We started the day off by tilling up a approximately 6ft wide by 12 ft long section of the slope for the tomato rows.
The slope was tilled with a shovel and manual tiller to get the ground workable. The spot is the area near where the chair is in this photo.
There are two spots that were free of weeds mostly and this one got the best sun. The other bare spot closer to the far right corner of the photo will eventually have corn.
So we tilled the ground, then we also dug 11 individual spots for each tomato plant 20 in apart from each other. I put a little of the bagged gardening soil in around the tomato plants and then filled further with the soil that was already there. We quickly learned that we actually have some really good top soil from what my tests are showing. Not to mention it already has a lot of nitrogen in it from what we were seeing from water tests.
I decided to rotate the colors so I would not end up with one all red and one all yellow and green..
Here is how my tomato rows are laid out from back to front. * indicates that it is an heirloom variety. I have both Heirloom and Hybrid in my garden.
*Orange Strawberry
*Speckled Roma Mint Julep
*Gold Nugget Sun Sugar
Sweet 100 *Gardeners Delight
Yellow Brandy Master (Brandywine) *Brandywine
*Wapsipinicon *Green Zebra
I also felt money would be wasted on tomato cages. I also felt it would look too unnatural to use the metal cages. I always liked the look of using branches for support. It feels more old world and a better alternative for my Green Witchy side. 
I used two fairly tall branches with each one. I would have preferred three, but I was running out of branches funny enough. I tied the tops of them with gardening wire. If my plants get too large, and need more support, I can always swap the branches out with longer ones later.
Most of them are already fruiting.
I plan to save seeds from the heirloom varieties. I would save seeds from the hybrid ones, but who knows what would end up growing from them.
I also splurged, with my husbands pleading for us to buy some grape vines. We both love grapes and the look of grape vines. He also very much wants me to try my hand at making wine with our own grapes someday. While we cannot have quite the vineyard he has always wanted, we did get 3 grape vine starts. We got white, red, and concord blue. all of which are seedless.
I will be putting up some kind of trellis for them to climb up here soon. They are in large pots right now until I figure out the exact design for the trellis or arbor and can put them in a more permanent home they can grow into. They will most likely be in this general area due to the sun exposure.
A look at my yard
This is just kind of a brief look at the space before anything has been done with it. As noted above, the white chair is where the tomato rows are currently. That short, almost barely noticeable chain link fence at the bottom of the slope, is also where I plan to plant my mini orchard of fruit trees using the Espalier “trained to grow like a fence” method.
The maple tree is quite large and mature. It will need some pruning here later this year. The right corner of the shed is where I put the grape vine starts. That fence line will most likely become my berry/fruit bush corner. I was going to put in some thornless raspberry starts but the person selling them ran out and now all I can find are thorny ones. I don’t want thorns if I have raspberries or blackberries.
This is the area to the left of the shed in the above photo. I plan to build a trellis that comes off the shed and will become my hanging squash and pumpkin patch. I may also rotate it out with melons.
This is the left side of the slope, which is behind the shop that is not pictured really, except in the first photo you can see it a little. Here I am thinking about making shelved planters but I have yet to decide.
I plan to use permaculture techniques where I can. I want my garden to be cohesive yet not overly typical garden/farm row design. I want to use new ideas and create a garden that is as self sustaining as possible once established. My garden will be quite enchanted once I am finished with it.
Right now I am kind of just keeping my eyes open for things I can recycle/reuse in the garden. It is amazing how expensive super cheap material items can be for a garden. I am sticking to a low cost budget and won’t result to spending hundreds on small things that cost almost nothing to make yourself. Used stores are my friend as are natural resources i.e the branches for the tomato cages. If you think about it, someone on Craigslist was selling them for $8 a piece… x that by 11 and there you have already easily spent $88 on some wire basically. I think that is absolutely nuts. So I saved $88 by using natural materials I found in my yard. Basically what I am saying is that “essentials” for growing certain things, don’t have to be bought from big stores, or even used at all depending on the growing method. Think outside the chain store box haha.
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