You win some you lose some

I'm sure some of you think that I have already given up.  Why hasn't she planted her garden yet you ask?  Well I am going to trust the sage advice of those that have gone before me and not plant before Mother's Day.  I think this is mostly to avoid frost but part of this journey is to rely on the integrity of other farmers (urban or otherwise) .  As most of you know Mother's day  is a week from tomorrow (depending on when you read this) and to ensure I plant on time, Burpee has sent my first plants.    It looked like a package from the future.

This is what was inside.

There are specific instructions to water and allow the plants to rest for at least 48 hours and that they will survive up to 10 days.  

Good thing as this brings me to the loses part of this post.  I don't have the heart to post pictures but there have been some minor setbacks.  First, I have mold on eggplant and green peppers seedlings (which are no where near as large as the ones from Burpee?).    I have tried all the internet suggestions to no avail.  Hopefully they will survive until next week.  Secondly there have been two fatalities in the last week or so....the onions and the cauliflower.  I'm not too upset about the cauliflower but the onions were important.  Perhaps I will take the loss and buy an onion set from another farmer.    Finally the garden soil is still not ready.  This is not for lack of trying.  Dad and I have spent many hours out there but it seems every time we get going either Mother Nature in the form of weather stops us or the infernal bamboo.   If anyone has any suggestions (other than setting it all on fire) I would be open to them.  Next spring it will be action item number one......

I WILL beat this bamboo....

I was hoping that today's post would be filed with schedules and plans and big wins over the bamboo.  Not so much.  The landscaping company came today and made an attempt to remove the roots left in the space where the garden should be.  Instead this is what I am left with.....

Please don't misunderstand me, I know they are doing the best they can with what they have to work with but again we are at an impasse.  It looks like instead of the removal off all the roots for one low easy price, there will be more elbow grease exerted.  Good thing Dad and I took the day off tomorrow.

Now that all the bad news has been reported I have updates on the lettuce :)

The other thing to celebrate is the rosemary from Monticello survived the winter (if you can call it a winter). 

It's neat to think that this plant came from the same plants that Thomas Jefferson grew at his home.