Hi, I am new to this forum and this is my first posting. I am newly retired, life in south-central Wisconsin, and plan to expand my vegetable, herb, and flower gardens. Last year, the main crop in my garden was 8 plants of Roma Tomatoes. I got the plants at local garden centers, expensive, and was not thrilled with the quality of plants. They survived the Wisconsin record summer monsoon but crop was only enough to can 12 quarts of tomatoes. Now that I am retired, I plan to change things around.

1) I plan to double or triple the size of my vegetable garden. I want a lot of space between the plants.

2) I will be starting my own seeds indoors, 10 plants of Big Mama Hybrid tomatoes and 2 to 4 plants or Standard Roma tomatoes. (I love Romas for sliced and table tomatoes.)

3) I have a small green house, (8Âx8Âx6-12Â high), to harden the tomatoes and other started plants.

4) I will be getting soil tests done on the garden soil before planting. I have been using this same area for garden for amount 30 years and the last couple of years crops seem to be struggling. I have been fertilizing but never had the soil tested.

My goal for this garden is at least 32 quarts of canned tomatoes and lots of table tomatoes. If I have enough tomatoes left over, I would also like to try to can my own tomato sauce.

I would like to have some comments, suggestion, or ideas on my plans. TIA