Huzzah! The first sprouts!

There's no way to ignore it. It's finally spring in Colorado Springs. After getting their little green tips frozen off about a dozen times in March, my daffodils have grown tall and bloomed. The grass is turning green. It's now only about four weeks until the last frost. On April 3, I bought a cubic yard of rich topsoil and finally filled my two raised beds. I put a grid of twine across the beds because I'm using Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening method. It's nothing fancy, just a way to organize beds in squares instead of long rows that saves space and is perfect for a small garden like mine.
Once I had the squares laid out, I drew up a grid with the same number of squares on a piece of paper that I could use to remember where I planted what. Then it was time to bust out the seeds. Here's what I planted:

Sweet and spicy mesclun

Spinach

Radishes

Golden and red beets

sugar snap peas

snow peas

oak leaf lettuce

red butterhead lettuce

Italian Parsley

As I planted a square foot or two of each one, I wrote it down in the proper square on my sheet. I also included when it was planted and when it would be ready for harvest. I only planted one of my raised beds, leaving the other one free for planting warm weather crops, such as tomatoes and peppers, in a few weeks.

Then I watered and waited.

And watered and waited.

Every morning and every evening after work I came home and inspected every inch of dirt for signs of new sprouts. And every morning and evening there was nothing. I felt like that stereotypical (and now woefully outdated) expecting father, pacing around the waiting room, hoping any minute the doctor will push through the doors and say, "congratulations."

But nothing happened. I began to blame the soil, and myself, and the neighborhood squirrels and anything else that might have a hand in my garden's failure. And then...

First one radish rose up, and unfolded its butterfly-shaped primary leaves. It was smaller than a dime, and yet, a huge event in the season. My first sprout. It was soon followed by other radishes. Then the lettuce started. I'll finally be able to relax and feel some peace when the peas poke up.

Keep checking in for garden progress and tips, like this one:

For faster germination, cover your beds with clear plastic which acts as a ground-level greenhouse. Remove it after the seeds have sprouted.

Do you have pictures of your first seedlings, or progress in your garden. E-mail them to me and I'll put them on the Blog.