Owning my own home, I decided a garden was the best avenue to fresh, top quality, inexpensive food.

My one tomato looked like this! ©iStock/photo/kevinruss

I created a garden with 5′ wood dividers. I filled it with good soil, then made smaller divisions with string. I planted seeds to grow things like eggplant, green beans, and tomatoes. I fed and watered and weeded and watered. My mouth, too, watered thinking of the meals composed of home-grown veggies. A first-time gardener, I didn’t count on clandestine foragers. Critters took bites out of almost everything. One tomato remained pristine. Delicious, it was undoubtedly the most expensive tomato I’ve ever eaten.