These are the first sunflower and marigold seedlings that came up on the 26th.

I will attempt to run a 15K tomorrow. This will end one of two ways. I will either be dry heaving on the side of Columbia Parkway, or I will barely be able to crawl out of bed on Monday morning. I went to Target today to get something appropriate to wear. The weather will make appropriate clothing tricky. The race starts at 8 at which point it will be 46 degrees and rainy. While running my guts out a light shirt and running pants will be acceptable. I sweat like a beast when active. The trouble will start after I get to the finish line. I won’t be running anymore and it will still be chilly and rainy.

I was hoping Target would have some women’s running pants with pockets. No dice. All the men’s pants have pockets. They don’t cost any more than the women’s pants. What gives? Do just men have things like car keys and cell phones that need to be stowed while working out? This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed this. I have resorted to buying men’s track pants for quite some time for this reason. What sane woman totes around her purse while at the gym or while out for a jog?? What do clothing manufacture’s think we do with necessary items like driver licenses? If no athletic clothing company has addressed this by the time I’m ready to move on to a new career, I’m making women’s athletic clothing with places to stow their junk.

It’s time for Seedling update. My first seedlings appeared on the 26th. The lamps seem to be doing a great job. Due to my plant munching cats, I have limited options in where to place my seedlings for the to get maximum light. Last year I had to keep them in a window that only got sunlight in the morning. The seedlings seemed to get really leggy on their quest to reach for the sun. I’m curious to see if the grow lamps yield a different result. My first seedlings were the sunflowers and marigolds.

Many more seedlings appeared on the 27th. The new seedlings included most of the romaine lettuce, more than half of the cauliflower, most of the broccoli, and most of the marigolds. The tomatoes are teeny tiny. Their first seedling leaves aren’t out of the ground yet. I can see the teeny stems on their way out though.

Thus far I have had a pretty good rate of germination. Last year I had good germination for all the plants except the bell peppers. Those didn’t do so hot. I don’t know if the environment wasn’t warm enough for them or what. I have the grow lamps set-up in the attic. It’s the warmest part of the house in the spring with all the sunlight that is absorbed by the black roof.

The asparagus plant is back from the grave. I was supposed to bring the plant in last winter. I planned poorly because the pot the asparagus is in was too large to drag in the house. I just noticed today that there are brand new asparagus stalks in the pot this spring. I’m really happy. I thought I killed it. It is apparently more hardy than I realized. I’ll have pictures of that soon.

Since I have been off of work for a few days with shingles, I have had plenty of time to obsess over my plants. I could write a whole new post on the shingles experience. I will just say that I have it on my face. It hurts. I’m on LOTS of medication. I’m taking handfuls of drugs per day. It is not pleasant in any way.

As I mentioned in past posts, I am making my first attempt at growing my own veggies. I am growing them from seeds. So, the first hurdle to get over is getting the seeds to germinate. Here’s where I am.

My peas after their transplant outside.

Peas: 11 of 12 seeds planted have germinated. In fact the plants are so large, I had to transplant them out side. They were out growing their little peat pots. The peas are looking good since their transplant.

Tomatoes: 6 of 16 seeds planted have germinated. Unfortunately, my cats ate two of my seedlings. I’m crossing my fingers that more of the seeds germinate.

Peppers: 4 of 16 seeds planted have germinated. I’m not totally certain what I am seeing are peppers and not onions. So, for now these I’m calling these seedlings peppers.

Green Beans: 1 of 12 seeds planted have germinated. I can see disturbance in a few other been pots. I’m pretty sure more will come up shortly.

Unidentified: I have two seedlings that I can’t identify. More on those in future posts.

So, I haven’t seen any onions, cilantro, basil, lettuce, spinach or carrots yet. I’m just excited that I have a few plants. I really have no idea what I’m doing.

One of my tomato seedlings. This one survived the cat attack.

This is my green bean seedling. It's growing so fast.

These are either bell peppers or onions. I dunno yet.

My yard has been left to nature for years. I started a war with the weeds that are attempting to take over the whole yard. I’m not even talking about that low growing green stuff that isn’t really grass. I have full blown tree-like things.

Although they are presenting a problem for me, I have to admit the plants have a pretty good gig. They grow to be many feet high. They shade the surrounding grass causing it’s death. They drop their seeds on the bare ground. Unchecked, they take over your yard.

I hacked lots of them down today, but I have many more to go. I did get a couple of spots cleared out. I planted spinach, lettuce and carrots. The spinach and lettuce is supposed to be a chilly weather plan, so I think they will probably grow. I’m not so sure about the carrots. This will be the first of many experiments.

I’m trying to grow stuff. Up to this point in my life, I have not had a green thumb. I’ve decided to document my abject failures and wild successes with growing my own food in this blog. I’m hoping this will jog my memory next year and enable me to repeat my successes and steer clear of my failures.

On March 9th, I planted green beans, sugar snap peas, asparagus, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, basil, lettuce, carrots and peppers. I got a seed-potting mix and trays of peat moss mini pots. I loaded up the little pots with seed-potting mix and seeds. I watered them. Then I waited.

I have already made my first mistake. I didn’t label the mini-pots with what seeds I placed there. I have three sprouts now, but I’m not sure what they are. They are awfully cute though.