Wall-o-waters!

I'm in the process of getting the garden ready and planted this week.  I've been to Stillwater Milling to pick up some different types of compost and peat moss.  I like going to Stillwater Milling for all my garden needs.  It's not one of those fancy little garden centers, you can buy worming stuff for your cattle, electric fencing for the horses and get yourself some fancy boots and clothes along with pet food!  It's also one of those places that old retired guys who like to talk hang out and no one gets onto them! 
I'm a bit of a talker myself, so this is the place for me.  Last year, an older man told me that the best tomato for around here was Jet Star.  I bought a couple and, sure enough, that little plant did better than most.  So this year, while I was picking up the compost, I went out to the greenhouse and picked myself up a couple of those, plus some broccoli for spring planting. 

If you remember last year, I went to a raised bed system for most of my garden and added a drip irrigation system.  I was pretty proud of myself because it sure made watering easier!  In the background, you can those tall, green tubes sticking out of the ground.  Those are wall-o-waters for tomatoes.  I used them last year for the first time in a long time.  I had my tomatoes out at the end of March when most people aren't planting tomatoes around here until mid-April.  I had tomatoes about mid-June because one of the ones I put in the wall-o-waters was a cherry. 
I'm working on getting my wall-o-waters out today.  I am adding compost to my soil and will fill the wall-o-waters with water(thus the name!) and let that water sit out in the sun for about a week to warm up.  Science teacher time: water is a great insulator because it takes a lot of energy to heat up and a lot of energy loss to cool down.  That's why around large bodies of water, there is not as great of a temperature change.  Anyway, once those chambers get heated up, I'll plant my tomato starts in the ground. 
I love gardening, it is great exercise and I think it's good for my soul.  I can think to myself, sing and pray in my garden.  Kate, my big black dog, comes and guards the garden so no forest monsters get me.....she hates squirrels and thinks they are her enemies so she guards me!  My husband is always trying to get me to stop carrying the big bags of compost but I just tell him that it's a weight bearing exercise...good for blue-eyed women who are prone to osteoporosis!
Plus, with the cost of fresh veggies right now, anything I can grow for very little helps the bottom line!