Living in a downtown Toronto high-rise leaves me with very little outdoor space of my own.  To be exact, I have a very small balcony that I usually don’t spend too much time on.  However, the summer is a different story.  Victoria Day weekend in May I ended up with my sister, her husband, and our parents at my sister’s favourite nursery in Guelph – my sister always plants her garden around this time, and I opted to plant a container garden.  To be honest, my dad actually did a lot of the planting this year (with many thanks of course).  It’s not much, but going out to check on my garden in the mornings before work has become a ritual of delight.  I need to confess that this took me by surprise.   I think my appreciation for home gardens has increased along with my appreciation of the flavour of simple, fresh foods.  This year I have two tomato plants, a jalapeno plant, a thai hot pepper plant, and assorted herbs of course.  For colour, I also have a few flower pots, including marigolds, which are not only vibrantly bright but also keep insects away from my basil plant.  To try and discourage birds from indulging in an afternoon snack of leaves from the garden, I entrust Sesame (the bird in the picture below) to scare them away.  I can’t wait to share stories of my first container garden dish with everyone!