First marigold blooms of the season.

Looking down at 2 grow bags with potato plants growing in them.

Update - Yukon Gold potatoes. According to the information that came with the seed potatoes, they should be ready to harvest the first week in May. I don’t see any signs of them slowing down, though. No yellow leaves or flowers. Oh well. There’s nothing to do but wait.

White rose bush in a field.

Purple irises in bloom

Pink rose bush in bloom

First bloom of the season - roses and irises.

Seed packet collection- beans, marigolds, basil, sweet peppers, cucumbers, and dill.

Found the Dollar Tree location with an excellent seed selection. My regular store was picked over. And look - my favorite cuke variety was available- Marketmore 76.

3 collard plants in a garden. Picture taken from above.

Collards have graduated to the big garden right ahead of the rain. I experimented with placing the smaller Alabama Blue between the Green Glaze. I might end up moving it, though. I think those Green Glaze collards will jump.

Just sent 6 collard seedlings home with my sister, 2 of the following - Big Daddy Greasy, Green Glaze McCormack’s, and Alabama Blue. She said hers weren’t growing well. Alas, no pictures.

They’ve worked for me so far. I’ll report back on the potatoes when they’re farther along. I’m interested in container gardening because I want to be able to garden even if I live in an apartment.

Once the Irish potatoes are done it’ll be time to start sweet potatoes.

Alabama Blue collards seedlings and Green Glaze McCormack’s collards seedlings in 6 count green seed starter tray. View from above.

First seedling gift of the season is a go! Collards for a colleague.

😂

Fiction submissions opening 3 submission windows for 2025

General April 16th Novelettes (10,000 to 18,000 words) June 4th Indigenous Authors November 3rd

Strange Horizons will have 3 FICTION SUBMISSION WINDOWS in 2025.

General
April 16th
with a 1,000 story cap

Novelette (10k to 18k words)
June 4th
with a 300 story cap

Indigenous Authors
November 3rd
with a 500 story cap

Submission windows will begin at 9am UTC and end when we reach the cap.

If you were close, I’d give you some seedlings. They’re both new-to-me varieties.

Gumbo

Fried chicken and Mac and cheese

Shrimp and grits

Beignets

And of course I ate.

St. Charles Street Streetcar, New Orleans

Path of Live oak trees

Garden district, New Orleans, LA

Jackson Square, New Orleans, LA

Pictures from my New Orleans trip.

Yukon Gold potato seedlings in grow bag

Irish cobbler potato seedlings in grow bag.

Irish potato grow bag experiment update - 30 days. Yukon Gold and Irish Cobbler. USDA zone 8a

Green Glaze McCormack’s collards seedlings

Alabama Blue collards seedlings

The collard green seedlings are growing y’all! Green Glaze on the left. Alabama Blue on the right.

I carefully planted some carrot seeds. I bet if I threw some on the ground they’d do better 😂.

BSFA Awards 2024 Shortlist The British Science Fiction Association today announced the shortlist of nominees for the BSFA Awards for work published in 2024. The BSFA Awards have been presented annually since 1970. They are v…

Congrats to the BSFA Awards 2024 Shortlist
Congrats @fionamoore.bsky.social
@aptshadow.bsky.social
@oliverklangmead.bsky.social
@wtalabi.bsky.social
@aliettedebodard.com
@hawkwinglb.bsky.social
@abigailnussbaum.bsky.social

and all the finalists!!

file770.com/bsfa-awards-...

✨✨ HIRING!! Please share 🙏

I’m looking for a part-time, contract Publisher’s Assistant for April-June.

Deets:

💸 $21 CAD/hour
⏳ 10-12 hours/month
🍁 Remote in Canada

You’ll support me on balancing Augur Society & writing priorities!

Details & app found here:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

2024 Nebula Awards Ballot The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has released the finalists for the 2024 Nebula Awards. Novel Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory, Yaroslav Barsukov (Caezik SF & Fantasy) a…

The 2024 Nebula Awards ballot has been announced by SFWA. Congratulations to the finalists!

locusmag.com/2025/03...

Haven Spec Magazine, Issue Nineteen, March 2025. Cover and table of contents. The contents are as follows: Cover Art by Abi Stevens Art. Fiction: Handsomest Gentlest by M. R. Robinson. A True Account of a Pre-Teen Blob by Marie Vibbert. Coming Home to Leviathan by Sagan Yee. Host by Catherine McCarthy. Poetry: Bandits of Dream City by Sharang Biswas. What Does Your Revolution Look Like? by Ewen Ma. Dawn Witching with Crows by Devin Miller. Hermit of the Crossroads by Marie Brennan. Nonfiction: Letter from the Editor, Ya Herd? By Leon Perniciaro. Short Fiction Reviews By Danai Christopoulou. Interviews with Lindz McLeod and Terese Mason Pierre.

Our ✨March 2025 issue✨ is ready at last!

Subscribers can read it today, but everybody else has to wait till next week. Why not subscribe and feast your eyes on all of these literary wonders to behold?

Subscribe through Patreon:
www.patreon.com/HavenSpecMag...

PodCastle Submissions are OPEN, March 1-31

PodCastle is OPEN to general submissions until 31 March!

Please read our submission guidelines here:

escapeartists.moksha.io/publication/...

and then send us your stories using this link!!!

escapeartists.moksha.io/publication/...

Legacy: A Short Story - A picture of a lightning strike to a town below at night. Cover Art Copyright – © Hassanmohiudin | Dreamstime.com

This week’s short story “Legacy” is a 3,907 word historical fantasy about grandmothers and granddaughters and what it means to feel safe in an insecure world.

TW - This story takes place during the Atlanta Child Murders in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
iretteypatterson.com/weekly-short...

Mail Order Magic March comes to you with Sunday Morning Transport stories by Stephanie Burgis, Eric Smith, Sarena Ulibarri, and Leah Cypess.

Hooray! My new cozy fantasy short story "Mail-Order Magic" is out now and free to read at @morningtransport.bsky.social : www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/mail-order...

Enjoy!

Dammit @jrdawson.bsky.social "Six People to Revise You" in @uncannymagazine.bsky.social issue 62 made me ugly cry.

You should go read it.

Uh, anyone watching #ParadiseHulu over here? Because that last episode had me stressed.

Also, they finally show the people getting left behind when the chosen few selected to save the human race leave.

Collards seedlings in an open milk jug greenhouse.

Milk jug greenhouse update. Collards seedlings planted Christmas morning. They sprouted when they got ready.

For the past couple of mornings, I woke up knowing exactly what l wanted to write. And then there was this morning. Just me and the blank screen looking back at me 🤣.

My short story "Winning" is available to read for free on my website through March 1, 2025.

iretteypatterson.com/weekly-short...

Brussels sprouts plant pulled up on a black table.

Pulled up the last Brussels sprouts plant. Onward!