X Is for Excited About My Emerging Plants

Yes, I've cheated a bit on the alphabet challenge by using a word that only begins with the "x" sound, but I really wanted to share my excitement at finding two of the vegetables I planted from seed starting to sprout from the ground.

Even though I watered the seeds after planting them, nothing emerged from the ground until after the rain--at least nothing I was hoping that would grow. Yesterday I found my "Early Girl" tomato seeds had sprouted and today I was pleased to find my green pea seeds pushing up through the earth.

In addition to not having had a vegetable garden for a number of years, I am working on a shoe-string budget. I know what the experts recommend and I know what I money I have available to spend. I'm hoping I can creatively solve the most necessary of concerns.

Have you begun to see success with your plantings this season?

V Is for the Vegetables I've Planted

If you garden, you know the difficulty in choosing what you will and will not plant. Everything looks so darn enticing in the seed books and catalogs. I almost succumbed to the temptation to plant eggplant--just because that purple-black color is so attractive. But no one who eats at my house eats eggplant. I'm just going to have to enjoy looking at pictures of them.

As I talk to other gardeners, I listen to their lists of vegetables planted. I begin second-guessing myself. Maybe I should have put in some white potatoes or not decided to wait on greens until fall. Then I remember that gardening isn't a competition--and if it is, it's not with other gardeners but with the elements.

Of all that I have planted, the tomatoes hold the most interest for me. It just isn't summer without homegrown tomatoes. Or fried green tomatoes. Lots of other vegetables will be growing, but I will consider this gardening year successful if I have a bumper crop of tomatoes.