A leap of gardening faith!

These Little Caesar seedlings don't look like much!

In many ways gardening is very similar to practicing some religions. Lots of faith comes into play! When I start some of my vegetables indoors in late winter, I have to have faith that those efforts will pan out somewhere down the road. Some seeds like romaine lettuce come up pretty quickly and so give me hope of a future harvest. Other seeds like peppers and tomatoes can take a week or more to germinate, thus testing ones metal. And, as I like to use seed from plants I harvested the year before, this effort becomes even a bigger leap of faith!

Sweet bell peppers grown from seed are a particular challenge. Not only do they take a long time to germinate, but the growing cycle is long and stretched out. It can be two months before my pepper starts are ready to be transplanted into a raised bed and even then, it could easily be late August before the first harvest! And tomatoes, even though they may germinate relatively quickly, are very finicky when it comes to producing fruit. At least for me they are. As of late, I've taken to growing my main season tomatoes in pots while sowing cherry tomato plants in the main beds! For whatever reason, the cherry tomatoes have always done well, while the potted tomatoes have to be coddled and cajoled into production.