Plant Murder

I've given you sunshine
I've given you dirt.
You've given me nothing
But heartache and hurt.
I'm beggin' you sweetly.
I'm down on my knees.
Oh, please-grow for me!

Unlike poor Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors I'm having excellent luck with my seeds sprouting this year so far.  In fact yesterday I had to commit plant murder.  The green beans are coming up so well that I had to thin them.  

This shot is actually post thinning...I'll probably end up having to thin them again in another few days as it says one plant per 8" is ideal.  Seems a shame after stalking them the last couple weeks that now I have to rip them out.  Poor plants...

In other garden news...the squash and cucumber plants are also coming along nicely.  Once again it says thin to three plants per small mound-3 plants?  I'm going to have to wipe the current sprout population out by 80%.  It says to wait til they are 3" tall so I have a bit before I have to commit plant-a-cide again.

Finally I am excited that after three attempts last year my green onion seeds are sprouting this year.  These seeds were about the size of a grain of salt so I had my doubts (again) but for 50 cents per pack of seeds I figured it was worth a shot and I located them in a slightly more sandy area of the garden.

The sprouts are SO tiny, less than 1/2" tall.  I almost stepped on them not seeing them (and sort of forgetting where exactly I had planted them-oops!)   

So all is good in the backyard garden.  Now my current conundrum is whether I am actually going to put mulch around my plants or not.  I have about 6 bags left I could spread and I keep reading pros and cons to doing it.  I think it would help retain moisture and help with weed control but I do like the clean "dirt" look and when I sit on the ground to pull weeds the mulch is a little ahem scratchy to the posterior.  

Weather forecast is two more days of bright sun and then two days of rain-perfect garden forecast!