So, this is how it begins.  My 3-year old daughter helps dig a 3 foot deep hole for the 32 gallon trash can.  Hopefully this will keep the nutrient solution a little cooler during our searing summer days.

 
This is the system about March 5, 2001.  Cedar mulch has been spread to reduce diseases from soil and to reduce insects.



March 10, 2001 with tomatoes and peppers in rockwool.

Here are a couple shots from early April 2001.  The tomatoes are starting to take off.

 

May 21, 2001.  Look at those tomatoes now!  Some of them have topped 8-feet in height!  The loaded tomato in the left hand photo is a Homestead.  The two tomatoes in front of the right photo are a Park's Whopper (left) and a Golden Jubilee (right). 


      

News Flash!  The first tomato of the season was picked on May 24, 2001.  It was a 1-1/2 inch cherry tomato, but it still counts.

June 19 - The tomatoes have all started turning red.  My favorite for flavor is the Mortgage Lifter, with their juicy pink-red color and very few seeds.  The Golden Jubilees have been great too.  The photo below is of a Bush Early Girl tomato.