Starting from Seed

 Mr. Green Thumb has been in the house. 
 Early in April, a bit early for me, but not my Mr., Bill started planting seeds in tiny trays, filling not just one but several...at a time.  (I just knew he was up to something when he asked me to order a ' grow light ' ).
Soon he had tomatoes, 3 varieties of which he forgot to mark, bell peppers, sweet yellow banana peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, a couple varieties of cabbage, cucumbers and cantaloupe. 

 Hey, slow down fella, we've never done this before!

 The following morning, he was checking under the grow light where his seed trays lay, to see, if by some miracle, he had success after one day.  He'd mist daily, but lightly, until finally he began to see tiny green shoots showing themselves. 

Hey, this is getting exciting.  Next he transplanted each one into 3 and 4 inch pots as each plant had sets of 4-6 leaves.  It didn't take as long as we thought, in fact, we were surprised as to how fast these seedlings were growing.  As they grew out of the small pots, again they were transplanted into 1/2 gal. pots where they will stay until the day they are planted in our gardens outside.  That will be next week as we are predicted to get a couple quite chilly nights this weekend.  It will mean covering his prizes or bringing them back inside a couple nights.  

 I've helped with transplants and labeling, but these are his babies.  On cold mornings he'd even start a fire in the woodstove to keep the house and his tomatoes warm.

This past week he has been ' hardening them off ' or taking them outside to reach for real sunshine and acclimate to the weather.  It's been nice out so they've spent the nights camping out under the stars.  On windy days, he puts them on the floor of the deck, heaven's forbid, should one fall off the table and break.  

Weather permitting, we will have tons of tomatoes, plenty for canning this fall.  But what I'm anxious for is the wonderful, fresh taste of a warm, ripe thick slice of tomato the size of my hand between two slices of multi-grain bread with Miracle Whip and a shake of salt and pepper....mmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmm!!!

 Look who already found his way into Bill's garden...
this little fella is so small that he can crawl right through a 4" x 4"inch wire fence.
He can't be more than a few days old and already so strong.  Such a sweet lil fawn.

 There he is again, trying to hop through the grass across the field behind his Mama.

Just a bit of what we've been up to this early spring.  I'll keep unfolding the garden story as we try to make it grow.  Til then, we need more sunshine and rain in the little bit at a time, like we've been getting.    Our prayers for all of you who have so much more to worry about than a toppled tomato plant.   Bless you all from the north.