Fifteen days after I sowed my lettuce, I gave up on it: the seed was two years old, and I figured it was no longer viable. The package said it would germinate in 7-10 days. But it just started coming up. And everything else is happening too – spring beauties in bloom, trout lilies up, red maples blooming, all my plants budding. All they want is a chance and I want so desperately to satisfy them. This year I hope to get them out of containers and rooted in real ground. They have a deer fence now – but I’m still working to bring in enough soil for them all.