Disappointment and Enlightenment

Ok, so my pea fortress has been successful, but it also clued me in to the real problem. Of the approxiamtely one jillion peas I planted (ok, probably more like 200. Not certain. Order of magnitude, anyway.) just 10 plants came up. Based on what I've since read, the most likely culprit for my absence of peas is probably the seeds rotting. Apparently if you plant them too early, they rot rather than sprouting. To work around this, presprout them in wet paper towels. Not airtight, leads to premature mold. Tried this and wow, now I have some peas sprouting. It might be a bit late for an amazing harvest, sadly. But next year, with the knowledge I've gained and the cages already set up, I should do well. Just a note, in the past I've gotten no peas sprouted, I think this was a mix of mostly rotting and the stragglers power-chowed by the groundhog. My old nemesis.

Other stuff - My first planting of seedlings went poorly. Only the San Marzano tomatoes survived. But they're doing well. Basil is coming up nicely. Second planting of eggplant, ground cherries, tomatoes (incl cherry tomatoes), and peppers. Planted zucchini last weekend in the community garden. Kale in the community garden survived the winter and is doing great - rest of the grean leafies died. I couldn't tell the difference between them much, I think I'll stick with kale.