I thought our garden soil was healthy. The tomato plants all started well in the greenhouse, and it was time to plant them outside. It was going to be a summer with a bumper crop of tomatoes. I was looking forward to canning jars of marinara and crushed tomatoes. Then, the problem began. *This post contains affiliate links from Amazon. I thought at first we had a pest issue. At first, my tomato plants were flowering beautifully. But the fruit was forming with rot on the ends.

There are two fairly easy ways to install new garden beds on your homestead. Homesteading is fulfilling work. It teaches kids where food comes from and helps keep the toxin load in your food low. When you grow your own food you are less likely to spray it with toxic chemicals. We have built garden beds in two different ways. We chose these two options to keep costs as close to free as possible. Raised garden beds cost more. When you want to keep the budget low, these two opti