All of the seeds that I planted on June 18th have emerged. The basil seeds being the quickest to sprout, they were up in less than 48 hours. The bush beans also came up quickly but one of the seedlings has already been EATEN ALIVE!!! The tomatoes took the longest, three days, but they are well on their way.

It's been so hot here that I had to wait until dusk to till the second of our raised beds. I went out at 8pm last night to till the 4x4 space and sift the soil. I had to stop only because it got too dark. This morning before it got too hot I went out and bought a bag of peat to add to the soil and compost that we eventually filled the bed with. The heat makes all of this not so enjoyable for me but I told Michael that I was afraid that he thought I was losing interest. Really though, I couldn't stand to see the beds sitting empty.

It has been 8 weeks since we started focusing on the yard. It's a big yard which makes this endeavor feel a little daunting. There are so many ways to go. We decided early on that we were going to have a small area of lawn but I question that choice everyday, especially after watching the clip of the family in Pasadena. We have so much room, we could put in so many more garden beds.

Tomorrow we are putting together a compost bin. I brought home a bag of used coffee grounds from Starbucks to throw in. We accumulate a lot of vegetable scraps, egg shells and plant clippings and after tomorrow we won't have to waste them by tossing them in the trash bin.