How does your garden grow?

We have had beautiful weather since last week. Just as Winter came howling unannounced through this state, Spring has arrived without warning and most days are more like Summer.

One of our goals this Spring was to plant a vegetable garden, and that's what we did today. The previous owners had dug out a vegetable garden and when we bought this house last Spring, we had tomato plants growing out there that we enjoyed for weeks and weeks till the temperatures got past 100 degrees and stayed there for three months without a drop of rain. No matter how many times we watered those tomato plants, the sun and the excessive heat still burned them up. Even the more experienced vegetable growers at the local Farmers' Market couldn't keep their gardens thriving-- the Market closed within a few weeks of the heat wave that never wavered.

So this morning, my husband and I were out in the yard pulling up the zillions of weeds that had sprouted up in the vegetable patch. When all the weeds were out, my husband put down that black sheeting that keeps the weeds at a minimum. And then we did the plants..... four tomato plants, two zucchini plants, plus basil, Greek oregano, and Italian parsley. We also planted about a dozen strawberry plants, but those are in a basket-planter that's hanging up near the deck. I have seeds from last year's Thai eggplant, and I'm going to plant those in little cups and hope that the seeds will take so I can add those plants to the garden.

When we were buying the plants at Home Depot the other day, we forgot to buy green beans, so we'll get some of those when we go into town and add those to the garden as well. We have to keep our fingers crossed that the skunks, raccoons and rabbits keep their paws out of the garden after the sun goes down. If we discover that the wildlife goes vegetable-shopping after midnight, then we'll have to put chicken wire all around the garden patch.

WWPRD? (What would Peter Rabbit do?)