Stainless Steel Goddess

25 tomato plants finally in the ground
Rust is not possible!!

The new Ball Elite stainless steel canner is a beauty can't wait to can some strawberry jam (soon, very soon) without the worry that the bottom may fall out. What a nice surprise to hear the man in brown's truck pull up to the house after busting butt in the garden today. I don't have the heart yet to put the old canner to the curb but it really must go the rust is almost through in 3 different spots.

Finally got the tomatoes planted in the new bed, lots more work to do around the bed to keep the yard from creeping back in and we may need to put up some fencing to keep the critters out but at least they are planted and watered in. I put 25 plants in the back bed in hopes that we will have enough tomatoes to put up this year without having to supplement from the local farmer. We started the new bed by putting down cardboard then adding grass clippings, leaves and compost over the summer and fall last year then just had it all tilled in (when the fella finally showed up) Rambo man did a once over with the little tiller to loosen up the soil a bit more then we just planted without adding anything else. We may not get great results this year since we didn't implement the soil much but I am hopeful. Might take another week or two to get the area looking and working the way I want but for now we just needed to get them in the ground.

Have you read the book " The $64 Tomato" by William Alexander, super funny and so true if you don't watch what you are doing a garden can take over you life and bank account! This super small little garden spot has cost us $170.13 so far (cost listed below) Please, oh please let us beat the odds and make this pay off!!!! Our goal is 12 quarts of tomatoes and 22 pints by the end of the summer along with fresh sliced tomatoes during the season. I might just sneak a few more plants in the larger garden area as insurance!

Tomato garden cost;

2 Garden hoses - $ 33.47 each

1 Sprinkler - $ 34.97

Spigot splitter - $5.97

25 plants - $ 62.25