The Bracketing feature, is one you can set up (for instance, on my Canon) where it takes 3 shots when you hold the shutter button down. Instead of just 1 shot, you get 3. One is a normal exposure. The other 2 are over and under exposed, based on f-stop settings you tell it to use. You can say you want the varied exposures to be one full stop higher and lower, or a half stop, or even 2 stops. By doing this, you have more data to work with and the tone blending will hopefully have great success.
However, what you've done with a single image is pretty good.
It might just be a fun exercise to experiment with bracketing, just so you'll know what it is and how to use it.

Check out: http://www.ehow.com/video_2369638_canon-eos-40d-exposure-bracketing.html