Seeds! It's planting time!

What is it about seed packets that are so attractive? I've never planted much of anything from seeds - not enough patience! The packet covers are always depict such perfection and promise! Well, we'll test our patience soon as we just placed orders with three different seed companies for a large variety of vegetables for our garden. I should definitely take photos of 'before' and 'after'. First,we must overcome the challenges of growing something from 'scratch'. Going in, we have ignorance and lack of experience as a huge hurdle. Then, the standard gardening issues of digging, planting, weeding, harvesting, watering, weeding...The more advanced concepts of composting, mulching, pollinating make sense to us intellectually, but without the timing or skills, we're a bit overwhelmed. Then, add in the complications of raccoons, deer, rabbits, birds, some type of mole that runs around under the yard, bugs and we're really up against it to come out with something to eat!

Here's the stack of books alongside my perch at the moment:

The Kitchen Garden: a complete practical guide to planting, cultivating and harvesting fruits and vegetables

Garden Planning (a book that is 95% flower beds, 5% vegetable and herb gardens)

The Backyard Homestead (that promises to help you produce all the food you need on just a quarter of an acre)

The Complete Compost Gardening Guide: Banner batches, grow heaps, comforter compost and other Amazing Techniques for Saving Time and Money, and producing the most flavorful, nutritious vegetables Ever!

Armed with all this information, you'd think we'd be all ready to go! We attended a one hour seminar conducted by an experienced gardener in town. She provided a handout with a list of vegetables, including the seed supplier and variety that she personally recommended. We're going with her list as a starting point. Next is getting a spot ready for the early seeds to get a head start as plants by the time the predicted frost has passed us by. We're hoping that window of time allows us to prepare the soil!

I'm so overwhelmed with the overdose of helpful hints that I'm ready to pitch the books aside and start digging! Oh..well, I guess I'll wait until it stops raining and the seeds arrive....