Thanks for the tips! I'm going to respond to your points in reverse order:

• Looking at the peppermint this morning, it's sending two runners out along the ground. Do I need to trim these back? It does, indeed, appear to have aspirations to take over the bed 😂
• I'm going to be curious how the shade/sun mixture works out, and I think you're right. The plants are largely healthy, but they're not exactly exploding in growth. They are still young, though. Hopefully feeding them will help.
• I've got stakes on all my tomatoes as of last week, and cages my neighbor gave me on three of them. I'll monitor and add support, but I think I'm good for now.
• I'll look for some insecticide today. With the tiny pests, will I need a magnifying glass to see them? I haven't seen anything yet, but I'll be watching carefully.
• You caught me--I haven't properly mulched yet. The organic material in my soil mix appears to have formed kind of a crust at the top that seems like it's holding in water, though. I was planning on getting some straw to mulch, but the local store was out last weekend, and I had to go out of town yesterday, so I'll try to grab some today.
• With the fertilizer, though, how strong is too strong? The compost I used had a .05-.05-.05 rating (there was supposedly manure in it), so I was worried if I fertilized too soon, I could burn my plants. I know that's a very low rating, but I used enough to make up closer to half my soil. I also added a big bag of generic Miracle-Gro style garden soil at the very end, and I know that had some fertilizer in it. The tomato and veggie food bags I've found had numbers like 20 or 18--is this too much? Also, what about the "shake and feed" products-- are they any good? Finally, on my lettuce and onion seedlings, I'll want to wait a bit, won't I, and just fertilize the established plants?

I appreciate any further guidance you and the others have.

I did not know that. I will watch it carefully, then, and plan on repotting

Thanks for the advice. They're still very small, so I will definitely take off those flowers asap.

What do you mean? An African or European pigeon?

Damn it, I failed my save. Full damage, I guess.

I recognized it from my research into islands as far away from all the bullshit of the modern world as possible. I would love to visit.

So you're saying Tumblr actually won all these years later?

And...that's how you summon Cthulhu. Thanks, guys.

That cat is desperate to get out.

Stand Alone Complex! Good, I was just thinking about rewatching it!

Red, Red Wine in my ass.

I wondered if they made the jump over here. Guess not, sadly. Reading that sub has made me a better man, because it offers some pretty harsh critiques of male behavior.

Also, basing a love song on a reference to Gauntlet.

Insyderz and Supertones were great, but FIF was on another level.

Five Iron Frenzy is awesome. Just about everything I've ever heard from them is great.

Why is this not a conflict of interest?

Sorry to be the "um, actually" guy, but life on any planet other than Earth has not been confirmed. There have been some signs that there MAY be life elsewhere, but nothing conclusive.

As a layperson, there seems to be a general consensus that, given the vast nature of the universe, life on other planets may be likely. We just can't say "for a fact that other planets exist with life".

I'll be happy to be proven wrong if you've got a source.

Sadly, I have to work not to hate the MAGA people. That in itself makes it hard not to hate them; I don't want to hate anyone, but they are sooo hateful, if that makes any sense.

The Russians trained him wrong on purpose, as a joke.

People hate to read. I write emails that try to cover all bases, because I can't assume grown adults with advanced degrees know what's going on. Sadly, they'll not only not read it, but ask me to write less. Cutting the word count only leads to more confusion.

I'm so done with humanity sometimes.