Seeds are planted!

My seeds are planted! We moved into this house in the Fall of 1999 and in the early Spring of 2000 I started some cherry tomatoes inside in early March. By June, we had BUSHELS of them. I did it again the next year and we had a wonderful harvest again. Then Ted was born. And then Sam. And then Mae arrived. And every year since these energetic children have been with us, we've guiltily perused the young plants at Home Depot in early May and returned home with a few. Meager harvests follow in July, although August is usually a good month no matter what. This year, Mae is 2.5 and, in my opinion, old enough to understand to leave the plants alone. I'm excited for this year's harvest, although I may have overplanted. Our garden is quite small, but we'll see. The back row is home to (from left to right) Heirloom Mini Red and Yellow Pear Tomatoes, Red Cherry Tomatoes, and a hybrid variety known as Early Girl, a type of plum tomato, from the looks of it. In front in the yogurt containers (from left to right) are strawberries, golden chard, baby carrots and sugar snap peas. The two lonesome ones on the right are full size carrots and spinach. I plan to transplant the strawberries and golden chard to the big standing pots we have on the deck. I learned a nice trick from a website today: water the seeds with warm water and then cover them. This creates a nice greenhouse effect. I'm going to water them at night with warm water and help them through the chilly nights this way. Back in 2000, our little tomatoes did just fine without extra help from me, but boy would I love some homegrown spinach and strawberries!! Nothing quite heralds spring like the scent of baby tomato shoots! Can't wait.