Our Garden of Eden

Matt grew up with a remarkably lush garden in his backyard. One of my favorite stories about Matt's dad (and there are several) is the one in which he dumped a load of fresh fertilizer in their suburban yard. "The corn never grew so high," he laughs every time he tells the story.

We haven't blessed our neighbors with the aroma of fresh fertilizer, but we have created a rather obtrusive garden in the front of our house this summer. We can't grow anything in the backyard because it's too shady, so we plant as much as we can up front. This year, we planted pole beans and a whole mess of tomatoes. They're just starting to produce fruit, and it's about the best food I've ever tasted. Granted, however, I never had any of Matt's dad's mile-high corn.