Third Time's The Charm...

...at least, we hope so.  When we moved into this house (about 3 years ago), we decided that one of the ways we were going to make use of our respectable yard was to grow things that we could eat.  The first year, we attempted tomatoes because we figured they would go nicely with the basil we had been growing inside with Cheryl's Aerogarden.  We started them from seed, and didn't get them planted quite as early as we should've - d'oh!  So, we ended up with a few green tomatoes at the end of the season and fried them.  Still tasty, but not quite what we had hoped for.

The next year, we tried tomatoes again.  We eat them a lot.  That didn't work so well either.  Why?  One word.  Deer.  We counted over 40 cherry tomatoes one night, and the next morning, there were three.  And only because they were very close to the ground - sigh.  Insert depressed Cloppers here.  This year, we still had a deer issue (see an example below)...but we smartened up a bit.

We finally invested in some deer and rabbit spray deterrent after the episode where they nearly took this tomato out (notice the lack of leaves on the lower half).  It has worked very well, and we've already eaten a large tomato and two grape tomatoes this year!  We've also got cilantro, basil (which we eat regularly), and a banana pepper (which seems to have been attacked by rabbits and/or bugs, but is finally growing a pepper)!

Here's our garden in pictures this year:

Ryan Making Funny Faces By Our Basil and Patio Tomatoes

Our Grape and Goliath Tomatoes Next to the Patio

The Grape Tomatoes are the Most Productive So Far

The Pre-Pictured Deer RavagedTomato that is Growing Very Large with Little Production

The Pepper Plant, Finally with a Pepper Growing!

Mommy's Helper with the Cilantro

Ryan has really enjoyed watching the plants grow.  When the first grape tomatoes started to ripen, he told us he was "so 'cited to pick them!" - and he was even more excited to eat them.  He helps us water every night, and diligently watered them every night while Cheryl was traveling last week.  With this much TLC, it's no wonder they're doing so well.  Hopefully, garden number three will continue to yield in the next few months!