Watched Plants Never Grow

What a wet, miserable day! I'm trying to be pleased on behalf of my garden, but I'm actually rather impatient that it isn't farther along. Does the principle of watched kettles and pots apply to watched plants, do you think? It's possible I should have started sooner. I didn't think the weather would support the plants any sooner, but I won't know until next year. Must remember to make some notes about when things are planted, so I can compare next year.

You might remember that I was attempting Square Foot Gardening. Unfortunately I don't think blogger.com will allow me to show you my Excel spread sheet of squares. However, starting from the row closest to the wall at the back of this picture are ( ) squares planted with:

• nasturiums (2)
• runner beans (2)
• dwarf beans (1)
• lettuce (8) I'm not that big on lettuce, preferring spinach, but we had the seeds already...
• daylilies (3)
• California poppies (4)
• marigolds and alyssium (3)
• cucumber (1)
• courgette (1) This box was labelled cucumber, but it doesn't look like the other one, it looks like a courgette (AKA zucchini)
• leeks (3)
• spinach (6)
• broccoli (14) That's seven plants given 2 SF each - Bill's suggestion.
• strawberry (1) The only left over from the last garden planting
• parsnips (7)
  

I believe I have about 40 more squares to plant. Some of those will be left until autumn for cane fruits. Bill thinks he can manage a small glass enclosure against the back wall (on the right) and I might put more pepper plants there.

We've been watching Jamie Oliver's series "Jamie at Home" (free from the library). Has Jamie Oliver made it in the States? I think he started out as The Naked Chef, but he's successful (or maybe just chubby) enough, he keeps his clothes on these days. This series shows him cooking incredible meals from the fresh food in his garden (or someone's garden, anyhow).

That's one of the ways I know I'm really old now: cooking and gardening shows actually hold my attention.