Garden Tips & Tricks

A few years back, a friend and I planted a garden in her yard. We were ambitious. Twelve pepper plants (all hot), three eggplants, three zucchinis, three cucumber, at least six tomatoes. It was going to be GREAT. And it was. At first.

Our cucumbers were the first to poop out. They were all so pretty in a little row, why were they turning brown!? We were diligently watering every day in the heat of summer. Everything else was happy! It turns out, cucumbers aren't HUGE fans of water. Yes, they like to be watered, but they don't like to SIT in water. 

Tip: Plant your cucumbers in mounds (see picture). This way, they get the water they need, and shed the rest. It's as easy as planting your cucs last, and using some of the excess dirt you accumulate when planting your other veggies, to build a small mound. Then, create a nice little hole for the plant, and voila. You've got yourself a happy cuc plant, well into August.

As you may have noticed, I said our cucs were the FIRST thing to poop out. Second, were our tomatoes. Not the plants, but the fruit. They got these weird brown spots on the bottoms of the fruit, and it was on ALL of them. A bug? A disease? Nope. 

Trick: We've all heard of healthy soil for our fruits and veggies, and tomatoes need calcium. In order to prevent those dreaded brown spots, a month or so before planting, save a few eggshells. Wash them out thoroughly and let them dry out completely. Then crush them into tiny pieces, and bury them in the area where the tomato plants will be going. You'll have happy, healthy tomatoes, without those dreaded brown spots.

Overall, our that year garden was fruitful (pun intended). The best way to get healthy food is to grow and prepare it yourself. And, it's pretty rewarding to come home from work and find how hard your garden has been working while you're away! Below are some of the goods from my garden last year.