An incredible amount can happen in a year. In my garden, time never stands still: some crops thrived this year, some harvests failed, and a few plants have stolen my heart. I'd love to take you on a journey through my version of the year in review: a digital stroll through my garden.

The Tromba d'Albenga, also known as the climbing zucchini, was the absolute star of the show in the garden last summer. This climbing vegetable produces large leaves and delicious fruits. These elongated zucchinis, as you might expect, have a trumpet shape. When young, the fruits are light green and delightful to eat raw. Once they grow larger, around 20 to 30 centimeters, they can be enjoyed like a regular zucchini.

However, if you let the fruits hang on the plant, they can grow up to 150 centimeters long. The color then turns orange to rust-brown, truly a beautiful color. The taste is absolutely sublime: a slightly sweet nutty flavor. I love using them as a vegetable in a delicious pasta. Don't have time to process the climbing zucchini? You can let them ripen in the garden. Once the fruits are well-ripened, you can keep them for up to six months as a decorative element from the garden.

I've made a climbing tower in the garden for the climbing zucchini to grow on. This way, the fruits can grow upright, and you avoid the risk of rotting fruits. And let's be honest: it's particularly space-saving.

Everyone knows it, dahlias have a special place in my heart. I have my favorite varieties, but I love to experiment. Sowing dahlias is always a surprise. From canary yellow to soft pink, from open heart to beautiful pompon: anything is possible. 

Every year, I harvest some seeds from my favorite varieties in the garden and sow a huge number of dahlias. Admittedly, finding space isn't always easy. Fortunately, each year there are a few gems among them: each one a beautiful flower that lasts long in a vase and steals the show with its stunning color and shape. This year was also a success. I had already selected the Petticoat Blush, which has been doing well for several years now. Both I and our grower are busy propagating the variety. 

But now there's a new variety joining, the Antique Blush. A stunning old pink color and the flower shape is truly beautiful. The tuber is in excellent health and is now safely stored for winter. This spring, I'll be taking plenty of cuttings so this variety can also be sent to our grower for propagation. Very exciting and delightful prospects indeed.

Anyone who knows me well knows that a garden always needs tomatoes. I love to sow a selection, from cherry to beefsteak tomatoes, for my garden. They come in all the colors of the rainbow, and the taste differences are incredible. This year, I've placed the tomatoes mainly at the front of the garden, next to our terrace. Deliberately in the open air, not in the greenhouse.

The harvest was truly incredible. The tomatoes kept coming, and I was fortunate to be spared from Phytophthora or the tomato blight for a long time. The plants gave their best, and the harvest was truly delicious. If you grow tomatoes outdoors, and not in a greenhouse, you're naturally more dependent on the weather. If it's a very wet summer, the harvest might be disappointing. Phytophthora strikes quickly, and the tomatoes don't ripen fast enough. However, if it's a dry summer, you often harvest more tomatoes outside than in the greenhouse. The temperature can also become too warm in the greenhouse, causing tomatoes to stop growing. So it's always a bit of a gamble and waiting to see what the weather will bring. Let's hope the summer of 2026 will be pleasantly warm again, so we can have another fantastic tomato harvest.

One of my favorite trees for the garden is the Malus 'Red Sentinel'. A stunning ornamental apple tree that attracts an incredible number of insects and pollinators with its beautiful blossoms in spring. In autumn and winter, it steals the show with bright red apples that hang on the branches. Blackbirds are fond of these apples, which are also edible for us. In the winter months, the garden can look quite bare and dull, but with an ornamental apple tree, you bring that much-needed splash of color to the garden.

2025 was also a mast year in the garden. In a mast year, certain tree species produce an enormous amount of fruit. Think of oaks, chestnuts, and beeches, but also the ornamental apple tree. A mast year is a natural strategy: trees produce more fruit than wild animals can consume. This ensures a surplus of food, allowing many seeds and pits to germinate. The offspring is thus secured by a mast year.