I picked up this book because I've decided to grow tomatoes on my patio in Southern California. I figured that any advice I could glean from the Shepherd's years of growing tomatoes in San Diego would be helpful to me in Laguna Beach...what I didn't expect was the charming "day-in-the-life" subplot to the main tomato growing narrative of life in a working class, multi-cultural San Diego neighborhood. The simply told year-long narrative about of how growing tomatoes has brought Shepherd's neighbors together makes this a heart-warming and interesting book--not to mention all of the wonderful tomato lore that makes the book a gardener's delight.