Before I get too deep into this garden tale, I will admit this is a story about my mother’s raised vegetable garden. The edible garden design consists of two raised beds, a few tomato plants, some variety of hot peppers, zucchinis, squash and a collection of miscellaneous kitchen herbs. 

The Garden design started as two simple raised beds made out of 2X8’s. I remember the day they filled the beds. As I watched a very well-aged pile of yard waste compost be deposited between the two beds, filling them half way, I wondered what kind of garden this mix was going to grow… Proceeding from there, the beds were filled with a rich, black top soil, thoroughly mixed, and then planted.  

A month or so later, I received a phone call from my mother regarding a concern with some very recent growth in her garden. There had been a few heavy rains in the week prior and one good electrical storm. She was concerned because her tomato plants had almost doubled in size, out of control, in a matter of days and these massive zucchinis were appearing everywhere! I had to go take a look…

JA Tucker 2013

Mom was right! These tomato plants were all over the place, the weight of the fruit breaking branches, and huge tomatoes. Oh, and by the way, would anyone like some zucchini? They were (and still are) exploding from everywhere in and around her raised beds, and seem to be getting larger as the season wears on. The last one I brought home for the freezer was over fourteen inches long! This is all grown from a simple mix of compost, top soil, water, sun, and love, completely organic and no additives. You can bet I am kickin’ myself for not taking a bag of that compost for my garden when it was offered!  

Between the heavy rain, the electrical storm, and her great soil mix, I am not surprised, at all, her garden took such a jump and is doing so well. Add a little warm weather, and there you go! Her garden looks great, I am so proud of her.

Speaking of freezing zucchini… Any advice on tasty ways of preserving our excess zucs for the winter that you would not mind to share would be greatly appreciated!