Seedlings!

The promised garden layout drawing has to wait - we have big news -
It took a some time and I was beginning to wonder what I was doing wrong (wrong soil, too much water, not enough water, bad living), but I have seedlings. 8 days after going in, the pumpkin seedlings were up. This was four days ago and now I have four pumpkin seedlings, two of which have put on a second set of leaves. I also have five lima beans (really unique seedlings - the bean gets shoved out of the ground and the leaves break out of the bean), three gourds, three cucumbers, one pole bean and two nasturtiums.
And for those hoping for failure - my no shows are broccoli, carrots, parsley, dill, fennel and black-eyed peas. I am going to try again on the broccoli through fennel, but I think it is too late on the black-eyed peas. So much for a happy new year. Also, I gave in to temptation and planted tomato transplants on August 25th. Only 2 months late, but they were on sale and I've never had what one would call self control. Four of six burnt up in 24 hours. I think I doomed them because I planted them in one bed and then moved them to another after watering them. We are now down to one and he/she is looking pretty stressed as well. My wife read in the Dripping Springs news letter to give tomato transplants some afternoon shade, so I've taken to leaving a five gallon bucket on the west side of the survivor. Where were you on the 25th, love?
But failures aside, I am basking in the success of planting seeds and then coming out to find seedlings. I am also enjoying wondering what to do with my seedlings. When to thin, when to mulch, how much thinning and mulching, when to decrease watering intervals and when to fertilize. I've found that gardening texts are fairly casual, non-specific and - when they do go into specifics - contradictory with some of these recommendations, leaving me to make decisions I am not well equipped to make. I am having great fun with all of it.