I may have a green thumb afterall!

As spring arrives, the birds begin to sing, and the warmer breezes begin to blow. We are not unlike our urban neighbours - we long to plant, to bask in the beauty of colour splashed around our home through delicate flower petals and to enjoy the harvests of our labour. We begin with good intentions - a productive trip to Canadian Tire to buy little peat pots, some seeds and soil. So begins our journey towards harvest.

We place our dirt trays in the sun, being careful to water, but not too much. We clutter up our living space and eagerly await glimpses of our first seedlings. When they poke out we can't help but feel a little pride and a sense of accomplishment as the seedlings grow taller and sturdier. Then, I'm not sure what happens, but one by one the seedlings begin to fall over. As if they have sprouted, but the stem is too weak and they simply give up. We are left with trays of shrivelled up seedlings which seemed to have so much potential.

This year, we kept a closer watch and when they had sprouted, we transplanted into bigger containers, adding extra soil around the tender stems. Eventually it looked as though we would have several seedlings which would survive into the outdoor garden. So with joy in our hearts, we finally make our way outside. We carefully placed our tender seedlings into rows, tossed in a few extra seeds into the ground and expected a bumper crop.

This is what we had the other day....

And the cucumbers look promising.

We've had some lettuce, but the plants seemed to get swallowed up and shrivelled away. We thought we'd have some peppers, but the seedlings also gave up the ghost. We wonder if maybe its best to skip the seedling stage and go straight to the ground. Works for potatoes, cucumbers and carrots!