by Sabrina Martin

Created on: February 23, 2009   Last Updated: March 01, 2009

There's a special kind of satisfaction that comes from successfully raising a plant without any form of instruction. There's also a lot of frustration that comes with the failed attempts and unforeseen problems. My first attempt at growing a garden involved a little of both.

I was eighteen and made up my mind to grow a salsa garden in the tiny back yard of a small yellow duplex I shared with my mom, younger sister, and a chocolate lab. I loved homemade salsa and thought it would be even better if the salsa came from vegetables I grew myself.

I visited our local department store and picked out a couple of the best looking tomato and pepper plants I could find. When I got the plants home I gently removed them from their pots and placed them in the holes I had prepared earlier. Once they were secure I gave them water and left them to adjust to their new home.

Over the next several weeks I developed quite an attachment to my little salsa garden. Every day I spread a towel over the soil and sat down to examine the tiny peppers and tomatoes that were forming. One by one, I plucked away the little bugs I found crawling on the leaves and evicted the weeds that had taken up residence in the garden. Occasionally, I treated my plants to used coffee grounds, which they seemed to like because they looked noticeably perkier afterwards.

One afternoon, when my tomatoes and peppers were almost ripe enough to pick, my aunt stopped by. She had a large garden filled with a beautiful assortment of vegetables and berries. Although I knew my garden couldn't compare to hers, I jumped at the opportunity to show it off. I watched as she kneeled down and gently lifted up a tomato to examine.

"These are some of the prettiest tomatoes I've ever seen," She said. "You'll have to let me try some of that salsa when you make it."

Imagine that; me, a first time gardener, impressing my aunt, the professional, with my pretty tomatoes. I was beaming.

A few days later I decided it was time to make the salsa. I went to the grocery store to purchase a few additional ingredients. It was the perfect day to enjoy homemade salsa; clear blue skies, warm yellow sun, lawn mowers humming. I couldn't wait.

When I got home I quickly set the grocery bag on the counter and stepped outside to gather my prized produce, only to find that someone had beaten me to it.

There stood my potbellied chocolate lab, gently pulling the juicy red fruit off the tomato plant, while carefully avoiding the green ones.

I stood there, frozen, not knowing what to do. I had put my heart and soul into that beautiful little salsa garden, eagerly awaiting the day when the produce would be ripe enough to pick.

Unfortunately I hadn't considered that someone else had been eagerly awaiting that day as well.

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