I’m having panic attacks about the garden. This happens every time I put seeds into the ground, but today, it’s worse. I am really so far behind on the tomatoes, thanks to my lack of success at starting them indoors. The few seedlings that survived still look like seedlings. I just saw a photo of someone who started there’s a week after mine, and theirs look like actual tomato plants!

What am I going to do?!?!?!

What if my tomatoes totally refuse to grow?!?!?!

What if we have no tomatoes at all?!?!?!

[tries to take deep breath - almost passes out]

[looks up last year's posts]

OK, I didn’t get any transplants from the nurseries until mid-April last year, and we had huge tomato plants. So, maybe it’s not too late. I think I’ll start some more seeds in the starter pots (and make some adjustments to my technique) and transplant the surviving seedlings into one of the large empty pots I have. Maybe they’ll do better in there and perk up and grow.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ll buy a few tomato transplants at the nursery … just to be sure. Tomatoes are a full third of my garden, and I don’t think my nerves will be able to handle failure on that scale. A couple of good hybrids to stave off total failure may be just the thing.

Just to be on the safe side, in case of total tomato failure, I believe I will investigate what things can be planted late in that bed. I’m certainly not going to let it sit fallow all season if the tomatoes utterly fail. That would be insanity! I’m thinking squash.

And people keep telling me to use Miracle Grow. I don’t want to. It destroys the soil by building up unhealthy salts (and who knows what other chemicals). But, will I be able to resist in a crisis situation! Do I have the willpower to resist the dark side?