Top Gardening Resolutions for 2026

You’ve probably made garden resolutions or some manner of New Year’s resolutions, knowing fully well that by the time April comes around, you’ve abandoned them while binging Netflix, a tub of ice cream by your side. Setting any sort of resolution in the dire straits of winter is truly difficult. 

Garden resolutions start with good intentions, but a lack of motivation often deflates those good intentions, leaving an empty garden bed destitute. Gardeners make the mistake of choosing resolutions that are too grand, vague, or unmeasurable. Here’s the top gardening resolutions for 2026 that are actually feasible and won’t leave you running for your living room couch. 

Why Do Most Gardening Resolutions Fail

Some gardeners like to revel in pomp and circumstance, envisioning grand garden beds overflowing with blooms. Others are more practical in their endeavors, yet still ultimately fail to accomplish their gardening resolutions. All in all, the collection of follies, foibles, and outside derailments can be summed up as “life gets in the way.” But that doesn’t mean that you should give up entirely. 

Gardening resolutions can live on in a small way, often centered on practical, doable tasks like growing your own herbs at home. With a cadre of new tools, those tasks are more achievable than ever. 

 

How to Keep Gardening Resolutions: 

• Keep it specific and realistic. If crop rotation seems more like an ideal, not a practice, don’t attempt it. 

Instead of: “I’m going to plant a massive hydrangea hedge.”

Try this: Fill a planter with a few flowers or choose a single hardy specimen hydrangea.

• Don’t set resolutions that entail you to weed for hours on end. 

• Incorporate tools like the hori hori knife that can simplify tasks drastically. 

1. Grow Your Own Herbs 

Often, the first mention of “grow lights” sends gardeners running – the various requirements seem overwhelming and byzantine, filled with scientific verbiage that is rarely demystified for the average gardener. With this Vego grow-light starter and self-watering planter, you’ll have all the tools you need to grow herbs, seedlings, and houseplants. Perfect for beginners, the grow light contains a single on/off function – no complicated settings, just simple controls for light your plants can count on. Herbs are recommended for beginners, as they do not require grow lights and sprout with the zeal of weeds.  

 

2. Try Vermicomposting 

Gardening is constantly evolving, but rich, viable soil remains the building block that sets your garden ready for the rest of the year. In the past, composting was not very feasible for many gardeners, involving long treks to a composting bin and the hassle of having to turn the miasma of food scraps. Changes in technology and lifestyle have now introduced the concept of vermicomposting – using worms to help you compost. This in-ground composter, designed to be buried within the soil of your raised beds, allows worms to break down organic waste (kitchen scraps, paper, etc) into nitrogen-rich compost you can then harvest for your garden. It’s relatively smell-free, and the worms naturally move through the soil, enriching it over time. 

3. Simplify Watering   

Self-watering raised beds like the EZCube planter are the real MVP when it comes to keeping your plants alive: they water your plants for you, ensure your soil is aerated, and will keep your plants alive while you’re on vacation. All you have to do is fill the reservoir and let it do the hard work. If you constantly forget watering, set up an irrigation system that smartly delivers hydration to both seedlings and mature plants. 

4. Go for a Relaxed Gardening Approach   

Sometimes the best approach may indeed be a variation of: “Throw some seeds into the ground and see what happens.” Some people aren’t meant to adhere to a strict gardening plan, and while a semblance of structure is great, it shouldn’t require arduous spreadsheets that resemble your tax filings. A relaxed approach encourages experimentation, reduces burnout, and decreases the chances of disappointment when results don’t match expectations.  

5. Grow More Houseplants    

Houseplants are the plants you couldn’t kill, but you sometimes wish you did. They aren’t florid or decadent like old garden roses and have a tendency to blend in with the rest of the mundane home décor. But their strengths lie in their unkillable tenacity, even if you forsake the psychological benefits of stress relief and improved concentration. Look for compact, unique versions of common plants, such as the Moonshine Snake Plant, that you can keep near your desk. 

6. Try Experimental Themes Like a Moon Garden 

More experienced gardeners can diverge from the chaotic patches of overgrown vegetables and try niche, yet beautiful themes. At dust, when daylight flowers come to rest, the night comes alive with nighttime creatures and night-blooming flowers. Gardens who enjoy the solace of the nocturnal hours can cultivate a moonlit garden. A niche concept, a moon garden fed into the Victorian tendency towards whimsy. Pale flowers such as moonflower, night jasmine, and tobacco flower are utilized to create a heavenly tapestry that shines the brightest at night. Many of these flowers are highly fragrant (and attractive to pollinators), and when intertwined with the alluring scent of Old English roses, transforms into a magical alchemy of perfume.