While sowing both sweet peas and edible peas, I noticed a fully blooming sunflower. “In January?” I thought, always having considered sunflowers as summer through fall color. My next thought was that, “But, of course, the weather has been squirrelly for several years, without any frost for all that time; and with alternating heat and chill at strange intervals, the plants and trees haven’t been able to determine what to do when, so they’ve been doing it all at weird times.” So, with rain and cool and warmth, only the sunflower seed decides when to do what it’s supposed to do. Which may mean during those times we gardeners consider beyond "normal." Ah, well, Nature being Nature and trying to guarantee its survival!
A note on repeat sowings of peas – last year, I sowed the sweet peas and edible peas every three weeks from September through March, with nary a sprout during that whole time. This was really strange, since in past years I’d had them blooming and producing from Thanksgiving onward. I figured it was just another weather aberration due to lack of sufficient chill and certainly lack of water even though I watered in each batch of seed when I planted it. After several sowings, it got to be a joke in my mind, whether the next sowing would result in any germination. Finally, in April, the seeds came up. The sweet peas provided colorful blooms, and the edible peas gave us lots of munch-your-fill-immediately and more for dinner. Boy, were we ready for those peas, and they were yummy. In May, I followed up with a planting of Wando, the dependable variety for maturing in the early summer heat but still being tender and tasty.
I started being aware of what else was blooming in my garden, and came up with these cuties!
A note on repeat sowings of peas – last year, I sowed the sweet peas and edible peas every three weeks from September through March, with nary a sprout during that whole time. This was really strange, since in past years I’d had them blooming and producing from Thanksgiving onward. I figured it was just another weather aberration due to lack of sufficient chill and certainly lack of water even though I watered in each batch of seed when I planted it. After several sowings, it got to be a joke in my mind, whether the next sowing would result in any germination. Finally, in April, the seeds came up. The sweet peas provided colorful blooms, and the edible peas gave us lots of munch-your-fill-immediately and more for dinner. Boy, were we ready for those peas, and they were yummy. In May, I followed up with a planting of Wando, the dependable variety for maturing in the early summer heat but still being tender and tasty.
I started being aware of what else was blooming in my garden, and came up with these cuties!
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