#Gardening Tales- things are going in and coming up

It's going surprisingly well. I can't say I've been out there every minute of the day, but it's steady progress. The seeds I planted in January and a couple of weeks ago have come up- except the aubergines. They've been hiding, but a gentle brushing away of the compost found them all curled up and ready to sprout. I'm expecting them to make an appearance at the end of the week. To be on the safe side, I've planted a few more and left them covered in the greenhouse, along with some cucumber and chilli peppers. I'm running out of window sills inside. I'm not sure what's happened to the sweet peppers, so I've planted some fresher seed where the cherry tomato seedlings were.
  The cherry tomatoes are doing well. I've just transplanted a dozen or so into their individual pots and put them back on the window sill. You may think I'm a bit early, but last year, by the time the tomatoes had got going, the season was over, so I'm trying them a little earlier to see if I get a greater yield.
 I'm trying the peas around the potatoes/ garlic. It's getting a bit  crowded, but they've all had a big dollop of compost and I think, so long as I keep an eye on things, they should be okay. I've left one end open so light gets to everything. It's a kitchen garden and a new project. I'll have to experiment to see what works if I'm to grow everything I want to.
 I'm on the downhill run of the hacking back. All the big limbs I wanted to remove are down and there are only about half a dozen smaller branches I need to remove. That should keep my sister in firewood for quite a bit. The

thinning out isn't just to make areas lighter- it's mainly been driven by the need to stop my neighbour's wild garden  taking over mine.
  The shallots have gone into the shallow bed- yellow and red ones, half a dozen of each. I'm not sure if they have enough room, but again, I'm experimenting. We'll see how it goes and tweak it next year (yes, I am keeping notes).
  I now have two butternut squashes and two courgettes. I've no idea where I'm going to put them, but I'm sure I'll find a space. I hope they're bush versions, not trailing.
 A scattering of rocket seed has gone into one of the sections in the herb bed. I think there's some parsley in another part, and something that looks dead but might not be, so I'll leave it a little longer to make sure.
  There will be other things being planted, and then we'll have to wait for the damn things to grow, and I do find myself getting impatient, waiting until we pick our first crop. And then there's the excitement when you see the first burgeoning pepper or tomato, pick the first rocket or spinach, have your first meal made with entirely home grown produce; I don't think I'll ever tire of that. Lugging great bags of compost around, I get tired of that- but making a good fist of growing my own? I don't think I'll ever get tired of that.
 We're out tonight (wedding anniversary and the OH's first day officially retired). We're off to Aqua, whatever that is. Apparently they have a vegan menu, with three-THREE!!- choices of starter, main and pudding. Well, no, they've only got 2 choices for pudding, but one of them isn't an iced fruit sorbet. How exciting. I'll have a choice.
  Tomorrow I'm going to try to finish the pruning. The OH wants to help. I think I'll need to find him a little part time job, preferably to coincide with my days off, otherwise the next thing he'll be doing is "offering" me advice. Fortunately, there's sufficient garden rubbish to be disposed of tomorrow, which should keep him busy. Then perhaps I could find him a walking group or charity work- something to keep him busy while I get on with the important stuff...