Today's fit of optimism led to...

Well, I told myself I'd given up on giving my seeds an early start. After heading down to Concord to help my mother put in a few new small shrubs, I changed my mind. I wandered into my local hardware store and bought a few more seeds and two sets of 'starter kits.' If nothing else, I'll have them for next year, but this way at least I can experiment with having a small set of seedlings started, and the remainder of my growing collection of seeds will just go into the ground sometime next weekend when I get my plot.

Found a nifty watering pot as well - the spout swivels round and out of the way for storage when you're not using it. Cool! Now let's just see how long it tolerates all the inevitable grit that will build up... ha! Still, I remain optimistic as ever.

I think I'll also try installing plastic yogurt cups in between rows, with perforations in them, so that there's some additional water reservoir and gradual watering. Haven't tried that before, so it will be interesting to see if that helps mitigate some of the inevitable hot/drying spells we'll get come July.