Pack of 50 good tomato seeds: $3.50. Bag of manure: $10. String for tying up the plants: $2. Sticks to tie them up to: found in the yard. Water: no idea. Plant 30 seeds, get 20 plants big enough to transplant. Grow a pithy 5lbs of tomatoes from each plant in your first year because you don’t know what you’re doing. 100lbs tomatoes, would be $5/lb at the store (and don’t taste as good), $500 - $15.50 = $485 savings, less water costs.
Same set up in the next year, less seed costs (you kept yours right?), $50 in steel pipe to trellis the tomatoes to, few hours of YouTube University, and look at that, twice the yield. Now you have to buy some ball jars and a pressure canner ($100). $1000 - $162 = Still $838 ahead. And you now have fresh jarred tomatoes for the whole year.
Yeah, this person has obviously never grown tomatoes. Most people end up with so many they give them to anyone who will take them.
It’s also super easy to rig up an auto watering system. I’m about to implement one on our lemon tree that keeps almost dying (I don’t neglect it; I’m the one who saves it), using a soil moisture probe and a solenoid valve. It’s like $40 in parts, including tubing.
And I don’t have enough space in my freezer for as many jars of sauce I make every year. I need them to be shelf stable, and that requires canning, and pressure canning is faster and more consistent than deep water bath canning.
Okay, thanks. I’m not trying to tell you what to do of course, I was just curious about the choice to pressure over water bath.
The hold time is faster at pressure for sure, but I wish pressure canning was faster than water bath over all! I think my limitation is my glass top stove. The canner I have specifies it can be used on glass top but it takes forever to get to pressure. Water bath canning gets done outdoors with a large propane burner and that gets rolling fast lol.
Outdoor propane burner ftw! That was my go to before I had to get a new stovetop. My newer induction top gets the pressure canner up to temp pretty quick, so it’s the best option for me now.
$2.17 pfft.
Pack of 50 good tomato seeds: $3.50. Bag of manure: $10. String for tying up the plants: $2. Sticks to tie them up to: found in the yard. Water: no idea. Plant 30 seeds, get 20 plants big enough to transplant. Grow a pithy 5lbs of tomatoes from each plant in your first year because you don’t know what you’re doing. 100lbs tomatoes, would be $5/lb at the store (and don’t taste as good), $500 - $15.50 = $485 savings, less water costs.
Same set up in the next year, less seed costs (you kept yours right?), $50 in steel pipe to trellis the tomatoes to, few hours of YouTube University, and look at that, twice the yield. Now you have to buy some ball jars and a pressure canner ($100). $1000 - $162 = Still $838 ahead. And you now have fresh jarred tomatoes for the whole year.
You’re assuming a lot by asserting the average backyard gardener has the space and time to grow 20 plants, and averages 5 lbs yield from each one…
Yeah, this person has obviously never grown tomatoes. Most people end up with so many they give them to anyone who will take them.
It’s also super easy to rig up an auto watering system. I’m about to implement one on our lemon tree that keeps almost dying (I don’t neglect it; I’m the one who saves it), using a soil moisture probe and a solenoid valve. It’s like $40 in parts, including tubing.
Do yoy have a tutorial for the watering system?
This should give you some pointers
Great post, was recently getting something similar set up for my deck container mess.
ESP32, some size pump/gravity, solenoid valve(s), and some tubing kit stuff
What soil moisture probe are you using? Most are kinda useless I figured out, as they don’t measure the water volume in the soil.
I can easily clear 20 or 30 pounds per plant depending on the variety without trying too hard.
Why pressure can tomatoes?
Botulism.
And I don’t have enough space in my freezer for as many jars of sauce I make every year. I need them to be shelf stable, and that requires canning, and pressure canning is faster and more consistent than deep water bath canning.
Okay, thanks. I’m not trying to tell you what to do of course, I was just curious about the choice to pressure over water bath.
The hold time is faster at pressure for sure, but I wish pressure canning was faster than water bath over all! I think my limitation is my glass top stove. The canner I have specifies it can be used on glass top but it takes forever to get to pressure. Water bath canning gets done outdoors with a large propane burner and that gets rolling fast lol.
Could also be canning above 1000 ft (305m) in elevation. I have to pressure can everything where I’m at since water boils around 195F/90C.
Excellent point, I forgot some people live in the clouds.
Outdoor propane burner ftw! That was my go to before I had to get a new stovetop. My newer induction top gets the pressure canner up to temp pretty quick, so it’s the best option for me now.
Most low acid stuff should be pressure canned anyways due to botulism. Tomatoes are almost acidic enough.
It’s still recommended to acidify tomato products! I use citric acid.