But, What If.....?

I was thrilled to have learned a few months back that I was the winner of the seed giveaway by Donna at Gardens Eye View.  But immediately, I began to panic.  I'm not the best vegetable gardener.  And I knew she would want to know what happened to those seeds!  Aaack!  All I could think about was the What Ifs.

1st basket of tomatoes

What If...
     the seeds didn't grow?

Well, that actually happened.  I'm sorry to report that the melon seeds never came up.  Not one.  So, I'm not sure if I planted them at an incorrect depth, or if they just hated my soil.  Or if some critter came along and dug them up.

What If...
     they didn't do well?

There's a couple in this category.  I'd never grown peppers before, and although I didn't get a record harvest, I did harvest a few.  So, maybe not great, but they turned out o.k.

And, the poor cucumbers have had a hard time.  They were the favorite of some hungry deer that passed through one night.  But the cucumbers sprang back up and now have blooms.  I'm looking forward to having cucumbers soon.   So, in their short little life, they have gone from "not doing well" to "doing o.k" and will soon be "doing great"!

Which brings me to:

2nd basket of tomatoes

What If...
     they actually did well?

Like the tomatoes!  I've been amazed at the tomatoes!  The one thing I didn't count on was the fact that we wouldn't have a drought, and the plants would actually grow!  Initially, I didn't have much hope for the tomatoes.  You see, in this area, tomato seeds should have been started inside about a month to six weeks before I received Donna's seeds.  So, instead of starting them inside, I planted the tomato seeds directly in the soil.  There was no danger of frost.  But I didn't know how well tomato seeds would do directly planted.

It seems they do great!  Although they are a little bit behind the rest of the tomato plants that I have planted in my garden, they are pumping out tomatoes at breakneck speed.

Wahoo!  (Happy Dance here.)

Tomato seeds directly planted do great!  (Picture taken a few weeks back)

When I received the seeds, I realized there was one more What If that I hadn't thought of!

What If...
     we have different planting zones?  (thus different planting times)
 
Well, there were some seeds that Donna probably plants in the summer that I need to plant in the fall.  So, there are some seeds still waiting to be planted.

But, now,  I won't think about what might go wrong.  I will only think about each seed's future potential.

And even more tomatoes!

Thanks, Donna, for the seeds.  But. also, thank you for helping me turn the apprehension of What If into the promise of What Could Be.