No, not the beefy kind! “Stakes” is what is on the menu today.  Today is the day I gently…and I mean G-E-N-T-L-Y tie up my tomato plants to wooden stakes so they don’t get top heavy from the weight of all their new leaves and topple over.  It is a ‘delicate’ task and there is no rushing this or you end up with uprooted/torn foilage and stems and then you have to start ALL over again with the seed germination!

I like to use wooden kebab skewers that are around 12″ to 14″ in length and have a nice sharp

“Can you eat these Sprouts?”  I could just imagine this coming from an inquisitive 6 year old (if I had one around, I don’t though thankfully) pointing a menacing, chubby little finger at the delicate stems of my toms and peppers…. Heck no! I would reply, these sprouts are not for turning into a stir fry for dinner, they are the sprouts of yummy goodness that is to come this summer!

I now have an abundance of little green shoots that are almost 4″ high in various little pots crammed onto the ledge in my living room window (think high-density,

Here we are 10 days after planting and I have lots of little green sprouts peeking out of the soil!  There is just something so magical about watching Mother Nature unfurl her little stems and see teensy-tiny leaves open to the waiting sunshine.  The tomatoes were the first to appear, followed by the tomatillos, then the cilantro.  I also have Iceland Poppy seeds breaking the surface and my Parsley isn’t too far behind either.

My peppers have not sprouted yet, they are very fickle plants that require a longer germination time and are VERY particular about the air/soil

Let me tell you a secret about being a Realtor® (you may actually already know this)…it is a highly stressful job!  We, as Realtors®, work long hours having to juggle family and work commitments…we pass our husband/wife in the mornings and they say ‘who are you????’ after we have been out half the night trying to close a deal.  So we need creative outlets at times to de-stress ourselves, to save us from the housing chaos that I call our profession….so how do I ‘de-stress’ myself?

Gardening of course!!

Who doesn’t love to garden?! Oh I know there are probably