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June 9, 2026

Dumpster Diving for Food - A New Trend?

Hi Reader!

Back to this edition ... Hello again...

So, my YouTube algorithm was doing its thing, and I learned that an increasing trend in these UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is dumpster diving.

Apparently, the cost of basic groceries has driven middle income families to sneak behind stores like Aldi, Kroger, Target, Dollar Tree, etc. to raid dumpsters. Strangely enough, these folks are finding tons of edible food that has been tossed. Some use is for their own families and others also make food bags to distribute in areas of their city where homeless people are living.

I'm sure no one gets up in the morning thinking dumpster diving for breakfast is a good first option. Hard times call for desperate measures.

I found a statistic that said, every year, US supermarkets waste about 43 billion pounds of food, and as much as 40% of grocery store food waste is still edible.

Wild, huh? Why in the world is ANYONE hungry in our country?! More reason to learn gardening.

In this edition:

• Update on what's growing in my garden
• More Garden Hackery
• Sunroom on a Dime

Food is Here! What's Growing?

The weather has been so strange this season. We had a serious lack of rain in my area and the garden was suffering. Then we got 10 days or of rain .... rain ... rain. It was soggy, but the rain brought life to the garden.

Everything took off and started growing!

🌱I put a guard around my Okra until they got large enough to fight off rabbits

🌱Green Tomatoes

🌱Golden Cherry Tomatoes

🌱Asian Pears: This little tree is loaded with them. Hope they all ripen. The tree is growing in a huge pot.

🌱Growing Long Cukes this year; the kind you see in the store wrapped in plastic. Organic - $2.99 each. No thank you.

🌱Herb Pot is showing off: Oregano, Lemon Balm, Lemon Basil, Onions, flowers and maybe some others. I just scattered seeds.

Garden Hackery

If nothing else, I've learned how to rig all kinds of structures with strings, stakes, zip-ties, and whatever else I have since starting my gardening journey.

For the first time ever, I planted an indeterminate tomato plant directly into ground. No raised bed or bag. I amended the red clay with potting mix and just stuck this plant in the ground. I had little hope but lo, and behold, the thing took off. I can see it's going to be a wild buck, so I had to build a structure. I want it to do its thing, but I also need to make sure it doesn't go too wild.

Four stakes at each corner and some twine should help it. As it grows, I will keep winding twine around and criss cross on the stakes so the plant can be somewhat contained. This is an Ashleigh tomato plant. When I planted it last year in my raised bed it produced tomatoes that were on average 2lbs each. I'm anxious to see what happens on this plant.

Meanwhile, the cukes, that I'm growing vertically, are loving the climb upward. I used Masonry ladder and twine for these arches.

Cucumbers live hard and fast, and die off quickly, so you will typically have time in warmer climates to do two rounds of cukes in one season.

These are just starting to produce so tomorrow I'm going to start my seeds for the next round. By the time these get finished and die off or succumb to cucumber beetles the new ones will be big enough to transplant. It's called SUCCESSION PLANTING.

Sunroom on a Dime

I like my little living quarters but the one thing I would add if I could would be a sunroom. My backyard is South/Southwest facing and it is as hot as all get out every day; the sun blazing right on my patio. Not to mention the mosquitos and flies are ridiculous.

My solution .... an Umbrella with a zippered cover. Perfect! When the sun is still too hot, I simply clip a piece of shade cloth, same kind I use for my plants, to block the sun. Total cost for umbrella and covering $55. That's my speed right there. I've spent some lovely evenings in this little set up.

Well, that's it for this edition. I know it was a lot but hopefully it was interesting enough for you to reach this point.

Share GARDENEASE with your friends and family! I'm trying to expand this newsletter so more people might be inspired to grow food and flowers as a luxury, so the skillset is there if growing food becomes a necessity.

Gardening Thoughts

Feel free to write me at jangardener@gardenease.org if you have any questions or comments.

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I'll see you in the next edition!

Peace and Love,

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If you have questions, comments, praises, complaints, or ideas about gardening or about the newsletter, you can reach me at: jangardener@gardenease.org