Time to get dirty

Little do my seedlings know, the time is drawing near that their safe, moist, lit, well fed existence in the confines of my basement is going bye bye. That's right, I'm going to unplug them from the matrix and thrust them into the harsh reality that is 'the real'. Which is to say, planting season is upon us!

My LFD is April 15th and I am ready. Well, except that I don't have the frames for my raised beds made, or the dirt layers that will go in them, or really any layout planning completed.... Whatever! Let's do this thing!

To say I have bitten off more than I can chew is perhaps an understatement (yet a pun, which I do enjoy). Thus far my total harvest to date has consisted of three cucumbers and three baby carrots. Not much of a meal, I will admit. However, this year I have three things going for me that I did not have last year: 1. A gardening guru buddy. 2. A small clue as to how this thing is supposed to work. 3. Six new gardening books which, while they assume the reader knows a little too much in my opinion (my clue is very small), have at least gotten me off to a strong start.  

I have my schedule, which I've mostly followed, my seedlings to transplant, my seeds to direct sow, and blind determination. You know, that beautiful naive faith that comes only to someone who has yet to discover just how much can go wrong when you start big without the slightest idea of what's going to happen? Ahh, like a warm blanket (which we hopefully won't need much longer - frost is not good for my green babies) ignorance wraps me with the coziness of confidence, anticipation and imagined future triumph.

Oh and one other thing my seedlings don't know: half of them will be murdered before they even see the light of day. That's right, it's premeditated. The guru tells me I am to eliminate the weakest link in each pot so that only one is left standing. It is one of gardening's dichotomies: so that one may live, others must perish. Or, put a nicer way, "thinning" is a necessary part of (green) life. Well, as Col. Mustard says, "You can't make an omelet without breaking an egg. Any good cook will tell you that..."