So here are my experimental pods started on July 31st. The one at the very front is my basil plant. It has two small leaves and has barely emerged from the dirt. As for everything else in my experiment they are still lying low. Can't wait to see them germinate. The back of the packet says that the germination time can take 10 to 25 days for the bell peppers to emerge whereas spinach can take between 5-10 days. Hopefully my window isn't too hot for them. 

The picture to the right is my container of a pea plant and two zucchinis. This was my first try at soaking. I should've made controls of these to see if soaking is a big deal. Maybe I'll do that later. My window sill is getting pretty crowded.

In Texas, if you don't water your yard, it gets yellow and crunchy. However, if you put a tarp on top of the grass (and lemon mint, ugh!) and don't water it for two weeks it still lingers and does grows ever so abundantly at the edges of the tarp. Spent a good half hour outside trying to remove the pesky stuff from my future plot. So I allow the garden to contemplate its behavior for two days and then I come out and what do I see? Yes, that's right, my basil has begun to flower. Before doing anything else I pounced on the basil starting to pull of the flowers. Before picking out the last two I thought I'd take a picture of it.

I don't have a problem with all flowers. My crepe myrtle has finally produced beautiful towers of light, fragrance flowers. When I planted this back in June, I envied how my neighbors crepe myrtles were fully flowering and mine was on the verge of death. I couldn't figure out if I was over-watering or under-watering. I was convinced that it was over-watering since I read that the roots can rot if there is too much water. Divine Providence rescued the myrtle from my abusive ways by giving us a downpour. My myrtle bounced right back up. It was certainly haggard.