I have had great success with my garden. I grow tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, onions, green peppers, and beets. My tomato plants grow as big as trees and my cherry tomato plant can feed the world, I say. Onions and green peppers grow well, as do most pepper plants. I have a good success with the zucchini and green beans. I have had limited success with melons, though, and my artichoke plant couldn't take the heat. It is possible to grow broccoli and cauliflower, but they grow best either in the early spring or late fall when it isn't too hot.

A lot of plants love the sun and heat of our area, and with adequate watering and good soil, you can achieve great results. If you set it up properly, it can be easy to maintain and produce lots of good, fresh produce for you and your family.

IT ALL STARTS WITH THE SOIL

This is the one place where you need to put in the time and effort. The soil is the basis for a great garden, and if the soil is poor, your results will likewise be poor. I was extremely lucky, as the previous owners of our house created a raised garden plot and filled it with top soil, and this is why my garden is so successful. If you are not likewise so fortunate, do not despair! You can have a garden, but you need to put a little more work into the soil.

First thing you need to do is pick out your plot for your garden. You need a plot that will get a lot of sun. Remove grass, weeds and rocks. Using a shovel, dig as deep as you can, and turning over the soil and breaking it up as best you can. Next, you need to add organic material to the soil. If the soil is very clay-like, I suggest adding a lot of peat moss as well as a product such as Amend or other product with fertilizer in it. A new product this year (which I am trying in my own garden) is Miracle Grow Organic Garden Soil, which is a blend of peat moss, steer manure, and fertilizer. Using a rototiller if you have one, or a hoe or rake if you don't, mix well. The more you mix it, the better it will be.

Every year, keeping adding lots of peat moss and organic material, and your soil and your garden will likewise improve as well.

PICK YOUR PLANTS

Green beans are easy to start from seeds. Pole beans require a trellis or other structure for the plants to climb; the 'bush' variety is more compact.

If you grow tomatoes, be sure to buy tomato cages to support the plant. Some cucumber varieties may also require a cage or other support.

Melon plants are usually vining and require a lot of space, unless they are stated as a bush variety. Zucchini plants also need to be spaced far apart.

I like Green's Nursery by K-Mart and the Green Thumb Nursery on San Fernando Road in Newhall. They have the best selection of plants and the most knowledgable staff.

THE LAZY WAY TO DEAL WITH WATERING

This is something I have perfected! I should point out that I have a raised bed garden, but I think you could do this in the ground, if you set it up properly. The idea is to dig deep trenches in between the rows of your plants, which you fill up slowly with water. This way, you are not directly watering the plants, which helps keep the amount of weeds down, and you don't have to stand there, spraying your plants. Also, the deep watering will cause your plants to put their roots down deep, which helps them be vigorous and hydrated in the strong heat of summer.

I dig trenches about a foot wide in between the rows in my garden, wide enough so that I can walk in them to harvest the plants. My plants are in between, raised up about a foot from the bottom of the trenches.

When I have dug my trenches, I smooth out the area where the plants will be, and add a granular plant food, such as Blood Meal or Bandini Vegetable Food to the mounds where the plants will grow.

To water, simply fill up the trenches with a slow running hose once a day. You will need to water the plants themselves as well as the trenches for about a week, and then slowly stop watering the plants and switch only to watering the trenches. If you are starting plants from seeds, you will need to water them several times a day until the sprout, and then continue for about a week to two weeks, slowly pulling back until their roots reach the water in the trenches.

The extra lazy way to do this, if you are fortunate to have a water spigot to dedicate to the chore, as I do, is to buy a water timer and set it up to fill up the trenches automatically for you. With a few adjustments to length of watering time and how much the spigot needs to be set to, this chore is miraculously handled for me, saving my garden from the life-to-near-death experience that my unfortunate houseplants must endure.

THE LAZY WAY TO DEAL WITH WEEDS

Besides promoting vigorous plants by deep watering them in trenches, the other main benefit of trench watering is cutting back on the amount of weeds which will inevitably grow in your garden. Since you aren't putting water on top of the plants, weeds generally will not grow on the soil which is above the trenches. Using a combination plant food and pre-emergent weed killer, like Miracle Gro Weed Preventor & Plant Food product will ensure this, and you can also use a mulch, such as cocoa shells (available at Lowe's) or a redwood mulch as well. The mulch will help to keep the moisture in the soil, and keep your plants' roots hydrated. (It will also eventually breakdown and decompose into the soil, which will help to add more organic material and improve the soil over the long run.)

Weeds will, however, grow in the trenches. But there's an easy, lazy way to deal with that, too. Once a week or so, use a hoe and scrape the ground in the trenches. This will chop off the little weed seedlings as they start to sprout. If you do this on a weekly basis, it will take you but a few minutes and you may not even break a sweat. The longer you wait in between hoeing, the more effort it will take.

THE LAZY WAY TO FEED YOUR GARDEN

Miracle Gro. As you can tell, I'm a fan of their products. They have a sprayer you can attach to your hose, mix in some Miracle Gro tomato plant food, and water your plants down with it once a week. When I do this religiously, I pull bags full of tomatoes off of my plants and give them away to my neighbors.

THE LAZY WAY TO DEAL WITH BUGS

I am an organic gardener, in part because if I am going to grow my own vegetables, I am not going to subject myself to pesticides. Pesticides for the home gardener has become a growth industry for the chemical companies, and some of these pesticides being sold are very strong and potent. It is very easy to use much too much and these pesticides will end up in your produce.

It's also just simply easier. I use beneficial bugs to control garden pests, and it takes much less effort to release bugs in the beginning of the season then to be spraying or dusting my plants with pesticides. Ladybugs and Praying Mantis's are available at Green's Nursery, as well as OSH and the Do-It Center. These will take care of most of the common bugs which will afflict your garden.

But to really do it right and get all the pests, there is a better package available. I used to be able to purchase bug kits from Applied Biopest in Oxnard, which unfortunately went out of business a few years ago. They had a package you could buy for about $20 which had three different kinds of beneficial bugs that would take care of the hornworms and the other common garden pests. However, I have finally found another source for bugs online, called Buglogical, and they sell a product called "Garden Deluxe Variety Pack" for $39.85 ( click here) which I am going to try this year. It has a different makeup of bugs, but I'm hoping for the same results.

Releasing the bugs is easy. Ladybugs come live and you simply open up the top and dump some out in different spots around your garden. Praying mantis come in a cocoon which you leave in the container on your kitchen counter. Check it once or twice a day until it hatches, then set the container outside by your garden and watch them come out - my kids just love it! Nematodes are microscopic; you mix them with water and apply to the soil in the late afternoon (sunlight will kill them).

So for a few minutes of work, you won't have to deal with bugs the whole season long. Especially those huge, icky, green tomato hornworms!!! Beneficial bugs truly are the lazy gardener's best friend!

THE LAZY WAY TO CONTROL THOSE ICKY BROWN SNAILS

I've saved the best for last! I have been doing this for years, and it is the ultimate lazy way to get rid of brown snails. I buy predator snails, also called decollate snails. They cost about $20 a pack, and you can buy them at Greens Nursery, and also at Do-It Center and OSH, I think. You can also order them online at Buglogical ( click here). These come dried up; you rinse them in water and toss them out in your garden in the late afternoon, run your sprinklers, and somehow they come to back to life, and go out and eat your brown snails. They do this at night, so you won't even see these snails very often.

It will take about four days to see the difference, but if you populate your yard with enough of these predator snails, you won't see ANY snails at all. Complete snail control without throwing around toxic chemicals which can harm your pets or children. Best of all, decollate snails come back year after year, and keep your yard free of brown snails. Every other year or so, I buy another pack and spread them around to keep the population up.

And that is my guide to being a lazy gardener. I hope you give it a try. There is nothing like a truly vine-ripened, fresh tomato, picked from your own plant. It is like nothing you can buy in the store. Be sure to plant some fresh basil alongside in your garden to use with those tomatoes to make Angel Hair Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes & Basil ... yum!