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A word about gardening in containers.

I learned from experience to choose larger size containers - the smaller ones would dry out during the day when I was at work. As a rough guide, the root system of a plant will be roughly the same size as the plant is above ground. Now, you don't have to have a huge container - many plants do well in a pot somewhat smaller than the root system, but bigger is better if possible.

Also, a good potting soil is preferable to topsoil. A common formula is equal parts compost, vermiculite, and peat moss.

I've always been able to cook a little. My mother used to tell us, "If you don't come when I call you, you get your own breakfast." So my brothers and I learned to fix toast, eggs, and other breakfast-type stuff for ourselves. The main thing was, I wasn't afraid to try - even if my skills weren't all that great.

Then some years ago, I came across a show on Food Network with this funny-looking guy with glasses and hair that stuck up at all angles. He was explaining what happens inside a french-fry when you fry it. I was spellbound. Why had nobody ever explained the why of cooking before? THIS was the kind of cooking show that spoke to me!

After watching Good Eats for many years, I eventually realized that my skills had improved a good bit. I'm not as good as my wife, but I can hold my own in the kitchen.

I live in a condo, so I'm a little short on space to garden. I'm playing around with the idea of turning the flowerbed in front of my unit into a vegetable garden. I've started by planting basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, eggplant and a tomato 'bush'.

My next project is to turn it into a modified square-foot garden - the bed is almost two feet deep, half a square. I thought of it too late for spring, I'll see what I can do next year.

In the past, I've had very mixed luck with growing vegetables on my patio. The problem is light. I'm in a condo that runs north-south and my back "yard" (and I use the term loosely) gets solid shade until about 11-12:00. At that point it gets full sun for about 3 hours before the trees and building behind mine return it to solid shade. The first year I planted a tomato (Better Bush I think) and it did OK. We got some tomatoes, small but good. I tried it for the next two years with out any success.

This year, I'm going to try growing tomatoes in the little flowerbed in front of the condo. It gets sun from just after dawn to about noon, then solid shade the rest of the day.