A lone, volunteer basil plant grows in one of the pots of mixed soil and compost. The plant had emerged a few weeks ago, but appeared to have been killed by freezing weather during the night  around May 8. But it rebounded.

Several weeks ago, I planted collard seed in two pots. Only two plants have emerged. There is the hearty, big one, and a fledgling plant. I guess I'll have to plant some additional collard seed.

This winter, I bought a full spectrum light fixture and intended to try planting seed indoors so it would be ready to transplant outdoors after the frost free date (May 10) passed. But I didn't follow up on my intentions, and bought some plants.

There are some lavender, chives, and rosemary as well as a couple of patio tomato plants. I like the size of patio tomatoes and the fact that the plant grows more like a bush and does not need to be staked for support.

I transferred the store-bought plants to pots on the deck. The vegetables that I planted outdoors in pots from seed are doing fine. Several pots are empty. I need to decide what to put in them. There are two garbage cans on the left.

One serves as a compost container. I'll make sure to keep it covered when the weather warms up and there is a siege of flies. In the meantime, it seems good to have the contents exposed to fresh air. The other garbage can  is for growing a hill of pie pumpkins. I hope the experimental drainage systems that I designed for both containers work well..