I'm seeing dollar signs...

It's that time again.  Time to get the ground all tilled and ready for planting.  We got our little garden spot ready today.  We had some very helpful friends from church come out and help us with it.  They did a great job. 

This year's garden spot.  

(It looks a bit smaller than it really is.) 

That's the one and only cantaloupe plant sitting there ~ Lexxi wanted it to be in the picture.

Because it gets so hot here in the summer time we had to choose a spot with some shade.  Mom has the perfect spot on the west end of her house.  It's closed in on three sides which is awesome to keep the rabbits and coyotes out and there is a tree to shade it from the heat of the summer.  I think it will be a great little garden.  Don't tell my mom, but I think I'm going to pray for some bull snakes to take care of the mole problem.  Or, I suppose, we could pray the moles away....??? 

We are starting our compost now so that the soil will be healthy and ready to go.  We have our plants in the garage just waiting to be planted the beginning of next week.  Can you tell I'm excited?  There's nothing more exciting than planting and growing your own food.  You know where it's been and what was used to grow it.  And the best part --  it's FREE!!  I love free things.  I love to go to the grocery store and not really need that much because you already have the basics growing in your garden.

We have 14 tomato plants.  I'm hoping to plant about 6-10 more.  I'd like to harvest enough to make all the salsa, spaghetti/pizza/lasagna sauce and diced tomatoes we'll need for the next year.   Oh, yeah that will definitely help out with the grocery budget.  We have 4 cucumber plants, 12 green bean vines (not enough for canning, but at least we'll have fresh green beans all summer/fall), bell peppers, hot peppers, cantaloupe, zucchini and squash.  Might even do some water melon and I'd like to do some oregano and cilantro too.