A sorry tale of two sunflowers

I was so proud when I took this photo, both my velvet queen's looking
big and tall and so full of promise 

Its very rare that the garden is the scene of a mystery, apart from in a popular UK TV programme called Midsummer Murders, im sure in that programme over the years at least one or two of the dramas has focussed on a garden.  But my garden is less exciting.  I plant things, they grow, or they don't grow, its all very simple, the action is cut and dried.  Until now.

Last weekend I finally planted out my first two sunflowers, and boy was I thrilled with them!  My other variety, sunburst mixed, had both died, but velvet queen had grown big and strong and started to put on height, as all good sunflowers should.  I was worried they were beginning to feel pot bound so I decided the time was nigh to plant them out.  Being so very tall I carefully selected my planting spot so they would have something behind them to grow up in front of, and hopefully be undisturbed.  I settled on the mothers herb bed which has a nice fence behind it.  Perfect I thought.  Oh how wrong I was!  I dug them little holes, tucked them in, bedded them down and left them happy in the knowledge that all was well.

Such a root system, shame its all gone to waste now!  Oh it could make me cry!

Approximately a week later I went to water the largest of the two sunflowers, my pride and joy, and discovered to my horror, a terrible, terrible thing had befalled it.  In my absence the mother had gone to remove a pot that she had randomly placed at the back of the border.  And being a complete blunder-bus she managed to virtually decapitate my sunflower.  How she managed that with a blunt pot I don't know.  She claimed she didn't know it was there, but I clearly told her where it was, and discussed with her that we would have to cut a patch through the choisya behind to allow it to reach its full height potential.  So she can't claim she didn't know.  She did quickly admit that the blood was on her hands, and set about cellotaping the head back upright using a splint.  Now I don't know what anybody else thinks, but I think that sunflower is effectively a gonner.  The whole point of sunflowers is they have the one stem that produces a big head on the top, a nice strong, complete stem.  I don't think sunflowers are like starfish; cut a leg off and it simply grows another.

I turned at this point for comfort in my second sunflower, merrily growing slightly further along the bed.  At least he would be able to still give me sunflower success.  Only when I went to inspect him, he was gone.  Not partially eaten, not decapitated, gone.  Not one trace of that sunflower remained.  Of course I immediately blamed the mother.  Now if it had been eaten by the slugs, or pecked by a pidgeon, or got by the frost, well that's fair game.  It is the outside world after all and one can only expect casualties at some point.  But my own mother?!  What treachery is this?  Had I know she would be such a problem I would have laid down a ring of biscuits while I was slug pelleting to distract her.

She claimed as her defense that maybe I hadn't planted it there at all, which really doesn't help anybody's feelings.  I have two theories.  One is she mistook it as a large weed and just yanked it out.  Two is something came along and ate the whole thing, every last scrap.  That seems doubtful as nothing has been remotely interested the whole time they were growing in the pots.  Either way I guilt tripped the mother for the rest of the evening.  And this is why I had to sow more sunflowers this week.  Hopefully sunflowergate has not put me too far behind.  It would seem that every year you have to experience a great gardening loss, last year it was the peppers, and this year it has been sunflowers.  Im going to be keeping a firm eye on that woman from now on though!    

My Week in Sowing 8 - Calendula, carrots, zinnia

I have so many little pots of green tendrils sprouting all over the joint that I am rapidly losing my grasp on order and descending into chaos.  I am at the point now where some pots don't look like they are going to germinate, but I am loathe to discard them as last year I did this and two cucumbers popped up in random places.  So I have pots growing, pots not growing, second batches, lists of things to sow more of, and seeds I haven't even got to yet.  Some seedlings will definitely need potting on soon and I am rapidly running out of both regular and seed compost. I really don't know what I will do if I run out of seed compost as I don't want to buy another full bag for just a few pots. Seeds are having to bunk in together to make the most of the space.  This was another busy week of sowing, including some new stuff I have never grown before.

Calendula - Sunset Buff and Sherbet Fizz. I have never grown Calendula before, but being rather daisy-esque in form these should be right up my street.  The packets were keen for the seeds to be sown where the plants are to grow and as they only wanted sowing now and I plan to grow them in pots, I have direct sown into plastic containers.  I am replacing fuchsias for calendula.  I made my usual mixture of fresh compost and old soil from emptied pots mixed with regular garden soil.  I find this dries out less fast than just compost on its own.  Calendula seeds are really interestingly shaped, like little gnarled horns or tusks, all small and curly.  While the seeds for sunset buff were mainly brown, sherbet fizz ranged from red to green.  I buried ten seeds in each pot, a quarter inch beneath the soil.  These will just sit on my patio to germinate.

Zinnia - Red Spider.  I am becoming increasingly fond of zinnias.  While they require a whole little pot to themselves, they do at least come through nice and fast.  The ones I sowed last week are already making an appearance, so the production line is pretty speedy, freeing up space for the next batch.  I have never grown this variety of zinnia before but it looked a bit different with less petals so I thought, why not!

One of last year's zinnia flowers, not the one I sowed this week

Carrot - Paris Market Atlas. This is last year's carrot variety, I have sown two because everybody likes a little variation in their carrot supply.  These are gloriously small and round and are aimed at kids, but being a big one myself these rather appeal.  I have not got the soil for carrots so these are sown in a little mixture I created myself - compost, garden soil and several trowel-fulls of sand to open up the mixture and give the free draining quality the carrots enjoy so much. I plan to sow several more pots to ensure a good stock, now that I have endless empty pots to fill.

Part of last year's paris market atlas crop.  Wouldn't feed the five thousand but a tasty morsel none the less

Sunflowers - Sunburst mixed.  Unlike the other variety I sowed, velvet queen, both my sunburst mixed seeds have been woefully disappointing.  One came up, and then thought better of it and died, while the other did not even bother doing that, and finally I have given up on him.  I sowed another two seeds in a single pot of seed compost (a little soil saving technique I am now employing) so hopefully these will have more oomph.  I need to do a post on my other sunflowers as they are going great guns and will need planting out soon!

My week in sowing 5 - Seedling success

I haven't taken any pictures of my seedlings because lets face it, they are
not exactly at a visually stimulating stage and one seedling looks much like
another.  Instead here are some spring crocus from my garden to brighten
up this wordy post 

If I was just to keep this to a little run down of what I have sown this week, it would be short.  This short.  I didn't sow anything this weekend as I was out and about socialising.  A girl can't always be chained to the garden after all.  Instead this is a progress report.  I have little pots of soil coming out of my ears, a week off sowing is not a bad thing as I wouldn't have anywhere to put them.  Something eventually had to come up, but like watched kettles, its all been a bit frustrating.  Finally though, things are beginning to move so here instead is a little run down on what has put a green snout above soil in the last two weeks.

Sweet Peas - My first batch were really getting to the point where I couldn't ignore that they were desperate for something to climb up.  I had arrived at that point which I had been trying to ignore: it was time to fill the giant pot.  I hate this job, digging out compost from the bag is quite possibly the dullest job there is in the garden.  And thats without attacking the compost maker we have at the bottom of the garden.  Sweet Peas enjoy a bit of nutrients, so I attacked the compacted bottom with a trowel to give my seedlings the best possible conditions.  The pot was bottomless and consumed so much soil, but eventually it was filled and my peas are in and seem fairly happy.  I will do a further sweet pea update in due course.

My second batch are short, stubby and just the way I want them.  They are coming on beautifully,  and since being put into the 'coldframe' two more have even popped out to bolster my numbers.  They look so happy I have got all mean with them and evicted them from the cold frame to freeze outside.  No sign of my most recent batch yet, but then thats to be expected.

Cucumbers - Two seedlings popped out in record time, much to my joy.  The packet said germination occurs in 7-21 days, but these two were out in just six.  One the one hand: yay! cucumber seedling success.  On the other hand: here we go again with the debacle that is growing cucumbers from seed.  I had those seedlings whipped out into the colder garage the moment I spotted them, hopefully they will enjoy their slightly less comfortable surroundings.  So far, so good, but I still expect tears at some point.  No sign of any of the others.

Stocks - I find stocks fairly reliable germinators, and this years batch have not disappointed.  They popped up two weeks ago but have only just reached a decent enough size to go into the cold frame.  I would ideally like more than have currently sprung into action, so stocks have been added to my list of seeds to do a second batch of.

Snapdragons - One pot of these have sprouted, but the other has not.  This is probably due to me watering one pot and not the other.  I am struggling to keep all my garage pots adequately watered. I have to swap them about as I can only water the ones sat in the washing up bowl.  The seedlings are positively miniature, this may be perfectly normal, but not having grown them before I wouldn't know.  I haven't evicted these yet as they just seem too small and vulnerable.

Sunflowers - Both my velvet queen seedlings are appeared, but only one sunburst mixed so far.  These are lovely robust seedlings, they don't mess about, up and out and getting on with it.  Lets hope they are robust because they are also in the garage.

So far so good I think.  I would like to see a bit more movement from my aquilegias which are hogging a lot of vital space at the moment, but this may be my own fault due to the watering situation.  Lots more sowing to be done this weekend, and a nice clear schedule to get on with it.  If it rains I will be annoyed, but as its Easter weekend this can only be expected.  There is about to be a huge yellow explosion in my garden of narcissi so lots of pretty pics soon.  

My week of sowing 2 - Sunflowers and Rudbeckia

From left to right: Rudbeckia, sunflowers sunburst mixed, and velvet queen

There wasn't much room for ambitious sowing plans this weekend.  Although I managed to turf out the six pots of sweet peas from my second batch into my 'cold frame', there had been no movement on the aquilegia/ panicum elegans/ snapdragons/ stock front so they all had to stay in situ.  But it was a beautifully bright sunny day and I was determined to make the most of it.  A quick rifle through my packets did not reveal anything desperate to get into the ground, so I went for sunflowers and rudbeckia.

Sunflowers

Sunburst mixed - Believe it or not, I have never grown a sunflower, but I love them.  For me they perfectly encapsulate summer with their huge yellow faces and majestic height.  This height is going to make finding a space to put them interesting, I can't exactly do my usual trick of stuffing them into the front of a border and let them domineer the beds.  Because of this I have not sown many, just two of this variety, one per pot.  I might sow a couple more later on but what Im going to do with the other 45 seeds I don't know.

Velvet Queen - Why is it that the same type of seed by the same manufacturer is packaged differently?! The mixed variety was encased in a small inner-packet-type-thing, these were just loose inside and of course I ripped open the bottom and am now going to struggle not to lose the rest.  Im more excited by this variety out of the two because they are a bit different being bright rusty red.  Again I only planted two at this point because the packet said each seed was effectively a fussy sleeper and needed a whole pot to itself.  An we all know space is at a premium.

Rudbeckia

Cappuccino - As with everything Im planting at the moment, I have never grown rudbeckia before.  I am rather fond of daisy type plants which is why these have made the cut this year.  The burgundy centres contrasting with the bright yellow mightily appealed to me.  I sowed 5 in two pots each, not that I want that many but thought I might as well.  This will definitely be one that I am giving away at the end of the drive if they do.  Nothing special to the planting here, just buried the seeds 1/4 inch under the soil.

My aquilegia seeds have definitely swelled and gone black as i can now see them casually laying on the surface of the soil.  While that would not be ideal if ones hand suddenly did that, or any other body part for that matter, I imagine in an aquilegia seed this is a good sign.  It is far too early for the stocks etc to be moving yet so not much to report this week.

See here for my latest update on the sweet pea situation