I have (had) no idea. One zucchini seedling just started shriveling, one of its two first leaves (that aren’t actually leaves, I know) and then the other. Now it’s gone. And then one of its littermates followed.
Dead One (photobombed by live one) 
Also Dead
Fine. Be that way. I’ll just plant MORE. In fact, I planted three. Research tells me the culprit was probably “damping off” which is caused by a fungus spread by fungus gnats (those little f*ckers!) attracted by my being too generous with water.
Dammit. It’s a desert! I’m always afraid if I don’t water, everything will die! But fine. I will be more stingy with the water next time around.
As someone I follow on Twitter said last year, I’m not really a great gardener, I’m just willing to kill a lot of plants to get what I want. At least I kill them with generosity, I guess?
I’m planning to build a–not a greenhouse, as putting plants in a structure with more heat than they will already get in my backyard is a bad plan. I will build a different protective structure though, with chicken wire to keep that damn squirrel off my tomatoes, and bug netting to keep the plant-eating bugs out. I’m not particularly handy, so that should be fun.
But things are going better in other places! Please observe the orchid that got rehomed to my desk, because it wouldn’t bloom for the CEO’s admin assistant. This is the second time it will bloom for me. 🙂
And here’s the succulent a dear friend gave me for my birthday. See? I don’t kill most plants.
In Other News
The Paranormal edit crawls on. The thing I love about editing is how you can see more of the wonderful emerging, the great stuff that you got into the book to write, and then somehow lost track of along the way. The thing I hate about editing is that pruning and fixing is so. much. work.
But yesterday as I was reading through a scene I came across a joke I’d forgotten and burst out laughing, so I’m happy to report that at least one person is thoroughly delighted with this book.
I’m definitely hoping I’m not the only one. 😉