PharmUnique

PharmUnique Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from PharmUnique, Gardener, Lake Buena Vista, FL.
(29)

Nurturing new gardeners to grow food.
🎓Pharmacist (FAMU Grad) & Master Gardener
📍Zone 9b: Central Florida ☀️
📚Purchase my course: https://stan.store/pharmunique/p/grow-your-own-food

06/12/2026

Curing onions is one of the most important steps if you want them to store longer after harvest.

Once your onions are ready to harvest, you can eat them fresh right away, but if you want to store them, they need time to cure. I like using a drying rack because it allows the bulbs to sit up while the leafy tops hang through the holes, giving the onions good airflow while they dry.

Let them cure in a dry, shaded, well-ventilated area for at least 2 weeks, or until the outer skin dries and the neck of the onion feels tight.

I’ll link the drying rack I used from Amazon in this post.

And if you’re still learning how to grow onions, vegetables, and herbs with more confidence, make sure you check out my beginner gardening class. It walks you through the basics of planning, planting, spacing, and maintaining your garden.

Quick FYI: If you want onion bulbs, you’ll need to grow them from onion seeds or onion sets. These were grown from onion sets I got from Hoss.

Green onions from the store will keep giving you green onion tops, but they usually will not grow into full onion bulbs.

Happy gardening!

06/08/2026

June is a great month to plant heat-loving crops, but your current temperatures still matter.

Before planting, check your local forecast, days to maturity, and the variety you are growing. If your garden is already in the 90s, focus on crops that can handle extreme heat like okra, southern peas, sweet potatoes, yardlong beans, Malabar spinach, longevity spinach, callaloo, roselle, basil, peppers, eggplant, zinnias, and sunflowers.

And if your cool-season crops are struggling with heat or pests, it may be time to pull them and make room for summer crops. That is not failure. That is seasonal gardening.

Full June planting guide is on the blog: https://pharmunique.beehiiv.com

Music licensed through Motion Array.

June is a great month to plant heat-loving crops, but you still need to plant based on your actual temperatures.For many...
06/04/2026

June is a great month to plant heat-loving crops, but you still need to plant based on your actual temperatures.

For many gardeners, June is the first month when the weather feels consistently warm. But warm weather does not mean every crop will thrive.

Before you plant, check your current temperatures, local forecast, days to maturity, and the variety you are growing.

Some crops love 70 to 80°F weather. Others can handle 80 to 90°F. Once temperatures are consistently in the 90s, that is extreme heat for many traditional garden crops, so choosing heat-tolerant plants becomes even more important.

If you are a beginner gardener and want help building a strong foundation, my self-paced online course Grow Your Own Food: Vegetable Gardening for Beginners walks you through the basics of starting and maintaining a vegetable garden.

The course is linked in my bio, or you can visit:
https://stan.store/pharmunique/p/grow-your-own-food

Save this post before your next garden center trip, and send it to a Garden Bestie who is trying to figure out what to plant in June.

06/03/2026

This onion harvest was recorded back in April, and I’m still so proud of it.

I planted these onions in November from Hoss and harvested them in April here in Zone 9b. Since I garden in Central Florida, I grow short-day onions because they are best for Southern growers in warmer zones like 7–10.

A quick onion tip: make sure you choose the right onion type for your area.

Short-day onions: best for the South, zones 7–10
Intermediate-day onions: best for middle zones, around 5–7
Long-day onions: best for Northern zones, around 3–6

Some common onion varieties you may see include short-day types like 1015Y Texas SuperSweet, Red Creole, and Yellow Granex; intermediate types like Candy; and long-day types like Walla Walla.

You’ll know onions are getting close to harvest when you can see the bulb pushing up through the soil and the green tops start falling over.

A few tips that helped me: onions need loose, well-draining soil, consistent watering while they are actively growing, and fertilizer earlier in the season while they are developing those strong green tops. Once the bulbs start sizing up and you get closer to harvest, you do not want to overdo it with fertilizer or water.

After harvesting, I placed mine on a drying rack so they could cure. Curing helps the outer layers dry down, which is important if you want your onions to store longer.

This is why timing matters. I planted in fall, let them grow through the cooler months, and harvested before the Florida heat really settled in.

05/30/2026

Container gardening is one of my favorite ways to remind beginners that you do not need a huge backyard to grow your own food.

I found this half-barrel planter on discount at a big box store, and it was perfect for a small container garden. The biggest thing to remember with any container is this: make sure it has drainage holes at the bottom. Your plants need moisture, but they do not want to sit in water.

Since this container had been sitting empty for a few months, I refreshed the soil before planting. I added:
🌱 Organic potting soil from a local nursery
🌱 Mushroom compost for added nutrients
🌱 True Organic Tomato & Vegetable Food to help feed the plants
🌱 Mulch to protect the soil and help hold moisture
For this setup, I planted one pepper plant in the center and added two marigolds and two basil plant around it as companions.
The key is not to overcrowd your container. This barrel has enough space for one main plant with a few companions, but always pay attention to the size of your container and the mature size of the plants you are adding.

I used the Tomato & Vegetable Food because it is a granular fertilizer that slowly feeds the plant and supports the soil throughout the growing season. I mixed it into the soil before planting, then sprinkled a little more on top before adding compost and mulch.
A few weeks later, this container filled in beautifully. Proof that with the right setup, you can grow food in small spaces too.
Don’t let limited space stop you. A container, good drainage, healthy soil, and the right fertilizer can take you a long way.

Gardening has helped me unlearn so many things I thought I had to be in order to succeed, be accepted, or feel worthy. ...
05/28/2026

Gardening has helped me unlearn so many things I thought I had to be in order to succeed, be accepted, or feel worthy.

05/16/2026

May has brought in those 90-degree temperatures, and this is usually the time of year when I reset my expectations for the garden.

Here in Florida, the heat and humidity can cause the garden to slowly take a downward turn, so I’ve learned to appreciate what’s still thriving and release the pressure for everything to look perfect.

Nonetheless, the garden still looks somewhat decent, and for that, I’m thankful.

05/06/2026

Planting tomatoes in a self-watering planter, but let’s talk about what really helps set them up for success: the soil and the fertilizer.
For this Everglades tomato, I started with a good organic potting soil mix, added earthworm castings, backfilled with mushroom compost, and then went in with Tomato & Vegetable Granular Fertilizer near the root zone.
I like using this fertilizer because it helps feed the plant while also supporting the soil. And for tomatoes, I especially love that it contains calcium, which helps support strong cell walls in the fruit.
Calcium is important because when tomatoes don’t have enough available calcium, or when inconsistent watering makes it harder for the plant to take it up, you can run into blossom end rot. That’s when the bottom of the tomato starts turning brown or black.
A few tomato planting tips to remember:
🍅 Use a well-draining potting soil mix for containers
🍅 Add amendments like earthworm castings or mushroom compost
🍅 Remove lower leaves so they aren’t touching the soil
🍅 Plant tomatoes a little deeper to support root growth
🍅 Choose a fertilizer made for tomatoes and vegetables
🍅 Look for calcium in your tomato fertilizer
🍅 Keep watering consistent, especially in containers
This is an Everglades tomato, which is one of the few tomatoes I’ll try growing through the warmer months here in Florida Zone 9B because it can handle the heat better than many larger tomato varieties.
Set your tomatoes up with good soil, steady water, proper support, and the right fertilizer from the start.

Address

Lake Buena Vista, FL

Website

,

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when PharmUnique posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category