Tiny Farm Blog Organic micro-farming with two acres and some tools ~ a daily photo journal...

Sometime over the last few days, the Jerusalem artichoke have started to produce pretty yellow flowers. That’s interesting. Without all this warm, way-past-normal- frost-date weather, what would they have done? They did go in a little late… And why do they look so…familiar? A couple of minutes online and it’s apparent that flowering is optional, largely dependant on location and conditions. And, no wonder, they—Helianthus tuberosus, aka sunchoke, sunroot, topinambour—are close relatives of the majestic sunflower (Helianthus annuus). Small world…

From flowers on my my mind back in the planning days of April, the results have been no better than middling. Germination was fine for all the many varieties, and we’ve had a sprinkling of gypsophilia, calendula, zinnias, cosmos and more over the last month, with a strong showing by all of the sunflowers. Overall, though, the cut flower bed was at the bottom of the watering and weeding list and, of course, pigweed reigned. So there’s been no real cutting involved, the flowers are simply taking their course, a good trial run for next year, and a splash of color every once in a while in the corner of my eye. The Claret sunflowers (pictured) are particularly striking, even as they age and decline…

The first few sunflowers are unfolding, this one’s from the Go Bananas! mix (there are also burgundy Claret and familiar orange Sunrich). It’s a little bitten and tattered—the rough and ready look!—but a welcome sight nonetheless. The cutflower garden’s received very little attention since seeding, and only maybe half have flourished in spite of lack of water and a fairly weeded-over state. The flower test plan included minimal care (which is what they got), so I’m not disappointed, although it’s always nice when crops take care of themselves (this doesn’t happen often enough :)! Anyhow, we should have at least a couple of hundred fair sized sunflowers, and some others, all headed for the CSA shares. I hope the zinnias do well!

Sunflower is my new favorite flower…because it comes up quick. These Claret seedlings, along with Sunrich Orange and the Go Bananas mix, all poked up after barely three days, with even germination down the rows. Flowers this year are lower priority than the veggies, so they got in a little later than they could’ve. Yesterday, I showed my production list to a flower gardener, who nodded as she read, said “oh, cosmos” in what I took to be an approving tone, and finally commented, “well, you may be a little LATE for some” (my emphasis on LATE). She was only referring to the longest possible season for each, but it made me realize what a dread concept LATE has been all along, only usually it’s just in my own head. You’re constantly trying to stay on top of seeding and transplant timing, hoping for early last frost and late first frost, attempting to squeeze in one more planting, and always wondering if this or that will be…TOO LATE. In fact, it always works out… What you learn is, either way, no worries!