You’ve heard me say before that my garden is my healing place, whether I’m in it, or dreaming about it. In January, as all the seed catalogs are coming in, the perennials have died back, the trees have lost their leaves, and bare ground has been thoroughly mulched with shredded leaves pilfered from neighbors and city streets, I can easily visualize what is possible for 2025 in the relatively bare winter garden and through the glossy catalog photos.

From my kitchen table, I clearly see all the empty bird houses, the bird feeders, and bird baths. Do the houses need repairing? Are the feeders strategically located affording some shelter, yet are still in my line of vision from the inside? Are there enough sources of water easily accessible for all the visiting wildlife? I dream of chickadees, house finches, and wrens returning to their birdhouses in which they habitually nest each spring. Are the feeders as squirrel proof as possible? Are they placed where I can easily refill them? Do I need/want another water feature for not only the birds, but the frogs, toads, bees, wasps, and dragonflies? I dream of maintaining and growing our designated wildlife habitat, paying homage to our earned certification.

My eyes wander to my primitive rain water collection systems; are they adequate? The answer is definitely no! The rain chains do fill up two galvanized barrels when we have storms. I also have a mish- mash of other galvenized containers randomly placed throughout the yard. However, too much rain water goes to waste into the city gutters. My dream is to have rainbarrels under each gutter runoff with built in spigots for convenient retrieval of rain gold!

On this rain and sleet drenched day, I dream of last year’s harvested poppy, larkspur, and milk weed seeds stratifying in the ground under the winter precipitation and look forward to their end of winter blooms pronouncing the arrival of spring. I always doubt if the dried up perennials will ever come back, but they do surprise me each year with their vigorous growth and reliable blooms. I dream that they will be even sturdier and more prolific than last year.

My biggest dream this year is that we become more and more dependent on what is growing in our yard for fresh vegetables. Our newest “dream” planting is an asparagus bed. How fun is that?!? Carrots and radishes turned out great this month, so we plan to sow another crop of them soon.

Our garden gives me hope that dreams do come true if we take the next right steps. It heals me physically and spiritually, even in the winter months, never falling short of giving me blessings each day, if I take the time to recognize them.

What’s inspiring you for your 2025 garden?