One fine day in the fall I started a vegetable garden. For me, it was an idea whose time had come and I was excited at the prospect of a bountiful harvest of plump, red tomatoes; I dreamed of lush kamote and malunggay leaves for the picking and papayas galore.
I hounded my husband with pleas to get me kamote to plant. I shopped at Home Depot and Walmart for tomato seedlings. And I scoured my Filipino friend’s garden for malunggay clippings.
Gardening was supposed to be as easy as ABC. After all, back home, tomato seedlings sprouted in the most unlikely places and kamote vines sprung with nary a thought.
The three tomato plants I bought instantly died. The three pepper plants followed suit. The three malunggay clippings that I stuck in three different places to increase their chances of survival, sadly did not survive.
This is my pale-looking spring onion. It is so pallid I had to darken the picture’s background so you can see it. 
My kamote—well, after sprouting a few leaves , it stopped growing and turned a sickly yellow. This is my kamote after six months.
My proudest accomplishment, after seven months of diminishing expectations, is this solitary tomato from my lone surviving plant. I will let it ripen in the vine and how I will relish every bite!
This papaya plant is an anomaly. I found it as a baby seedling in my garden one day. I wondered when and how it found its way there! I knew it was a baby papaya when I saw it but my husband was skeptical. How in the world did it get in there? (The gardening angel probably took pity on me.) I shower it daily to ensure its health and my future “atsara”- and- chicken- “tinola” happiness.
Since I started gardening last fall, many in my family have already had their fill of home-grown, organic produce. My mother back home is enjoying her nice bell peppers . My sister is growing broccoli and my sister-in-law had already harvested a bounty of tomatoes and green peppers.
A lot of ventures in this world are began with great optimism and the most noble of motives. However, not every venture is crowned with success. As for me, until I grow a green thumb, I shall gladly settle for my prize: the brave, and hardy, little tomato hanging on the vine for me.
