Plant Update

So below is a picture of my plants now that they've started popping up. The Yellow Squash and Zucchini seeds popped open almost immediately after five days, but for a while I thought perhaps my tomato seeds were dead because there were no signs of them. After a while I started digging at the tomato pot soil seeing if there was actually anything going on in there or if I should just try and plant some more. As I dug a little bit, I was pleasantly surprised to find two little green stems popping up out of the soil! I was relieved and immediately left them alone. Now they have emerged, although you can't see them in these photos.

Here is the yellow squash:

 My sister and her husband gave me this bird feeder for Christmas. I was surprised, because it was kind of the last thing I expected to get from them. I've never really shown a fondness for birds, but I thought it was nice and it would be another way to bring some life to the back yard. I know it looks empty, but I promise there are seeds on the bottom! I've had it up for about 2 weeks now, but no birds have either discovered it, or they have no interest in it. So...I don't know if I want to just leave it up or take it down until I find another place where it will find more use.

This picture below is a quick piecing together of what our backyard looks like. Looks a little barren, right? Those green things are weeds, and as you can see there is a lot of sandy, rocky dirt. Something must be done! The blue bin you see at the far end on the left is my roommates compost bin.