Middle: The spearmint sprouts lag behind. I've heard their harvests are pretty prolific though, so I remain hopeful and patient.
Middle: The bell pepper seedling aspires to greatness.
Middle: We had one last (hopefully) frost warning a few days ago, and I covered the herb clusters with drinking glasses to create mini-greenhouses. They worked beautifully. Except on the basil cluster I forgot to cover.
Bottom: The secondary/northern plot. I can't believe we have multiple plots. We now refer to the plots collectively as "Englewood Gardens" (Englewood is the name of the street we live on). It must be said in a pompous English accent. Also, I'm pretty proud of that path - I made it out of a pile of broken bricks that was making a corner of our backyard look bad. It gives me easy access to all the rows, and to the garden hose. Triple-win.
The last time we went to Home Depot to get more soil, there happened to be a 50% off sale on all their veggie and herb seedlings, so... yeah. I'd say our garden is about half from seedlings, half from seed. It will be interesting to see what thrives and what doesn't.
Here's the roster so far: bush beans, jalapeno, poblano, and bell peppers, eggplant, tomatoes (regular-sized and cherry), green onions and okra are in the primary/southern plot. Summer squash, green onions (yes, more of them), beets, Swiss chard, cilantro, basil and rosemary are in the secondary/northern plot. Arugula, lavender, spearmint and two tomatoes will be potted (though I'm considering finding little niches for the tomatoes around the yard).
I think I've already learned one lesson: sow herb seeds wherever they're going to stay. Since they're so delicate, they're a bitch to transplant successfully. The spearmint sprouts are still in their starter pods, and remain adorably, infuriatingly tiny after almost three weeks. I look at them and lament how long it will take to grow enough for mojitos (life is hard). I might supplement them with a seedling of a different variety - maybe lemon mint, or chocolate? Does anyone have a favorite mint variety that I just have to grow?