Each fall I buy leftover garden supplies for pennies on the dollar. I do not buy, nor do I ever use, Miracle Gro.....therefore my tomatoes don't taste like Miracle Gro.
I store all my fall supplies and then begin my garden in February. I grow big sweet tomatoes organically every year: I start seeds indoors in wet paper towels 8 weeks before last frost, transplant them to peat pots when they sprout, and I plant them outside one week beyond last frost which occurs April 15 this year.
I prepare the soil, turning in organic bone meal and some ashes from the fire pit. Throughout the growing season I water alternately with worm-casing tea, fish emulsion, and often just plain rainwater. The fruits grow big and sweet, quite early, with a wonderful pure tomato taste.
Don't forget: Hairy Vetch seeds are very cheap and I sow them in late September as a cover crop after the harvest. The vetch plants die and fall down by February, and in April you turn them under---don't cut them off and discard them. They are a great mulch and return huge amounts of nitrogen to the soil. Sprinkle a little epsom salts in too during the cover crop period.

wow $100 in garden tools apair of gloves a shovel a rake and mybe a water hose which I should ALREADY HAVE since i'm doing a GARDEN

Gardening in the fussy area of Greenville can be fun and frustrating. We cut down 7 60' evergreens and waited to see what would happen (ok, too cheap to buy new trees). After 5 years we gave away over 20 4-8' dogwoods which sprouted on their own in this space. We plant the herbs along the new stone wall and asparagus along side the house - the neighbors think they are weeds until they realize we are eating them! The birds drop tomato seeds and we get rogue plants in front - one neighbor didn't know why she didn't get rogue plants until I explained I don't use pesticides. Oh, and what to do with old bad wine? Use it with dish soap and water to kill the weeds you don't want!

Just last year we bought a run down farm in Washington State. As any first time home owners would be we were full of hopes and dreams, with a good dose of optimism about raising a nice garden. we arrived here in mid June and were trying to get settled into a home with major plumbing problems and trash piles from the former tenants, that had to be removed. I began trying to scalp the ground and turn it under too late in the season. The ground was already dry and hardening fast. The work was difficult to say the least. I had to work alone with minimal tools (all old and in poor repair)left behind by the people who had abandoned the place. My husband and two of his friends were working on repair projects and could not be bothered to help with the garden. I was extremely determined so i tortured my body day in and day out hauling soil here and there and starting compost piles. I got a huge area cleared and hand spaded with a shovel I found out in the barn, a rake that kept falling apart and a hoe. I went 25 miles to the nearest "Town" and bought plants. We had peppers, cabbage, Tomatoes, lettuce, tomatillos, Cucumber, Summer Squash, Zucchini and Cantaloupe. We figured for the first year that would make a good experimental garden. I planted, weeded, watered and fussed over my little garden. I began to see Lettuce coming up so nice and green and red, my cabbage plants were spreading out, peppers and tomatoes were blossoming. Then one morning the lettuce was gone. Deer hoof prints were everywhere. They had eaten all of it. I was disappointed but figured Lettuce is fairly cheap in stores. Then the cabbage disappeared (well most of it.) I was ready to go Deer hunting now and telling my husband that we needed to find out if shooting deer is considered pest control. We sprayed the remaining garden with Liquid Fence.I was sitting looking out the window at what was left of my cabbage when suddenly our Labrador Retriever appeared and ripped three cabbage plants from the ground before I could get to the door. Nobody told me that Deer won't eat it but dogs love it. Over the summer between the dog and the deer 75% of our garden was consumed by non human creatures. The dog finished off the cabbage, cucumbers and peppers and the deer ate the tomatillos and most of the tomato plants foliage as the Liquid Fence wore off. We got alot of tomatoes and three cucumbers and enough tomatillos to make a big bowl of Salsa Verde. We are hoping with our Nephew,son, husband and I to all tend to it this year, that we may have better luck. Still we are dealing with the old tools as all of our extra cash is going into much needed upgrades to the house and investing in the farm animals and such.Wish us luck!

Great ! Good article ! Thanks for sharing.