Usually this time of year, I have a few planters out with some tomato plants in them. Nothing major, just a few beefsteaks hanging hanging around. This year we decided to start a vegetable garden in a spot in the lawn that gets sun about 95% of the day. This required a lot of work removing the turf, turning the soil and adding fertilizer.

Since we are just getting started, I made the garden small, 10 X 10. This was enough for quite a few tomato plants (plum and beefsteak) along with some peppers and a row of cauliflower. In a bid to not rip up the lawn completely, I made it this small and if I feel the need to grow more, I tear more sod off.

Now it has been years since I had anything to do with gardening. It is a skill that decays over time and you forget the amount of work it takes. Now that I am done, I am glad I did not go much bigger. Next year we will expand that garden to include more vege’s but for now, this is a good start.

Now I got looking at my tomato plants and many of them already have fruit on the vine. I can see I am in for a lot of harvesting this year. If you add up all of the tomato plants in the garden, and another area in the yard, it comes out to 18 plants.

Needless to say I will have a lot of tomatoes. I decided that I better brush up on my canning skills. It has been so long since I have done any canning. We used to do it when we were kids when my mother had a garden, but basically I have not had anything to do with canning in years.

I picked up all the jars, cooker, etc., and decided to make a test run. I bought some fresh plum tomatoes and made some sauce from scratch. Basically just a garlic, onions, basil and oregano sauce. Cooked it down, and canned two quarts. I checked them today, all is sealed and looks good. I am ready to go. 🙂
We usually eat Italian cuisine a couple times a week, and this year, I will be enjoying fresh tomatoes of my own making. Once I can up some sauce for real, I will write up a review of the canning starter kit I purchased. I just haven’t used it enough for a thorough review.