Holy growth spurt, Batman!

Last weekend my friend Annie came to visit our house for the first time, and brought me a great housewarming gift.  She made this beautiful arrangement herself.

Pansies!  Now, I have to admit that every time I see pansies, I say, "You bunch of pansies!"

Every time.

Even in public.

In spite of my silliness, I love this arrangement of dogwood and pansies that is now cheering up my front stoop.  Thanks, Annie!  Also, my daffodils are putting on quite a show.  I am so glad I planted them.

They wave at me every morning when I leave for work and every evening when I come home.  I swear. They DO!  =)  I digress again. 

On Sunday, while Annie was here, we looked at my seed starting shelf.  There was nothing but dirt to show, nothing exciting.  I didn't really know how long it would take for some of the plants to start growing.  I'm pretty new to this gardening stuff, in case you hadn't noticed.  On Monday, I looked and saw tiny little green shoots starting to push up.  I thought to myself... I should really take a picture of those tiny plants.

Imagine that is what actually happened, and here is where the picture would be.  =)  I didn't take a picture, and thought, I'll just snap one tomorrow.  So, here is Tuesday's picture of my plants.

The plants are still tiny, but making more of an appearance than they did the day before.  Here are a couple of close ups.

Wednesday I went to check on my tiny plants and was in for quite a shock. 

 Who are you, and what did you do with my tiny plants?  I hate to say it, but I told you I didn't trust those beans.  It seems once they got started, they were off and running.  Here is Thursday's picture... Remember, this is 1 week after I planted!

When I asked my husband to come look, he said, "Uh, I think your thumb is too green."  (And all this time, you all thought I was brown!)  =)  Today I removed those green bean plants from the seed starter.  We raised the lights and they just kept shooting up.  I am in the process of hardening them off, and will soon be planting them in the garden. 

In the meantime, I will lower the lights again, to give the other plants a chance at some light.  I also set up a fan on my seed starting shelf, to mimic the wind conditions my plants will soon be subjected to, and help make them stronger.  Finally, I thinned out plants that had more than one growing per cell by cutting them at ground level with some scissors.  This way the strongest plant has the best chance.  Currently growing at a slower pace: carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes (roma and beefsteak), cauliflower, garlic, basil, and marigolds.    Currently no-shows: eggplant, jalapenos, and bell peppers.  I may have to try and re-plant those.

But that's another project, for another day.  Finally, a pic of my tulips.  Have a great weekend!