My parents were quietly reading in their favorite chairs when I, their nine-year-old son, approached with a question. “May I start a vegetable garden in the backyard?” They looked at each other in wonder. Neither had any interest in gardening. “Ah … well … sure,” Dad answered. After a while, curiosity brought my parents outside. There they found me laboring manfully away with a shovel longer than myself.

Gardening has been my lifelong hobby. Cool temperatures in Washington have challenged that value. Last year I couldn’t get beans and squash seeds to germinate until June. I replanted our potatoes three times trying to get healthy growth.

Starting plants indoors under grow lights should be the solution. Pre-Washington I never had much success doing so. Over caring for them is the likely reason. Sometimes I can’t resist pulling up a chair to watch my starters grow. I once used toothpicks and sewing thread to stake forty one-inch tomato seedlings.

One thing I’ve discovered is that my plants don’t thrive until I get them out of my smothering care and into the ground. Temperatures today are predicted to approach seventy degrees for the first time this year. Yesterday I transferred sprouts germinated indoors to the garden beds. Of course, I used a flashlight in the dark to check on them. In Washington, slugs swarm at night. Maybe I’m lucky the growing season is short.