So, You Ask, What About That Garden?

You may have noticed a bit less about my ambitious vegetable garden. That is because, well, it didn't do much. Many of the seedlings just died after being planted, nothing grew large, and the corn is perhaps three feet tall.

I think I needed (a) to do more (read: anything) with the soil, (b) not leave on vacation for three weeks, and (c) do a better job of weeding. I think (a) and (b) were the critical mistakes.

We did get a couple of tasty tomatoes, though only from plants that we bought already started (none from my seedlings), and some of the flower gardens look nice, but it was still a pretty substantial disappointment.

In other disappointing news, Amelie-Louise Bakery (owned by our friends) closed. On the other hand, it's going to reopen in September as a cafe, and I understand it's owned by folks who ran a fairly popular vegetarian cafe in Northampton called (I believe) Fire and Water. That place had performances too, so I have a little dream of them booking kids' music shows in there. Also, the video store in Florence closed, and I've heard that, too, will be a restaurant of some sort. Perhaps someday Florence will have a sit-down place that isn't terrible (i.e., Friendly's).