And Counting

We are up to 8 asparagus tips, out of 16 planted and no sign yet of the shipment. Good. That gives us more time to argue where the new bed will go.

Well here's another update on the garden. The green beans are starting to send shoots up the trells and speaking of which: last fall we planted snowpeas that finally set out flowers late in November and were smashed by freezing winds in early January. So I pulled those out and planted more seeds in January and have watched with eager anticipation as they germinated and sat there, doing not much. Well now they are taking off and this morning I see flowers! Yea! I was concerned that by the time they flowered, it would be too hot to grow but we may well get a small crop after all.

We ate the last of the brussell sprouts for dinner along with creamed spinach, baked spaghetti quiche (with a tomato sauce from last year's crops)(and the girl's eggs) broccoli and a salad from the mesclun mix. Oh By The Way, we tried that Burpee's mesclun mix in a tape and it worked beautifully! I should plant the last of the tape right now to stagger, except I bet we will have all we need with what we have already grown (we just take from the outer edges every night. It keeps sending out new leaves)......I'll save it for the fall beds.

So far every transplant has survived and with this success leaves me a new dilemma: How To Kill. You see, it's my philosophy that I plant 2 seeds for every pot and thin the weak ones. But these little suckers are all healthy and now I have to literally CHOOSE which one to kill so that the other will grow stronger. You are not supposed to have too many too close together. So I have to go out there with a sharp pair of scissors and snip away half the plants that are happily minding their own business. This includes all the corn as well. I put in two seeds in every hole. 3 rows of slaughter.

Now this was MUCH easier to do last fall when I planted the SEEDS directly in the ground but with the exception of the corn, all these transplants have been coddled and spoken softly to, awakened and cajoled and pleaded with to grow and grow and now I have to kill and kill. It's enough to make me nuts. how do I choose between two perfectly good and happy and strong jalapeno plants? The eggplant will be EASY; they all look dreadful. But the celebrity tomatoes and the Cherokee Purples? The Razzleberry tomatoes? I ask you: what would you do?

I know the answer, of course.

Be merciless. The larder depends upon it.

Today is Easter Sunday. I found an egg this morning so clearly the rabbit has hopped by. I found it in the brown fake box, too, so apparently the Easter bunny got the message as well.

"psst.... hide it HERE! Mess with her head!"