What’s In The Garden
2026 is the first garden season for Copeland Cedars! The idea of a garden quickly grew into randomly buying seeds and snatching up discounted plants on random weekends.
Despite my BS in Agriculture, I’ve never had a garden. My only plant has been my 5-year-old lemon tree, he’s patiently waiting in Florida for me to build a greenhouse here. I’ve had a lot of trouble keeping anything else alive, so I jumped right in to gardening with 18 8×4 ft raised beds….
After ordering wood, 13 tons of soil and compost and wrestling with weed liner and wood post boarders for weeks, I finally had a garden!! Most of the plants I started inside didn’t make it, so Facebook marketplace was a life saver for peppers and tomatoes.
Garden Week 1
Over the last few weeks my garden has slowly filled in with some awesome plants. Here’s what’s in my garden today. Note (*) means I plan to have enough to sell this in my farm shop for in person pickup! Everything else is to fulfill my curiosity. I’m so excited to see what grows and can be harvested!
Herbs: Chives*, Cress, Thai Basil, Parsley, Lemongrass, Dill*, Sweet fennel, Oregano, Bay leaves*, Rosemary, Basil, Anise, Sage* - I am swimming in Cilantro* and Sweet Mint* (my favorites)
Aromatics: Lavender, Jasmine, Agastache, Sweet mint, Spearmint, Lemon balm, Peppermint Stevia - these I hope to use in my incense blends
Pizza Garden Bed: San Marzano tomatoes, Basil, Yellow pear tomatoes, Roma tomatoes
Purple peppers, Habanada, Hatch, Shashito, Orange blaze, Aji Ahuachapan Pepper
Root Veggies: Sweet potatoes, Purple sweet potatoes, Black peanuts, Marshmallow Root, Parsnips, Beets, Daikon radish, Rainbow Carrots*, Onions*, Garlic*, Ginger*, Turmeric*
Grains: Mixed quinoa, Hard red spring wheat, Black barley, Blue Wheat, Assorted Amaranth. These are purely experimental, I have no idea how growing grains is going to go, but it’d be pretty cool if I get 2 biscuits out of my little grains patch!
Veggies: Brussels sprouts*, Okra*, Edamame Soy Beans, Pumpkin, Fennel, Loofah*, Pok choy, Leeks, Cucumbers, Watermelon, Spinach, Acorn squash, Assorted Corn, Zucchini
Beans/Peas: Black beans*, Sugar snap*, Garbanzo*, Kentucky Wonder
Berries: Raspberry, Blueberry, Elderberry - Hopefully harvestable next year
Wildcards: Indigo (pray for this.. none has grown and I really want to make natural dye), Resling Grape Vines, Black sesame, Green Tea, Mustard*
Along the back strip of the beds is a Flower Garden: Chamomile*, Sunflowers, Amaranth mix, New England aster, Lupine, Goldenrod, Marigold, Forget me not, Zinnia, Painted daisy’s, Nasturtium, Snapdragon, Hollyhock, Lunaria, Purple coneflower, Hopi red dye amaranth, Bronze amaranth, Delphinium, Baby’s breath - All for flower arrangements, tea and natural dyes!
My Garden Learnings So far
Just Buy the seeds, random seeds are great to fill in empty nooks in your garden
I had no baseline for how much water a garden this size would need, I’m still figuring this out
Vertical planning solves so many problems, I did not trellis enough haha
Ill add more as I have them, all to prep for garden expansion next year!
I am so excited to take care of my garden, try lots of new recipes from my harvests especially making some items fresh from scratch like bread, mustard, hummus and pickled veggies! Thanks for coming along on my garden journey! Stay tuned for more!