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Antics

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Greetings all! My sunflowers appear to be significantly smaller than everyone else’s…. So far!! I have high hopes- literally. They seem to be doing quite well in that they have nice big leaves, just what you need to suck up those rays and grow as big as a house….

I picked my best candidates and planted them out in prime sun spot and favourite cat poo place. This is in front of the house so they get nice and warm and a bit sheltered. The only disadvantage is its a bit dry being in the rain shadow- that’s why my neighbour’s cats favour it too... So I have been trying to put them off by big rocks (no not thrown, but strategically placed) and a chicken wire barrier type effort. However it seems that Sparky has a genuine interest in the sunflowers and perhaps considers cat manure a helpful contribution to the cause…. I did explain that chicken poo is better regarded by sunflower growers the world over but thanks for the thought…

So 7 sunflowers planted in the prime spot, and down to 6 already….. not sure of the cause of death to sunflower 5, perhaps it just broke its stem or it could have been a slug although it didn’t get eaten up even though it was nice and leafy… once…. Just as well Sparky and I have back up sunflowers who will be delighted to gain promotion to a top spot.

But Miss Lisa!! You were asking about ants! I have ants!

I kind of thought these were friendly creatures, maybe eating the greenfly and such like, or am I deluded?! Are ants bad? As an experiment I moved the ant from the sunflower it called home onto one which has wee beasties on- aphids? And Sparky and I waited to see if the ant would tear into the nasty wee bug thingys and we could all cheer…

...but no. Instead it just wandered all over the sunflower, going everywhere but doing nothing, so much so that I feared it was lost and was having an ant panic.

So, if the ant doesn’t do anything constructive by tomorrow, I’m afraid it and all the wee aphid thingys are going to get a squirt of soapy water. By the way, I now favour beer traps as a means to dispatch slugs. I would suggest tho that you don’t leave the beer traps too long as the beer disappears super quick. (I didn’t foresee this, doh!) Not so bad, except then you are left with slug sludge or even dried on sluggness in the bottom of your trap which is just too horrific for words…..I’ll take a photo next time….
‘till then happy growing!

Chimney pots and washing poles

Hello Everyone! I hope that all your sunflowers are growing strong and tall :)

I have 3 of my sunflowers planted in a triad formation in old chimney pots around the washing pole (I am short of good sheltered sunny spots). I also have some planted beside the summer house although I think it is too shady for them to thrive there... we'll see!




When I planted my seeds I did get rather carried away and I planted ALL of them not really expecting them all to grow, but grow they have! Now I have more sunflowers than I know what to do with. But not to worry I am spreading the love and giving them to friends and encouraging them to join our blog :)

It's really great to see how everyone's sunflowers are getting along and to get some top tips on slug prevention! Happy growing and keep posting!

Lisa x

The competition is on

Team Invergarry checking in, we can report mixed success in the sunflower stakes so far.

The first batch of Green Hearts and Valentines (received from Team South Laggan) are doing OK, not great just OK. They've been outside for about 3 weeks now, we've lost a few to the chickens and slugs but the survivors are just about holding themselves upright now!

The Russian Giants that have been kept indoors so far have been slightly more successful and we've decided to introduce a little domestic competition to spice things up. So far Jen's pink pot (pink for girls, blue for boys!) is winning but that's because she didn't look after mine while I had to go away!


We also had a few Russian Giants that we started outside but Jen's have fallen at the first hurdle so that probably puts us neck and neck overall - the tension is definitely mounting at Invergarry Lodge!

--Team Invergarry

A delivery of sunflowers

Lisa very kindly delivered 2 sunflowers on Tuesday evening. One for myself and one for my partner Paul. Since he was not home to take his pick, naturally I bagged the best one!

My sunflower is standing 50cm-ish tall from the base of stalk to the tip. Its the one on the right in the photo.

I am quite excited about this adventure of growing some giants. I have kept them safe on top of the picnic bench incase the neighbours dogs vandalise in some way, probably by pee-ing on them!!

I shall keep you all posted on how I get on.

Tuesday, 2nd June.

Hi there fellow Sunny people. Thought I would try out this technology and try to give a wee progress report on my attempts at nurturing the Russian Giants...

Knowing the delights and strengths of Caithness breezes and the lack of shelter here, especially in the upright direction, I was very conservative in my sowing and planted only 4 Russian Giants way back in April. I also thought that to keep them company I would try 4 Dwarf Sunflowers.

I let them all do their thing in the coldframe and eventually on the same day as the Swallows arrived back the first 2 Giants showed their first leaves. Over the next fortnight the other 2 appeared and also one Dwarf.

They all seemed to be growing quite healthily and happily until an unidentified enemy attacked! One mini-Giant had been uprooted and hacked into bits, with the soil all disrupted. The "bearded one" suggested it may be a rogue mouse to blame. I promptly moved them all to a different coldframe so the unseen enemy didn't have a sitting target and the srongest Giant was potted-up. (I also noted that the Dwarfs all had evidence of soil disruption too, perhaps not germinated because they've been knicked?)

So, now I'm in the positon of having 3 Giants and the last-standing Dwarf all potted up. The sun has shone 4 days in a row (and the sun is showing signs of burning through the haar to make it 5), and we're all happy sunny things here.

RTL here in Broxburn. This was done on the 11th. May but just getting round to posting it--I hope. Here's my tips for slugs.

Put small pieces of wood, slate or anything which will provide cover for them near the item you want to protect and water underneath if ground is dry. Along comes the slugs and after they've had a munch, instead of returning home they hide under your "trap". You go round in the morning with a suitable instrument, turn the wood over and dispatch them. They won't be back. I've got wood near my caulies---got 5 yesterday and another 2 today.

I usually put coarse sand round the plants I want to protect. Only thing is,that after a few rain showers, the roughness has gone and you might have to renew it. Usually by that time the plant has had time to establish itself and any damage the slugs/snails do isn't usually terminal.

Have put some sunflowers in today with a slight modification. It's a fact that slugs don't like copper. They seem to get an electric shock from it. A lot of companies sell copper rings etc. for that purpose---and of course to make money.

http://www.slugrings.co.uk/index.html?gclid=COyO9cT1tJoCFRUhnAodzAFocA

I found a length of electrical cable and stripped the insulation off to leave the bare copper. Then I made several rings to experiment. Have planted sunflowers with:-
sand & 2 rings.
sand and 1 ring.
no sand and 1 ring.

These sunflowers are in a known "slug/snail minefield". It's the fence between me and next door. Their patio is just thru the fence and the enemy get under the stonework to safety. They made a mess of my dahlias last year when I planted there. Will be monitoring over the next few days.

When I put my bedding plants in it'll be back to the "torch method". Wait until it gets dark then go out with a torch and look for them crawling around---best after it's been raining. I usually collect them in a drinks carton using one of those surgical gloves to avoid the slime and then throw them into the farmer's field across the main road. Have never seen any come back across!!

Today is the 19th. and I'm glad to report that all my sunflowers are still thriving.