In the “Hey, Self” department: peppers to the front! It’s been an educational month since the plants hit the beds. In just a month, the wee starts and teeny seeds have all but exploded.

The Kentucky Wonder pole beans exceeded their 5′ poles and are climbing amongst the Silver Queen corn, the so-called bush cucumbers (freebies from Gardens of Babylon) are anything but bushy (but they’re spreading like kudzu), Athena melons are creeping across the lawn (not sure how that corner’s getting mowed), a lush (but largely flowerless) Mr. Stripy gives me both hope and pause, and the bush beans are nearly toppling over their own weight.

Here’s the thing: as beans are generally anemic, stunted, doomed plants here at Plants On Deck, I planted the bush variety to the front of the bed, thinking the strong peppers, located just behind, would soar above them, taking the light they needed.

Evidently, these Kentucky Wonders and Purple Royals are a little better suited to Tennessee’s soil than to Philadelphia’s and to raised bed gardens than to gallon buckets. Their vigorous growth has far out-paced that of the peppers, leaving them entirely in the dark.

Move it or lose it, I figured, and just yesterday I yanked the peppers, redistributing them into the sunny herb garden. The three empty squares have already been seeded with spinach, because hey, why not?