Last Updated on January 12, 2025 by Homegrown Florida
Today I’m sharing the secret to how I consistently get so much productivity out of my garden year after year. It all comes down to one big thing: setting goals.
Now, if you’ve worked in a corporate environment, you’ve probably encountered SMART goals or other goal-setting frameworks, and like many people, I used to think they were kind of silly. But after years in healthcare IT, I realized there’s real magic to setting goals. In fact, did you know that people who set goals are 42% more likely to achieve them than those who don’t?
In this post, I’ll show you how I set my garden goals for the year, walk you through setting your own, and explain how I check in on them to make steady progress. So grab your index cards and let’s plan out the 2025 goals for Homegrown Florida together!
How I Set My Garden Goals
Each season, I set about two high-level goals for my garden. Since I live in Florida, that means four growing seasons, which gives me the flexibility to spread out different goals. My goals are a mix of high-level ambitions (like growing a year’s supply of certain vegetables) and specific sub-goals that help break them down into actionable steps.
Let’s walk through my 2025 garden goals together.
Goal 1: Infrastructure
Every year, I like to set an infrastructure-related goal. This could be anything from building a new garden bed to setting up automated watering. For 2025, my infrastructure focus is redesigning my front yard. When I bought my home, the landscape was already established but not filled with Florida-friendly or native plants. A couple of years ago, I worked with my friend Jaqueline from the Wild Floridian to replant it, but some things didn’t thrive as expected.
This year, I’m aiming to redesign that space again using a mix of native plants and flowers that thrive in our climate. I want to make sure this space is functional and beautiful, filled with plants that can handle Florida’s conditions.
Goal 2: Vegetables
This is a vegetable garden after all! My vegetable goal is to grow a year’s supply of five specific crops: broccoli, green beans, corn, peas, and peanuts.
Last year, I focused on potatoes and peas but didn’t quite make it to my goal. However, I learned a lot—like when to plant and which varieties perform best in my garden. This year, I’ll use that knowledge to grow even more. Even if I don’t hit my full year-supply goal, the key is making progress, refining techniques, and growing more than I did last year.
Another option would be growing a vegetable you have never grown before or challenging yourself to try different varieties of one vegetable to see which performs best in your specific garden.
Goal 3: Fruits
Fruits are still a relatively new goal for me. By 2024, I was growing about 70% of my family’s vegetables, but only 10% of our fruit. I made great strides this year, boosting that number to around 30-40% by adding more fruit trees and seeing some of them finally produce.
In 2025, I want to continue this progress by adding more fruit-producing plants and focusing on bananas, figs, and starfruit. I have a banana plant that has been growing in a pot for 18 months without fruit, so my goal is to finally get some bananas this year! I also planted a fig tree last year and, although I’ve never even eaten a fig before, I’m excited to see how it does.
If you are not ready for trees, start with smaller or annual plants like strawberries or melons. It gives you the opportunity to grow something sweet without committing to a long term plant like a fruit tree.
Goal 4: Perennials
If you’re not big into flowers, this might not be a major goal for you, but for me, it’s essential. I love incorporating perennials because they’re low maintenance and add beauty to the garden. This year, I’m focusing on adding perennial flowers to my front yard to complement my infrastructure goal. I’ve chosen plants like lilies, verbena, and periwinkle—none of which I’ve grown before! This goal will help me learn more about flowers, and I hope to create a thriving, low-maintenance front yard.
Goal 5: Preserving the Harvest
One of my biggest focuses this year will be on preserving food. I’ve always loved canning, dehydrating, and, more recently, freeze-drying. My 2025 preserving goals are:
- Create an inventory schedule: I currently base how much I plant on what I see missing from my pantry, but I want a more organized approach. Creating a schedule will help me grow exactly what I need for things like spaghetti sauce and make the most of my garden space.
- Build out my freeze-dried pantry: I absolutely love freeze-drying—it’s easy, and the food retains most of its nutritional value. This year, I’ll be preserving even more meals and snacks through freeze-drying.
- Try four new canning recipes: I love canning, but not every recipe is a hit. This year, I want to test out new recipes in small batches to see what works for my family.
Goal 6: Medicinals
I’m passionate about making my own medicinal products, and in 2025 I’ll be focusing on two things:
- Creating a full herbal medicine cabinet: I have a lot of tinctures, salves, and infusions scattered around, but I want to organize everything into a dedicated space.
- Refining my mosquito spray: Last year, I started working on an all-natural mosquito spray, but I didn’t perfect it. This year, I’ll tweak the recipe using oils from plants like lemongrass and citronella and test it during mosquito season.
Goal 7: Fun Goals
Finally, you need to have fun goals! These are goals that keep you excited about your garden. For me, I want to grow special-colored vegetables—green tomatoes, purple beans, yellow cucumbers, and more. I think it’ll add a unique twist to the garden, and I just love the look of rare colors!
How to Stay on Track with Your Goals
Once you’ve set your goals, it’s important to check in on them regularly. I have a couple of ways I keep track:
- Daily Reminders: I write my goals on index cards and tape them to my bathroom mirror. This way, I see them every day and remind myself to make progress, even if it’s just planting a few extra seeds.
- Monthly Check-ins: I also set a reminder on my phone once a month to review my goals. I’ll evaluate how much progress I’ve made and see if there’s anything I need to prioritize for the next month. Sometimes I make tons of progress, and other times life gets in the way, but the key is consistency.
Remember, this isn’t about achieving every single goal perfectly—it’s about making steady progress and improving your garden year after year.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been gardening for over 10 years, and I can tell you that setting goals is one of the most effective ways to improve your garden’s productivity. Each year, I see more success because I’m intentional about what I want to achieve, and I stay focused on making progress, not perfection.
If you’re new to goal-setting, start small. Pick two goals—one fun and one practical—and work from there. As you get more comfortable with your garden, you can add more. Happy gardening, everyone!