Canned tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomato salsa, tomato spagetti sauce, tomato ketchup, tomato ...

Yesterday was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGG day.

The children and I went to town, after dropping Matt off at work, to do a bit of shopping. I can't WAIT until we finally get a second vehicle. There is so much I want to do and see and places I would like to visit that I just can't do right now. ANYWAY-we went to the dollar store (and I am pleased to report this dollar store has scrapbooking supplies and preschool workbooks and other schooling notions just like the one I left in NY!!!!) I also got a BUNCH of cool tropical things for Corynn's birthday party (which is not until September but it was all there now so I got it!) Neato garlands, umbrellas for drinks and funky prickers for food, a leigh (is that how you spell it?) for the birthday girl, and some square hawaiian plates. Now I have LOTS of time to think about fun cakes and foods that match the whole theme. It is nice when your kids are so little you can make up your own theme and get things inexpensively!!

While uptown we stopped at Walmart and went to the garden department just to look around and grab a few more tomato cages (since we can only fit five in our car at a time!). But I couldn't help myself when I saw all sorts of goodies on SALE because their plant selling season is coming to a close-the remaining plants are definately not the cream of the crop, if you know what I mean. Soooooooooooooooooo.........Guess what I got?!?! Just GUESS! Okay-it's not as much fun on the computer as it would be in person.

I got a hydrangea plant. One of my FAVORITES!!!! I got a PEONY plant. (I LOVE THOSE and they smell so lovely-before I had even planted it in the ground two butterflies had found it!) I planted them in holes left from when Matt removed some stumps. (There are actually three MORE stump holes-one will be used for Corynn's water garden and the other two I am not sure about.) I also got a blueberry bush. Now-the blueberry bush: you are supposed to have more than one for cross pollination and such but there was only one left-which was why I spent only a few bucks on it. So-we will atleast get to enjoy fresh berries this year. And next year, we will buy some more so that we will get berries in the future too. I transfered it to a larger container because I didn't want to PLANT it in the ground until we clear out the place where I would like our blueberry bushes to go. There are lots of green berries on it so I am so looking forward to snacking on them!

As SOON as we got home from town I laid the children down for a nap (albeit, a late one...) and headed to the garden. I got some gardening gloves for my birthday and looked tirelessly for the right one. Unfortunately, I gave up and went one sided. Little Miss had hid one of them on me-only to be found after the garden was complete! Grrrrrr.

The sun was beating down on me and I was working hard. Finally, I looked to see how many more tomatoes I had to plant-and I counted 20. WHAT?!?!? Twenty?!?!?! That is how many I planned to plant this year! But I had just spent an hour planting tomatoes!!! I counted and we have a total of 45 tomato plants! I don't know what happened. I must have been looking at all the different varieties and contemplating which ones I should try-and then got distracted and just got them all! I have husky cherry tomatoes, lemon boy, first lady, supersweet 100, and 20 Romas. Not sure how I will be able to manage such a yield...tomatoes, anyone?!?!

I posted some pictures of Matt spreading the dirt. He was only able to get the outer edges so most of the leveling was done by hand by yours truly. We ended up not boxing it in this year so it doesn't look as neat and tidy as I would like. Perhaps next year we can box it in as we expand. I used some chalk powder to create the layout. I got a huge container of it at the dollar store about a year ago. It worked perfectly! As expected, plans need modification so there was some improvision to the layout of my garden (thanks to Michelle). I did the tomatoes in rows, then spinach and lettuce, then pepper plants, then a row of brussel sprouts and beets. The rest of the garden I split in to four squares. One for corn, one for cucumbers, one for zucchinni squash, and one for garden beans. We will see how it works out. I have NEVER had any luck with corn, who knows?!?!? There is a first time for everything, after all! My yield on cucumbers has never been fantastic either. Hopefully, I will get enough to make some pickles this year...

So goes my vegetable garden. And my home is slowly but surely being surrounded by beautiful flowers and shrubs. Little by little this place will become all I want it to be!