approach)
- How to Create a Pollinator Garden | Easy Steps & Top Plants
- Plants That Attract Pollinators by Gardening Zone – Bee & Butterfly Friendly
What are cues to care in garden design and what are they based on? – getting native garden planting right is harder than one might think.
- 8 pack solar pathway lights
- 8 pack tall, square pathway lights
- 6 pack green pathway lighting
- 2 pack tall, square pathway lights
- Globe lights with timer (yep, getting these!)
- 120 feet of solar glove lights
- 2 packs of 33 feet solar fairy string lighting with on/off button
I loved both of these garden design videos so much! Grab a cuppa or a glass of wine, a notebook/journal, sit back and enjoy.
- Your start-from-scratch garden design guide – 22 garden style ideas + expert garden design tips
- How to change your garden…what works and what doesn’t..
- Here is a link to the guide mentioned -‘ The Complete Guide To Garden Privacy’ book or the kindle version.
- How to Make Your Garden Easier to Manage This Year – Good advice from the same blogger, not a video.
These How-To-Grow Videos from Charles Dowding
If you like to start your veggies in modules/pods, you will love all of these tips from Charles. I am a direct sower, whenever possible, but still enjoyed his tips, as I pre-start artichokes and onions, of course : )
- Mastering Beetroot: Tips for Successful Early Sowings and Year-Round Harvest
- Onion 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Onions and Spring Onions from Seed for Large Harvests (I have never heard of planting them in clusters of 3 to 5, or even more. This is a great way to get ‘spring onions’, too.)
- How To Grow Globe Artichokes from Seed | No Dig Method
- How to grow chillis in pots: a step-by-step guide
- How to Grow Carrots in Your Own Backyard, According to Experts
Year End 2025 Vegetable Seed Report Card – The Marigold Potager – check out which varieties really thrived in the 2025 garden, where the seeds were purchased, and why I will buy them again. All Canadian seed sources.
Sweet Pea Flowers: Planting, Growing, and Caring for Sweet Peas – I have to tell you about the tip I learned last summer when growing my sweet peas.
- I direct sowed some in April and also pre-started some using the seed snail planting method. (I used bubble wrap strips that I had saved.)
- They both grew at the same pace all spring. All the way along, they were pretty much the same height.
- The surprising thing to me was that the seed snail plants flowered many weeks earlier than the direct sown ones, and flowered more profusely all summer long. The direct sown sweet peas were the same height, same bushiness, but had a whole lot less blooms.
- If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that I am a die hard direct sower. I definitely do not like to pre-start anything that I don’t have to, anything that thrives in the garden when direct sown in early spring. Thus, this blew me away. I will seed snail them again this year. The best part about the snails is how little space they take up, of course. Space is at a premium in late the late spring greenhouse.
Homey Ideas
How I’m adding colour to my garden with a winter planter (this is for my west coast followers – on the prairies, we can make this in April)
This Cozy Kitchen Is the Perfect Blend of Style and Function – This kitchen and dining nook is so pretty. Love those backsplash tiles.
Ideas generated by that lovely kitchen above. It is just wow. I love all the ideas!
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Foodie Bits & Recipes
Five o’clock dinner crowd: why are young Americans eating so early?
2026 Will Be the Year of the Cabbage – interesting. I can sort of see it. After reading the article, I had to check out Cabbage Alfredo (sounds yummy, actually). I found this recipe, too, that sounds really good. I just have to figure out what to sub out the meat with.
- zucchini butter spaghetti – looks yummy and healthy.
- Sourdough Cheese Bread – I made this bread the other day. It is a little bit garlicy and a whole lot cheesy. Very yummy.
The Marigold Potager - A Zone 3 Prairie Garden 
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