This first picture was this past Friday. Abigail got it in her mind to make this huge quilted heart on the driveway. About 1/6 of the way in, she realized just how big of a task she had before her and called in the reinforcements. Zander made one square and quit, so Mommy was called in to do the job right. A short while later a thunderstorm washed the project away.

And this is what I see this morning. Go away already!

I had been planning to take pictures of the pot of radishes growing in the backyard…except I suspect that may not be faring very well and I’ll have to start over. So you’ll have to settle for these pictures instead.

These are my tomato plants to the right! I cannot believe how well they are doing. They are doing very well it seems, and I swear they grow so much every day! I check them several times a day, and they are always just a bit bigger. I have two varieties that don’t seem to be doing as well, but since all the tomatoes are heirlooms, it’s hard to say if they actually are doing poorly, or if they are just slow to grow. Time will tell. I love brushing the tops of the plants with my hands and then smelling my hands- they smell like tomatoes and gardening. I think I may just have a few that will be ready to go in the ground come mid-May.

My peppers are very slow going. So far I haven’t had any germination at all of the hot peppers, and only one or two of the sweet ones. Sadly, I may end up buying some seedlings for them, but then again, they could just all the sudden start sprouting any day now. It’s a lesson in patience I guess. So these seedlings below seem a bit of shock then. These are okra sprouts. When I planted the okra, the information I had was that these particular seeds had fairly low germination, and that I should plant them densely to ensure sprouting. So far, they’re all sprouting. I really only wanted one or two okra plants to try out, but now I’m up to six, and I suspect a fewmay be coming along at any time now. It will be interesting to see how okra fare here in the north. I’m also anxious to sample fresh okra. I’ve heard it said that if there is one vegetable that tastes radically different freshly plucked off the plant, it’s okra.

Then these next sprouts also crack me up. These below are Asian Eggplants, specifically, the varieties Ping Tung and Applegreen in the back. Again, the seeds directed me to sow thickly, due to poor germination.

Um…I have an army of eggplant sprouts and garden space planned for two plants of each variety. I’m hopeful that I’ll find someone nearby who is interested in some unusual garden plants.

I’ve also got some radicchio and kale sprouting, and I’m waiting for any signs of life from my tomatillos as well. I planted some onion seeds over the weekend as well, but I suspect those may take a little while to start sprouting. I did two different kinds of scallions and some gorgeous looking red onions- all heirlooms and non GMO seeds, of course. I’m trying some leeks, but I don’t know that we have a long enough growing season up here for that one. So we’ll see.

I guess that’s the garden round-up for today. I am cooking something up in the kitchen for later today, so come on back for that. Other than that, it may be a slower week around here this week. We’ll see, I am looking for some inspiration- and definitely not finding it from the weather.