I did it!

I grew something in my garden, and then I ate it before a rat did!

Those of you have been following my gardening woes know that last year, my maiden voyage of front-yard gardening, was a complete and resounding failure. All of my plants died, and not one produced any sort of food. This year, I tried some new tricks, but it looked like my garden might still follow a similar course. First of all, it was, once again, really hot and dry this summer, but I was much more diligent about watering than I was last summer. Second, I actually planted these plants in the soil, instead of just in large pots.

Anyhow, things started off with a whimper, as my zucchini plant shriveled up and died in less than a week. But my tomatoes were growing steadily taller, and my peppers weren't shrinking, so that seemed like a good sign. And in August, something exciting happened: I saw an actual tomato on one of my tomato plants! It was still tiny and green, so I decided to wait for it to grow/ripen. That ended up being a mistake, because the day I finally went out to pick it, I discovered that a large bite had been taken out of it! Oh Noes! My conclusion was that a rat had eaten my tomato. I was a bit discouraged.

Then came September and the floods. Not literally, but almost. We had a whole heck of a lot of rain the last part of summer/early part of autumn. The result: my peppers started to grow! And yesterday, I was finally able to enjoy the fruits of my labor when I ate a banana (I think) pepper grown in my own front yard! I ate it in a quesadilla, for anyone wondering. It was delicious!

This is not an actual picture of the pepper I grew in my yard, by the way. I tried to get of picture of that, but my camera is dead, and going to the store to buy batteries was not something I wanted to do. But this gives you a pretty good idea. 

So that's my success story. I also have a bell (I think) pepper growing, and I'm really hoping that I get to eat it before it dies or gets eaten my rodents. My goal for next year is to be able to eat at least 3 things from my garden. Any gardening tips, faithful readers?