I am running real late on getting the garden in this year

due to all of the rain here in Central Tx lately. Here are some pics of last year's garden and yields:

I love hot banana peppers for salsa.



Early Girl tomatoes grow the best for the soil I have. 400 lbs of manure and nitrogen slow release pellets don't hurt either.



I REALLY love tomatoes.



Overall view of the garden:




If I don't get the plants in soon it will be bad.

Nice spread you have there, friend.

And some nice looking produce too.

I'm in southern Tn and hopefully it will quit raining sometime this morning and dry out for awhile. Got to have those homegrown tomatoes and peppers!

I work midnights and would take about 3 or 4 big ones for lunch with a jumbo iced tea, lemon only, no sugar. That's it. Then a giant sandwich before I went to sleep at noon. And I still drank beer and lost 80 lbs. I need to get back on that diet. I gained 30 lbs back from eating like a pig and beer from deer hunting, holidays, and football.

There is a large Amish community here and it would be a lot less trouble, and probably cheaper when you figure everything up, to buy vegetables from them. But I love to walk out to the garden and take my time finding that perfect tomato for a sandwich.

I started a garden two years ago when I was pregnant, and didn't have the energy to take care of it. Last year I was also too busy. This year I WILL have a garden--even if it consists of only tomatoes.

You just can't get that tomato taste from the grocery store. Even the vine-ripened organic ones are mushy compared to one out of the garden.

Till starting in January. Till at least 15 or 20 times. I know that is not possible up north, but I live in Central Tx. Add 400 lbs of manure, cow manure works best. It is .93 a bag at Walmart. Add 2 lg containers of slow release nitrigen pellets. Till these two things in right before you plant.

Buy the tomato plants that are already about a foot and a half tall. They are about 2.99 here. I always get early Girl. They work best for me even though a lot of other people around here tell me they have very good results with Celebrity, Big Boy, Better Boy, Heatwave(which bloom all the way up to 97 degrees), Mexican beefsteak, and VFN. One year I tried one plant of German Queen brand name and it made only about 20 tomatoes, but they were almost as big as softballs. That was kind of neat.

I bury the entire plant except for about a 2 inch tip I leave sticking out of the ground. Water as needed

Peppers - Hot Banana and New Mexico Big Jim work best for me. Salsa made out of these two is kick ass. I bury these to almost the tips too.

I get a big yield from the garden. All the neighbors have tomatoes, peppers, homemade salsa a lot for free. We have a good time around here in the summer and fall. I just thought I would share all of this with you.