It’s still early January but in ten short weeks I will be starting to transplant seedlings into my garden! Today I want to share a peek at my 2026 garden plan and talk about the tools I use to get things started. I recorded a video of my first seed starts and if you’re into that, you can watch on youtube by clicking the image below.

2026 will be my third year starting seeds and transplanting them. It will be my second year where everything I grow I start myself from seed. Throughout January I will be planting seven trays of seeds or 504 seedlings. Not all of them will make it! But hopefully most will be transferred into the garden by mid-April.

Above is my colorful garden plan (drawn on poster board with markers). I have six in-ground beds (roughly 4×18 feet each) and then a long narrow bed in the back that is mostly for sunflowers. The middle bed (that is white on the drawing) is currently filled with ranunculus and anemone starts. I expect those to finish their growing season by early May and then I will turn over that bed to sunflowers. I grow single-stem sunflowers which means one seed = one flower. If I want a lot of sunflowers (and who doesn’t?) I have to plant a lot of sunflower seeds. I am really hoping to stay on top of them this year and get waves and waves throughout the long growing season.