My Garden

My sunflowers at 1 week . At the far end of this row, the fence forms a corner and there is another that runs adjacent to the fence. It is even longer so I hope to have a sunflower jungle soon!

Two weeks in and my garden seems to be coming along (one half planted 2 weeks ago, the other half one week ago) . Considering that not only was I very late getting it in because of clean up (and repairs to my tiller) from the April  tornadoes, but that a lot of my seeds were from the season before last, I consider this a minor miracle. If all grows well, I should have bell peppers, Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Italian Market Wonder tomatoes and tomatoes from seeds that I received from Campbell's. I also planted some seeds that came from some giant hybrids I bought several years ago. These tomatoes routinely weigh in at at least 1/2 a pound. Some reach a full pound. I can't remember the name of them at the moment, but they taste GOOD! I have also planted some pumpkins, cantelope , yellow and red meat watermelons, corn and sunflowers. The sunflowers are truly my miracle seeds. I had several sacks with seed heads in them that were stored in the shed we had. The tornado tossed it like a dollhouse toy and all it's contents were strewn all over the yard.  in the aftermath I didn't even remember about the bags because the BIG stuff, like my tiller and the baby kittens we had not known had apparently been born the night before the storm.  As I prepared to get my seeds ready, I bought two packs of sunflowers, but when I opened them to drop into the area I had prepared for them, about 10 seeds fell out into my hand. I knew it wasn't enough for the spot tilled, but also not enough for harvesting to eat and save for next year.As I walked back to the house something growing in the grass caught my eye... it looked like a sunflower! I looked around and found another. And another! I remembered the bags. I hurriedly transplanted the small stalks and began looking around. Under some shed pieces set to get hauled off, was one bag.  I was doubtful, but hopeful as I pulled it out and peered inside. I was FULL of large dried sun flower heads full of seeds! A few were actually sprouting. I took the bag over to my sunflower bed and began dumping seeds everywhere! They have sprouted and it is a wonderful sight!  Every bite we manage to harvest from this garden is going to be a reminder that despite adversity and against odds, we can and do survive and that hope and optimism win.