by Joe Watkins Jr

Created on: May 19, 2009   Last Updated: October 26, 2009

I love vegetables. I love fresh-from-the-garden vegetables and fruit. At one time if I could grow hot dogs, I would have. I have always loved garden fresh fruits and vegetables, ever since I was a kid, although I didn't grow up with parents being the garden type. So when I bought a home in northeast Ohio, I vowed I was going to have a garden. I had the backyard space for it right there against the west wall of the garage, where the sun beamed all day, with no interruption from the garage roof or any trees or bushes. I wouldn't need anything large, as there was just my fiance, her six year old son, who was very eager to help at the mention of the idea of a garden, and myself. Sure enough that following spring on Memorial Day, we put our starters in the ground.

We planted zucchini and green squash, carrots and big boy tomatoes as well as regular and low acid cherry tomatoes. Hot red finger peppers, jalapeno and sweet banana peppers. Green bell and red sweet bell peppers, and discovered that the previous owners had planted horseradish, to which we placed some garlic right next to that.

We found out that our next door neighbors had a garden behind their garage, and that his wife's parents also owned a nursery not very far in a neighboring township, so we gladly accepted all tips, help and some occasional use of small equipment that they had to offer so that we could have as good a garden as possible. My neighbors had told us that the soil was great for gardening, as we found out at the end of the last summer when we moved in. They introduced themselves to us as we unloaded the trucks with our belongings, and approached us with a welcome smile and a handshake, and in the other hand a small basket of green beans and another small basket of blackberries. They were wonderful and we couldn't wait for our own produce to grow. And grow it did.

The garden as well as the grass and even the house plants flourished. We were blessed with just the right amount of rain and a generous amount of sunlight that made for healthy, sweet, and succulent vegetables. We tried two fruits, watermelon and strawberries, but had no success at all with those, and very little with the carrots. Otherwise, it was the greatest garden of all time in our eyes, like we had been experimenting for years. Our neighbors beamed upon mentioning it, just as much if not more than we did!

Right after my birthday, at the end of July, my fianc announced that she and her son were moving back to where they

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