Thanks again for advice! Green onions are a favorite of my husband's, and he's now watching the planter with an eagle eye to see when they'll be ready for eating next ;)

I'm getting closer and closer to giving in and starting to learn some Chinese, and then I'm reminded about the tones and get intimidated again.
I avoided studying Chinese for YEARS for exactly this reason, and I still have no confidence that I'll ever be able to pronounce the tones properly, but I'm finding that at least in passive memory, they yield to rote practice a lot more easily than I expected.