The 2025 growing season is on my mind these days as I prepare which garden seeds I will be growing this year! It's the right time to start planning because I need to know which seeds require early germination indoors. This encourages me to start dreaming of my zone 3b garden early, order my direct sowing seeds and think big!!
I am really excited and honoured to be a 2025 brand ambassador for West Coast Seeds this year. This means I am connected with others in a community of growers- where I can learn from others in the same growing zone as me. I also have access to new trial seeds and an affiliate link for people to shop through. Living in a zone 3b area, we have a short growing season with risks of late spring frosts (last year we had a frost on June 19!) and early frosts in September. I am considering ways of extending this growing season with the possibility of using a cold frame.
I have a permaculture-style garden currently with 6 4x8 feet raised beds, some fruit trees and shrubs, and in ground beds. I grow a mix of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. I feed my family all summer, plus grow enough to preserve for winter months. I have cut flowers for my own enjoyment mixed amongst it all like zinnia, dahlias and asters. But importantly, I also grow many ingredients that I dry and use for my products. They are nutrient dense, sustainable and the highest quality... which I am very proud of. This includes eucalyptus, calendula, lemon balm, lavender, sage, mint, thyme, rosemary, chamomile, nettle... plus flowers for my Vintage Garden Collection which includes sweet peas, snapdragons, pansies, pink yarrow.
But as for now, I typically start my annual seeds indoors in my little indoor greenhouse with heated mats, grow lights and a humidity dome. The first seeds I start are in February and they are blue spear lavender and silver dollar eucalyptus and baby blue spiral eucalyptus. Then in March, I start my tomatoes and peppers. (Many varieties but for tomatoes, I have a mix of early girl, sweet million, Roma, and beefsteak).
By April, I’ll likely also start pumpkins, calendula, asters and lemon balm.
New to me this year will be trial seeds that West Coast Seeds is sending me for being a brand ambassador. I also am trying to winter my dahlia tubers for the first time this winter. I covered my eucalyptus and lavender in the garden with straw bales, hoping they might survive the winter but I am doubtful. I am excited to try growing some new strawflowers, and some different greens like pak choy.
This year, I ordered the mini 4 soil block for my seed starting. This will help eliminate plastic waste from buying new seed starting trays. I am also considering adding a few more raised beds.
I can transfer my plants to my greenhouse by April if I turn on my little space heater inside. This does require extra power usage than if I keep them in my house- so it’ll depend on if I need more space! Usually by this time, my plants are getting potted up and I run out of room in my living room 🙂
I find the time of year when we get to be dreamy about our gardens and all the possibilities, is such a fun time of year. The time of picturing those beautiful blooms, bountiful harvests… and we aren’t yet remembering the hard work of it all! We have faced drought the last few years in my area, so the daily watering in my garden became quite the monotonous task to keep it all alive! Oh how I wish I had installed a watering system under my raised beds.
Find all your organic garden seeds at West Coast Seeds using this link here. (Please note this is my affiliate link and I do earn a small commission on sales through this link.) And be sure to check out their Gardening Guide 2025 as it contains all the seed varieties plus tons of helpful growing information.
Happy planning!!
