Sunday, 18 September 2011

Sunflower toil

It has been a long hard slog this summer.

When you're a child two of the memorable things in summer are sunflower competitions and crabbing (which is alive and well in the south west and norfolk i discovered this year). 

As an adult, sunflowers mock us (ha ha, if you had a proper climate I'd be much bigger) and as for crabs...

Back in May I was given 5 black sunflower seeds, by my friend Mark. I had to trade them for a cow much to the dismay of my mother, but I was assured by Mark that these were magic seeds that would produce the most amazing sunflower on the back of which I could make lots of money. Or something to that effect, I can't quite remember.

So, in went the seeds and until about two weeks ago there was no sign of anything other than a long straggly stalk. Then, on return from my festival shenanigans I saw promising signs



And then, yesterday I was greeted by a fully fledged, unique sunflower head and one I feel is apt for the absolute PATHETIC DISGRACE OF A SUMMER that we have had this year.


And I didn't even get to meet the giant.

4 comments:

linniew said...

As a connoisseur of tiny, bent, wilted, pathetic sunflowers I have to say you don't have one of those. Spectacular bloom, and I had no idea they could be that color!

Margaret said...

That's a lovely colour, well done. My sunflowers have been pathetic this year

Hapless gardener said...

Thank you both! Yes Linnie, I did immediately think of your poor sunflower but I think I've got lucky this year. Margaret, I certainly can't take any nurturing credit for this baby. I left it out in the spot where there's the most sun during the day and hoped for the best. It must be a resilient variety and agree, the colour is lovely.

Janet said...

That would win a competition and it didn't fall over or grow at an angle, like mine did last year before I gave up on them.begin

The Hapless Kitchen Gardener

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I only feel hapless because some people make it look easy to grow 10 ft marrows or a banquet of greens whereas my courgettes got nabbed by killer slugs and I only got one raspberry. So tips and stories from people less hapless than I are more than welcome. As a disclaimer though, none of my comments should be taken as expert advice on which you can rely! © Unless stated otherwise, and with the exception of guest content where that guest retains copyright, all photos and posts are the copyright of Tom Carpen and may not be used without permission.