You Can Bury a lot of Troubles Digging in the Dirt.

I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation. It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mosses from and Old Manse

I decided this year to branch out and plant all sorts of vegetables and a few fruits, not just my salsa staples. I think it will be fun to have new experiences and variety in my garden.

I planted some Bright Lights Swiss Chard,
because even if it ends up tasting bad, I know I'll have fun looking at it.I am also trying several types of lettuce this year.

I loved my Romaine Lettuce last year, so I planted that as well as some Red Sails Lettuce and some Buttercrunch. And even though spinach isn't a lettuce, I gave it a go this year and planted it amongst my lettuce as well.

I got my peas in (finally)

I put some parsnips seeds down, although I'm reading they are notoriously hard to germinate and have success with.

I also got my carrots in. I thought it would be fun to try purple carrots along with the usual this year.

Here's my lettuce, swiss chard and spinach starts.

My strawberries plants are looking fantastic too.

For now everything is still in germination stage (except for the lettuce, spinach, and swiss chard), but if I have any sort of success I throw some pictures up on the blog.

I'm eagerly looking for Mother's Day to pass and the weather to warm up so I can get my tomato's and peppers and corn and cucumbers and green beans and squash and melons planted!