Gardening can be an emotional roller coaster. It is also an act of faith. You plant the seeds, and water them and put them in sunlight, but you ultimately have no control over what grows. So the time between the planting and the sprouting is emotionally fraught.

Has there been enough rain? Has there been enough sun? Have the birds or squirrels stolen the seeds? Have I run afoul of cutworms? Are these seeds viable?

And then, of course, just because something sprouts well, does not mean it will mature to ripeness. So many things can go wrong.

We had a very mild winter, so the predatory insects and slugs are very bad this year. So FAR, I havent lost anything to predation. We shall see what happens. There are rabbits and raccoons and all manner of things that like a tasty bit of lettuce or corn or tomato, so anything could happen.

I replanted most of my Strictly Medicinal herbs. Of my first try, only a few germinated well, and the labels all faded off, so I have no idea what I have and dont have. Some, I may end up with a LOT of, and that’s okay. If I can’t use it all, someone else can. There are a few that it is too warm now to replant, so I either need to wait until next spring, or else stick a few bags of soil and seeds in mom’s fridge for a few weeks.

My Jerusalem Artichokes did not survive the winter, so I will repurpose that bin for something else. I have some black barley seed I may put in there, and increase my seed stock.

I still have 2 honeylocust and 3 paw paw to plant. I also want to get some roman chammomile started, but that seed’s at mom’s so I’ll plant it next week.