Sagging Sunflowers Saga

Who Knew?

 

 

I guess I thought sunflowers always kept their sunny little faces turned up

towards the sky until they faded and dropped off their seeds.

How sad they look now with their heads hung down - reminds me of the song

"Hang down your head, Tom Dooley"

(who the heck was Tom Dooley?)

 

Anyway, now I'm watching YouTube videos about how to harvest the seeds.

Anybody got any suggestions you've tried before?

 

Oh well, even with their downturned faces, these flowers are a "joy" to see

since NOW I can actually see what their faces they look like -

they are looking at ME!!

A Glance Back but Looking Forward

It's fun to see how different my garden looks now compared to how it began.
I remember when I moved in and sat on my little porch, sad that all I had to look at was a bare fence and one little "eyebrow" flower garden in the corner.

 

What a difference alot of hard work and planning makes ....

 

I brought in Lots and Lots of compost ....

+ a found pallet to use as a trellis for the morning glories

and MANY loads of petrified rock left over from my Dad's backyard....

 

Can you see where those stones ftom the original "eyebrow" bed went?
(alternated w/petrified wood making them stretch the length of my bed & saving money!)   

                                                    
                Pinterest gave me lots of ideas for how to design an herb bed...

herbs planted between the stepping stones

left to right: wisteria vine starting to grow on the trellis, squash and Peggy Martin rose
growing up the other trellis',
yellow pear tomato on the right with Laura Bush petunias growing profusely in the center!

  This wonderful red wheelbarrow was a "find" on the side of the road
                                     on my way home from work one day!
        It looks so cute with the winged begonia and cypress vine growing in it!

 
                   This is the back of my raised bed garden - filled with zucchini and yellow squash, eggplant, sweet potatoes, okra and cucumbers!

 

Thank you, LORD!

I'm working on that "bloom where you're planted" phrase!!

Another Jack-and-the-beanstalk-type plant!

Oh MY!

Who knew that the word "Large" on the seed packet of my sunflower seeds

actually meant "GIANT"!!

 

How much taller will these sunflower plants get before they produce a flower?
"Come on little okra plants - you've got alot of growing to do to catch up with these!"

In the front sections, I've planted bush beans and sage.

On the right section are yellow squash and zucchini plants.

On the left are new potatoes almost ready to harvest.

Center section contains tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, sweet potatoes, and okra.

 

There are only a few plants of each variety,

but this design makes square-foot gardening alot easier to manage.