Bee & Hummingbird Garden 6/29/23

[lynnee]

Today (6/29/23) I started a flower garden aimed at pleasing the local bees and hummingbirds. Renee's Seeds had a great sale on this type of seeds, so I bought 15 different kinds!

These plants will go outdoors, to pots in the back patio, when they're old enough. Right now there are a lot of bees visiting the blooms on our privet hedge, but the blooms are fading fast. We don't have nearly as many bees as we used to, for a fact, so I want to help them out.

There are a couple of hummingbirds that visit the hedge, too. One of them occasionally perches on a tomato cage, which is a treat because you don't usually see hummingbirds when they're not in motion.

I seriously considered scarfguy 's suggestion about planting wildflower mix in the Farm and seeing what comes up. Another time, yes, but for now I need plants for patio pots and the display stand by the front gate.

[slw]

Ooooh, I can't wait to see how this turns out!

[swimmom500]

Those seeds all look amazing. I will have to check them out! Keep us posted.

[Shawn]

This is going to be amazing.  I need to get some new flower seeds to plant on the deck.  Humming Bird flowers for sure.  We have one that came her a few years ago.

[lynnee]

On Day 5, almost all of the pods have sprouts! The fennel, bergamo, and vanilla nasturiums still need to show enough activity to lose their covers.

I guess that everyone knows that the pod covers get drops of moisture when seeds are germinating? Not always, but most of the time.

[lynnee]

Day 19 All of the pods have growing seedlings, but the sunflower and something else are shading the inner pods. Later today I'm going to move the smaller seedlings to a vacant Bounty.

[scarfguy]

Wow! lynnee, that's a healthy lookin' farm!

[scarfguy]

Hey, lynnee, ...

How big is that sunflower gonna be?  The leaves are really big.  I just planted a dwarf sunflower (called dwarf sunspot).  I used all nine pods of a bounty but looking at yours, I think I may be way too dense.  It's only suppose to grow to 2 feet tall but I'm concerned about the spread of the leaves.

Should I drop down to like just 2 or 3 pods?

[lynnee]

Container sunflowers vary a lot in size. I grew a Bambino (dwarf) on one side of a Bounty, and I think that the garden could easily handle a couple more.

Bambino Plant Sharing AG

Blooming Bambino Sharing AG

I wouldn't think that you would want to fill every pod in a Bounty with sunflowers, unless you were using the Bounty as a seed starter, and planning to transplant the sunflowers outdoors.

This garden is intended for early transplanting, which is why I filled every pod.

[lynnee]

The Bee & Hummingbird Garden is now spread between the original Farm 12XL and a Bounty Elite.

The marigold (front row Farm, second from left) suffered some damage. I had no idea that marigold seedlings were fragile. The xfers to the Bounty may not do well. The room gets fairly warm in the afternoons (81 degrees F. right now), and they are no longer at the cooler floor level.

The nasturtium (left of marigold) has a weak stem, and wants to flop, even though it wasn't moved.

[lynnee]

scarfguy got me to thinking about that sunflower, which isn't a dwarf or container variety. 

Songbird/Pollinator Flowers
The Birds & Bees Sunflowers
(Helianthus annuus)
EXCLUSIVE – Enhance your garden’s eco-system with these sturdy, 6 to 8 foot tall sunflowers whose golden-yellow petals and chocolate discs seem to literally follow the sun.

Decided that I'd better get it transplanted outdoors while (1) I could still get the roots out of the deck, and (2) before the roots overwhelmed the jasmine alata, nasturtium, zinnas, and marigolds.
Ta da! Here is Sue in her new surroundings.

[scarfguy]

She looks happy there!

[lynnee]

Sue is lifting her leaves this morning. I love the way that plants grow overnight! They like their privacy.

[lynnee]

All of these were started at the same time in a Farm 12XL. They're now at 32 days. Several will have to go outdoors soon. The zinnia that is starting to bloom is a prime candidate! Also the fennel at the back right of the Bounty Elite.



Nasturtium, zinnias in front, marigolds partly hidden in back. Miscellaneous others doing well.




Dahlia, fennel in back.  Miscellaneous others doing well.



Sunflower doing well outdoors.

[lynnee]

Day 35. Ended the Farm 12XL half of this project, and transplanted the denizens (Jasmine Alata, Vanilla Berry nasturtiums, Pinwheel Zinnias, Persian Carpet zinnias, Starfire marigolds) to the outdoor display rack.

Don't know how they'll do, because I waited too long for the transplanting. The Alata (middle tray) and marigolds (top tray) were very fragile and suffered a lot of breakage. The nasturtiums and PC zinnias (bottom tray) were already behaving like spreading plants. Perhaps that is okay for zinnias with "carpet" in their name?

The Giant Alba petunia (top tray) is near the end of its lifespan, but I couldn't bear to throw away all of those giant blooms! The Celosia (top tray) still looks healthy and happy, as does the Vanilla Cosmos (middle tray).

Had a scare with the Farm pump, which seemed to have stopped working. However, it worked fine once I removed the grow deck and plants. Probably there were roots interfering with the pump. Had to have been working, because the plants showed no signs of growing in stagnant water.

[lynnee]

Today I ended the second half of this project by transplanting the flowers that were previously moved to a Bounty.

In the Bounty:



Outdoors immediately after transplanting into full sun:



I watered them thoroughly, and they are raising their heads now. I'll water them again when the sun moves to the other side of the building.

[Shawn]

Pretty Flowers

[lynnee]

There will be more flowers! This morning the plants are all standing upright, including the fennel!

[lynnee]

8/11. Sue the Sunflower is about 3 feet tall, and is starting to develop a flower! The bud takes up most of the right-hand panel.

[slw]

Everything looks beautiful, Lynnee.