Last year I tried growing a few things in my postage stamp back yard—tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, basil, etc.

The only thing that thrived was the basil.

The problem seemed to be the tropical sun that plagues Philadelphia—at least in my back yard. The heat just wouldn’t let up; there was no place for it to go, so pretty much everything except the basil wilted.

This year I tried growing some broccoli—a ButterStem hybrid to be exact. And as of a couple days ago it seemed to be doing well.

When I looked this morning, however, the squirrels had gotten to it—even though I tried to ward them off with cayenne pepper, marigolds, and a squirrel repeller.