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Sunflower

Just three packets of seeds I used to plant in my garden.

Planting In the Rain and Update on Outdoor Garden Plants

Sorry for the long period for a blog post, but I have plenty of things to discuss. This month has brought many rain storms and really windy days and made it difficult to till some of the garden soil and get some spring seeds planted. I finally had a good day to get the soil mixed this week and decided to plant peas, radishes, and sunflowers today even though it was cloudy, rainy, and windy. I couldn’t wait any longer to get these seeds into the ground.

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Blueberry Plants

Getting the Net on the Blueberries and Soon Strawberries

It looks like this might be a long post since I have not written one in quite awhile and I want to keep you up to speed with my garden progress. I have not planted everything into the garden just yet, but I only have a few more seeds and transplants left. I plan on finishing this week, weather permitting of course. Let’s get into what has been going on in my garden. (more…)

Cleaning Up the Garden with Two More Watermelons Picked

Well I decided that today was a good day to start cleaning up the garden and start removing all my corn stalks, sunflowers, and many vine plants such as cucumbers and cantaloupes.  I like to do this before the cold weather and temperatures arrive.

I also did pick a couple of watermelons today that were finally ready after a couple of months of growing.  There is still one more which I plan on picking in the next couple of weeks hopefully.  Once I pick the last melon then it should be time for picking my fall crop. (more…)

Lettuce and Flowers Sprouting

Just wanted to write a short post on how my plants are doing and some of the many seeds, flowers, and plants beginning to sprout.  I have been watching my spinach closely along with the weather, because it will soon be time to place them in the ground.

With some of the warm weather we have been getting this month I have been putting my spinach plants outdoors getting them ready to be planted into the ground.  This week has been quite cloudy and they have not been able to take advantage of the sun or lack thereof. (more…)

Several Flowers and a Couple Melons Planted

Today was probably the busiest out of the entire year for gardening.  I planted some more flowers that I needed to get completed and I am planting them a little big sooner than last year.  It is only a week earlier, but every day helps in getting a good head start.

I decided on growing five different flowers today and they are all going on the windowsill instead of fluorescent light.  Most of the flowers I used large plastic pots while only one I decided on planted them in shallow peat pots. (more…)

Sprouting Seeds and More Planted

This week has been quite interesting with all the sprouting of many of my seeds that were grown this past month.  I am finally seeing spinach beginning to grow and it only took the entire month of March to do so.  It would be better if they started sprouting a week or two ago, but it is better late than never.

Most of my flowers have began sprouting including sunflowers, calendula, Queen Anne’s lace, amaranthus, cosmos, dill, alyssum, and much more.  Both lettuce types have began sprouting as well. (more…)

Sunflower and Cosmos Seeds Planted

The more flowers in the garden the more chances you have of getting happy honeybees to pollinate your plants.  That is what I was thinking about today and sunflowers are the perfect ones to attract all types of bees including honeybees.

Cosmos are flowers that continuously grow throughout the season and will produce lovely blooms that are high in nectar and will be able to feed some of the most beneficial insects that you will receive. (more…)

Sunflower Heads Harvested

Now that the garden is coming to a close I will be writing less about my latest harvests.  This week I saw that many of the sunflower seeds were being eaten which means that the seeds are ready to be harvested.  Rather than removing each seed individually it is better to just cut off the head and bring it inside to dry.  This way birds, squirrels, or other pests will not be able to steal them.

Once they dry you can then use the seeds for anything you want such as frying them, eating them as is, or just grinding them up for a sunflower seed meal.  You can just feed them to birds if you like or put them in a bird feeder.  The choice is up to you. (more…)

Garden Harvest Winding Down

It is now September and with the fall season just around the corner my garden harvest is coming to a close for this year.  Cooler weather is in the near future and most of my plants have reached their peak or are calling it quits for the year.

Five out of six of the pumpkins I am growing have ripened to the point that I could pick them very soon.  I like to pick them later usually closer to the month of October rather than now.  Tomatoes are done for the most part with only a couple of plants that have a few tomatoes left to pick. (more…)