Growing Tomatoes on The Moon...

I've been meaning to post a picture of my garden for a while now. When we decided to move to Vegas, I was pretty bummed because I didn't think I would be able to have a garden. The house we bought had a broken above-ground pool in the corner that was really beat up. We decided to take it out two years ago--just to find a thick layer of sand underneath. It has been such a dirty mess, especially with the Vegas wind. We have been trying to decide how to landscape it ever since (that is nice wife talk for "Aaron procrastinated and ignored my constant pleadings until my dad accidentally broke a sprinkler pipe and he HAD to do it"). We have some friends in the ward that have a beautiful garden and grow a variety of produce year-round. Inspired by our friends, Aaron built a retaining wall and we filled it with garden soil. We leveled the dirt and installed sprinklers and sod. Late February, I planted 10 tomato plants, melon, cucumber, onions, yellow squash, zuchinni, and jalepenos. While Utah was getting snow in April, my tomato plants were basking in the Las Vegas sun! Now my tomato plants are almost as tall as our brick wall and loaded with tomatoes! A guy at Star Nursery told me that growing a garden in Vegas is like growing a garden on the moon. If that's true, I think the moon would have a green tint to it. I pick squash and zuchinni almost daily and this week we have started to enjoy juicy garden tomatoes!

Apprentice (Me) vs. Master (Dad): I enjoyed working in our garden with my Dad when I was little. I would watch him bend over the plants and try to imitate every move he made. I remember one time I noticed he was sticking his tongue out as he concetrated on pulling out the weeds so I started sticking my tongue out. After a while, he looked over and said in a perplexed tone, "Why are you sticking your tongue out? Put it back in your mouth!" I didn't tell him that he had his tongue out too! Twenty years later, I'm having a tomato growing contest with my Dad. I'll have to take pictures of his plants and our viewers can post their vote for who deserves the prestigious title of The Las Vegas Master Gardener!