How I cured blossom end rot in my squash

I discovered a very disturbing visitor in my squash patch.  Blossom end rot. 

I lost close to all of my squash to blossom end rot over the past few weeks.  The few I did get were perfect, but I certainly didn’t have the tons of zucchini that makes the squash famous. 

I had been reading about how many plant diseases can be traced back to a nutritional deficiency in the soil.  I also read that blossom end rot can be cured by adding a supplement of calcium  to the planting hole.  Unfortunately, these plants were two months old.  But fortunately, I had a natural, organic, source of calcium that lives in my yard:

We collect the shells as we use them in this cute little dish by the sink:

Because I didn’t put them in the planting holes I had to speed up the break down of the shells… so I put them in my food processor…

And blended them to a fine powdery type substance…

Then I added them to the base of my squash plants.

And for a while I didn’t notice anything.  Then, I started to see more and more flowers.

 

And all of them became squash. 

And not one of them rotted away or fell off. 

And now, I have over 30 tiny squash that are healthy and growing well in my garden patch.

And although it isn’t the most scientific type of experiment, I am sold.  There will be egg shells in the hole that I put my squash in from now on to prevent Blossom End Rot.

Happy Gardening!