The other day I was in the garden watering it, picking cucumbers and zucchinis, and just general garden stuff when I saw a face looking at me from the tomato bushes. Looking more I made out a small body, legs, and eyes. It was a Hornworm munching on my tomato leaves!

          Ick! What was I going to do? I obviously had to get rid of it or it could ruin my tomato crops. 

          I quickly ran inside and grabbed the grabber, an extendable arm , to pick up the pest. Racing back to the garden I grabbed the first one, plucked him from his perch on the tomato leaf, ran out of the garden and flung him as far away from the garden as possible. I returned to my precious plants and discovered a second one munching away! This one too I grabbed, but he was strong and clung to the plant. I ripped him from the leaf with a mighty pull and flung him as far from the garden as well.

          I breathed a sigh of relief. For now my garden is safe, but for how long will it remain that way?

Click here to find more information on how to get rid of Hornworms on your tomato plants.

Something crept in into my vegetable garden overnight and ate my zucchini plants.

I thought I did everything right! I put up two fences around my garden to keep out animals. One fence was a made of three foot chicken wire which I buried about one foot deep and the other was a four foot wire fence that was loose on top so animals could not climb up and get in. I planted six tomato plants, six lettuce, six cucumbers, and six zucchini plants. Everything was great. I mulched with the grass clippings from my lawn and watered regularly.

Then one morning I went out to watch my garden grow and notice all my zucchini plants where gone. Whatever got into my garden ate just my zucchini plants and left the rest of my garden alone.

The only thing I can think of is something got into my garden started chomping away on my zucchini and then got interrupted by a noise.

If I didn’t think of something fast I might lose the whole garden to an unknown critter. I can’t stay up all night and keep guard over my garden! I have a motion detector light that is close by, but clearly that did not help. I need something that moves and makes noise but what? Later that day when I was rinsing out plastic and tins for recycling, it came to me. Pie tins!

And that’s what I did. I hung pie tins on all sides of my garden. They make noise in the slightest of breeze and if something was trying to climb my fence they would surely make a clatter. I also added a small beach ball to roll around gently inside the garden just in case those critters get past my pie tins.

It’s been a month since I installed my pie tins and my vegetables are flourishing including the zucchini plants that I replanted.

I still don’t know what ate my zucchini plants but I’m sure glad I decided to make a pie!

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The first step to planning your vegetable garden is to figure out what and how much vegetables you would like to grow. For example, if you like tomatoes or cucumbers make sure to plant enough for you, your friends, and your neighbors because everybody loves homegrown vegetables!

The next step is to plan your garden out on paper.  You will need to make sure you do not plant your vegetables too close together or too close to your garden fence. You will want to be able to move around them to weed and pick your harvest.

Step number three will be deciding whether you will buy already grown little seedlings or start your garden from seeds. If it is early in the season you can start your vegetables from seeds. When you choose your seeds make sure to check the planting zone on the back of the seed packet. You can purchase seed packets in many different stores including garden centers, grocery stores, and home centers.  

If you decide to start your garden indoor from seeds, you can use small paper cups and some potting soil. Following the directions on the seed packets will get you off to a good start. It will take several days for the seeds to germinate, but soon you will see little leaves and stems start to poke out of the dirt and develop.

Whether you purchase seedlings or seeds you will need to wait until all danger of frost is gone for your area to start planting your seedlings into your garden. Make sure to check the spacing of the plants from the seed packets or the plant tabs. You may also want to attach the empty seed packet or plant tab to the area of the plants you have planted. This will help you remember what plants have been planted where.

If you follow these steps you are on your way to a productive, healthy garden.