How does the garden grow?

Well . . I'm not sure that we can call it a garden BUT Mark did plant four pepper plants for us this year. I love to cook using red and orange and yellow peppers but they are so expensive in the grocery store. Last year, George planted a pepper plant and shared with us a few times because he had so many peppers . . .so guess who had to plant some this year? I love peppers but I wish we could have tomatoes . . .actually, I wish we could have a whole garden with green beans and okra and corn and peas. We've tried planting tomatoes several different years - we've tried in the back yard, we've tried containers on the back porch. No luck whatsoever. But look at this pepper plant. Look at all the little "babies."


Speaking of babies . ..look really close and what do you see? A teeny tiny pepper beginning to grow. I'm so excited. Maybe we will have some success.

When I was growing up, my grandpa had an incredible garden. I remember walking down the rows and thinking it was the biggest garden ever. Of course, I was small . . . so in later years, I realized that it wasn't so ginormous BUT he did have good veggies. My granny had a closet that had nothing but her canned goods in it. She would can all sorts of things but the two that I remember the most . . .green beans and "homemade soup starter." I remember that my grandpa even had strawberries one year.

My daddy also had a garden in our backyard. It was much smaller but it was wonderful. We also had a peach tree in our yard and I remember a flavor so sweet and delicious (the peach tree was also the "switch" tree and I remember having my legs striped all the way home from down the street - of course, I was out visiting when I was supposed to be in OUR yard!!).

The first year that Mark and I were married, we were living in the little house where I grew up. We planted a garden in the same exact spot where daddy always planted. I remember we had tomatoes up til the first frost and Mark's daddy was still living and he told us to wrap the tomatoes and layer them in a Styrofoam cooler with newspaper in between. They continued to ripen and we had tomatoes all the way into November!! We also planted broccoli that fall and it was so good. There is just something "better" about vegetables picked straight from a garden.

I made my first "run" to the farmer's market last weekend. I love that place. I guess it reminds me of my grandparents and my daddy. I also bought our first watermelon yesterday (from Walmart! . . .though I have heard that Walmart is going to start purchasing local fruits and veggies which would be awesome!!). The watermelon is chillin' in the basement fridge. My daddy always said that watermelons weren't really good until the fourth of July . . .but I'm hoping this one will be delicious!

Has anyone else had good luck with gardens? Especially those who live in the city? How does your garden grow????