Thursday, June 19, 2014

Reaching for the sun

My sunflowers have not done near as well as I expected when I first saw all those sprouts coming up.  Of the 25 sprouts I planted, less than 10 took in the garden. Since then, several more died off - I only have five left. Some that seemed to be doing really well suddenly rotted away. I suspect it was because they didn't have he proper support and were mostly laying in the dirt.

So, I got out there to give the few that remained a helping handing reaching for the sky.
I taped some wooden skewers together to make stakes that were long enough and loosely tied the stalks to them.  Hopefully that helps them grow right to the top of the fence.

One of them has finally bloomed though.
And remember that little mini one the squirrels ate?
Well it grew a new head.... two in fact. We'll see if manages to bloom.

And the other seedlings have not been as great a success as I'd imagined either, but the columbine and poppies seem to be showing some promise. And I think the handful of daisy and dianthan seeds I tossed in might be coming up.

I planted five sweet pea sprouts, but only two have flourished. I built them a little trestle to keep them off the ground as well.
Soon I'll have to stake the tomatoes too...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like a tough growing season for you this year.

I've had years like that with the orchids. I started last year with 37 and now have around 10. No rhyme or reason why 20 of them died.

Hopefully, your garden will turn around.

kathy b said...

It is funny I do b ether with the sunflowers that the birds randomly plant from the birdseed I leave for them. THOSE always seem to bloom where they are planted.
Some success, some failures, but I love each year of gardeniing and how one year is never the same as the next

Araignee said...

I had great success with my sunflowers last year until the first bad storm. Then they bent to the ground and the squirrels had at them. They were pretty while they lasted though. I'm going to miss not having any this year.

Rachelle said...

I usually end up buying plants from the local garden centre; my history with seeds is not particularly good and we have a huge snail population here.
There are some plants though that seem to do best when nature plants them, delphiniums and hollyhocks spring to mind for that. If I plant them nothing happens, if they just fall off the plant they turn up all over the show!

Minding My Own Stitches said...

We have fences exactly like that. I bought some of these wood trellises which Gavin mounted on the fences to create surfaces to grow climbing plants. I occasionally have to weave the growing vines through or velcro the stalks up but otherwise it works out perfectly.

http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm/Outdoor-Living/Yard-Decor/Arbours-Obelisks/Wood/Wood/3-x-7-Cedar-Square-Trellis/_/N-ntluqZ2ppz/R-I5093864

Unknown said...

Hopefully your helping hand will encourage more blooms!

elns said...

Being a black thumb personally, I'm enjoying seeing things grow, and understanding that not everything does. Love when you share the garden's going on.

Anonymous said...

I just finished the prep work and am getting ready to make strawberry jam in a few minutes. I hope mine turns out as great as yours looks.