2025 Garden Totals

The 2025 garden totals are in!

I’m pleased; this was a decent haul in a smaller garden compared to 2023. (I didn’t really garden in 2024.) My fenced-in garden is about 8 ft by 6 ft, so 48 square feet. In addition I had some large pots near the driveway for carrots, potatoes and herbs. Imagine how much I could grow if I could use my whole backyard (2100 sq feet) instead of allowing a destructive velvet hippo to have free rein over it?

I didn’t keep track of all the herbs, lettuce, etc. I might yet harvest some Brussels sprouts (small but still growing), and I’ll get at least one more broccoli head, maybe more if side heads develop. Lesson learned for next year: don’t wait too long to plant fall brassicas. I had more plants, but didn’t get them planted out fast enough.

On Saturday, I roasted my sole pumpkin. I like to roast it whole; it seems easier than trying to cut through the hard rind.

The pumpkin yielded about 1.75 cups of puree, which I froze, and seeds, which I washed and set out to dry. I roasted them today for Tom and me to snack on.

A house nearby has all their decorative pumpkins and gourds sitting out on the curb. I was tempted to grab a couple for roasting. I do have one store-bought one sitting out front, uncarved, that I could use. Just about any pumpkin is fine to make puree for baking, since you are adding sugar and spices, as explained here.

We were tired by dinner time and just ordered pizza. After dinner, I baked a loaf of banana chocolate chip bread, and I have to say, it was just right. I tinkered with the recipe a bit so I could use up some vanilla yogurt. I also added molasses because I didn’t have enough brown sugar and had to switch to white.

Sunday, I did a speedy food order at Acme, taking advantage of some deals there. I put up a few more items of Christmas decor/lights. But the focus of the day was prepping to make twice-baked potatoes for dinner: cooking bacon in the morning, chopping green onions and shredding cheese in the afternoon. It was worth it! So freaking good. We ate them with pulled pork sandwiches.

I had all the ingredients for these on hand — picked the green onions right before chopping them.

Last week was a mix of fun nights out and home-cooked meals, and of course Thanksgiving and lots of leftovers. The highlight was that I picked and roasted my sole broccoli head. It was delicious. I only wished F or N was home to try it, but they are crazy busy with sports and activities lately.

Today we had spaghetti with gravy from the freezer, and garlic bread. Tacos tomorrow, at least that’s the plan.

I have a feeling that I am not going to make homemade gifts this year. Nothing is really catching my eye as something new to try (even though my IG feed is bursting with ideas) and I feel kind of tired of baking stuff (at least right now). Maybe I will stick with small, thoughtful purchases. Any of you going to make homemade gifts?