How quickly they grow

My container garden is taking off like wild fire!  Now that the weather is sunny and warm during both day and night, my leafy greens are growing quickly.

Bright Lights rainbow chard after rainstorm

spinach, chard, and garlic chives

This potato plant used to have leaves - darn rabbits!

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the vegetables I planted in the ground.  The zucchini is just barely out of the soil and the chard and potatoes are being nibbled by what I suspect are hungry bunnies.

Potted potato plants - too high for bunnies to munch

Last year, the strawberry plant was nibbled on so much that it never had a chance to bear fruit.  This afternoon, I found it growing among the weeds and was thrilled for the opportunity to try again!  I gently pulled up the weeds around it and then put up a barrier of sticks.  Check it out below!

Defense against rabbits - a fence of sticks and twigs!

the strawberry plant is back!

Another observation of interest: composting worms do not eat seeds.  The "soil" I took from my compost started growing a wild and mysterious blend of curcubits!  It seems as though all the seeds thrown carelessly into the compost bin last fall survived the winter and readily germinated in the warm spring weather.  At first there was one; now there are five or six!  Eventually I will need to thin them - squash plants take up a LOT of space, but for now it is a fun experiment in overcrowding.

Soil from my compost - naturally growing mystery seeds

The saddest story is probably my basil.  It was so healthy when I picked it out at Norman's Farm Market in Bethesda (thank you Irene Jillson!), but begin wilting as soon as I transplanted it.  Two weeks later, it is still looking unhappy.  Does anyone know what is wrong and/or what I might do to remedy the problem?

My poor basil plant has holes and dry patches - what is going on?