Buying Plants

My indoor starters of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant did not seem to take root in a meaningful way when transplanted.  Indeed, not may of the seeds planted directly have sprouted.  This week, coinciding with Mother's Day weekend each year, is the local flower market, a charitable event that I've not been to in years, timed as optimal planting time.  If I want tomatoes and peppers from my own garden, I will have to buy starters.  Home Depot had a good price, though very limited selection.  I got two tomato plants and one, set them outside my front door when I got home, watered them in their containers, and will transplant today.  Shop-Rite had a better price but negligible selection.  I'll look around this week.  And I can always go to the annual Flower Market, where plants for transplanting are among the popular offerings.

I also need to get seeds, as my supply of vegetable seeds turned out much less than I thought.  Lettuce sprouted, radishes doing well.  Not sure about yellow squash.  Pak Choi has not emerged from the soil surfaces.  Definitely want cucumbers.  Beans do well, but forager mammals get to them before I do in recent years.  Maybe this year, fewer varieties but committing more squares from my grid to each.

Beets and carrots planted.  I thought there would not be a weed block layer in the location I chose for them but there turned out to be.  Beets have a fighting chance, carrot development unlikely.

Despite the challenges of obtaining a harvest toward summer's end, when I go out to the garden, whether to plant, weed, or water, I enjoy being out there, even if I'm really not very adept at it.