9 years of dirt under the fingernails. Zero regrets.

Part garden archive. Part field journal. Part outlet for when the peat moss strips fall apart at exactly the wrong moment. All of it real.

New England Grower Zone 5b · Southern NH Meticulous · Grumpy · Optimistic MA 2017–2020 · NH 2020–Present
↓ scroll to dig in

This is my archive.
Everything I've learned lives here.

I started growing in 2017 in Massachusetts, mostly guessing. I'm now in year 9 in southern NH and the garden is bigger, the mistakes are more interesting, and Bohdi is always in the way.

This site exists so I can look back — and so anyone who finds it as fun as I do can look too. I'm not hiding my experience and I'm not flaunting it. It's just documented.

"Try first. Look up later. See what happens." — the method, basically.
9
Growing Seasons
2017 → 2026
2
States
MA then NH
15+
Crops Documented
and counting
1
Dog On Site
Bohdi, always
Interactive · Click a Zone

The Garden Map

Tap any bed to see what's growing, what happened, and how it went.
🍅
Tomatoes
🌽
Corn
🌻
Sunflowers
🍉
Watermelons
🎃
Squash / Pumpkin
🌶️
Peppers
🫘
Green Beans
🌿
Herbs
🛖
Shed
🟢 Active  🟡 Planned  ⚪ Resting — updated as the season unfolds
Archive · Full Catalog

What I Grow

Green = deep experience · Gold = breakthrough crop · Red = still figuring it out

🍉
Watermelon
Deep Experience · 9 yrs
Zone 5b shouldn't work. Does anyway.
🌽
Corn
Deep Experience · 9 yrs
Crowd planted. Dense. Produces anyway.
🍅
Tomatoes
Deep Experience · 9 yrs
The anchor crop. Every year.
🌶️
Peppers
Deep Experience · 9 yrs
Hot to sweet, all of them.
🥒
Cucumbers
Deep Experience · 9 yrs
Reliable. Forgiving. Love them.
🎃
Squash / Zucchini / Pumpkin
Deep Experience · 9 yrs
Summer, winter, all varieties.
🌻
Sunflowers
Deep Experience · 9 yrs
Non-negotiable. Every year.
🌿
Basil & Dill
Deep Experience · 9 yrs
Easiest win in the garden.
🫘
Green Beans
Breakthrough · 2025 Season
Bags and bags. Did not see that coming.
🧪
New This Season
Always Trying Something
TBD — ask me in October.
Field Archive

The Seasons

MA
2017
Year 1
It begins. Mostly guesswork, mostly joy.
MA
2018
Year 2
Try first, look up later. The method forms.
MA
2019
Year 3
Learning what not to do. Expensive lessons.
MA
2020
Year 4
Move to NH. New soil. New zone.
NH
2021
Year 5
Rapid growth — garden's and mine.
NH
2022
Year 6
Past experimenting. Starting to own it.
NH
2023
Year 7
Crowd planting. Pushing limits on purpose.
NH
2024
Year 8
Bigger. Better. Green beans show up big.
NH
2025
Year 9 · Now
The archive starts. Documenting everything.
Field Notes

The Blog

Where the growing, the grumbling, and the occasional breakthrough get written down.
Latest Rant
The Peat Moss Incident That Started All of This

I just wanted to get a head start before the next day. A 32-pack of Jiffy strips, a quiet evening, and a simple plan. Then the tray started falling apart and I got angrier than any gardener has a right to get — and then something clicked.

March 2026 · The one that started it all
What Happens When You Refuse to Give Plants Personal Space

Conventional wisdom says give everything room. I disagreed. Here's what happened.

Coming soon
The Surprise of 2025: Bags and Bags of Green Beans

I planted them expecting decent results. What I got filled every bag I owned.

Coming soon
🐶

Bohdi

Mini Hippo · Shar-Pei / Cocker Spaniel · 1 Year Old · Chief Garden Inspector

Bohdi doesn't garden. He supervises. He sits in exactly the spot you need to kneel and doesn't move. He has never once let a suspicious squirrel go unchallenged and he has never once actually caught one. He is Year 9's most important addition to the operation.

Always underfoot. Always perfect. 🐾

Follow the Season

Real updates when something grows, something fails, or something annoys me enough to write about it. Which is more often than you'd think.

No fluff. No schedule. Just when there's something worth saying.