Before shot… seemingly healthy pumpkin

After shot… dried pumpkin seeds

I guess we’ll try again next year!

Anyway, so much has been going on in the garden (no thanks to me, thank Mother Nature!), so I needed to post. I showed a few weeks ago that our first sunflower was blooming. This one we had sprouted indoors, and I think came out a bit stunted in the terracotta pot while it waited to be transplanted, and now it is happily creating seeds (albeit stunted, too).

Once we got the rest of the garden cleaned up, I planted some seeds direct in the ground — and WHOA have they taken off! They are seriously living up to the “Mammoth” name and are like trees growing out of the ground. The “trunks” are about 2.5 inches in diameter, and are currently standing a little over 5′.  I have 3 regular “Mammoth” growing — which are the kind with edible seeds which we hope to harvest, and 3 “Evening Sun” that will be a deep red or orange. I’m planning on having a fabulous vase at some point in the early fall with the Evening Sun! I’m pretty sure next year we will just plant direct in the ground.

I got it!

Of course, my dad is a Sports Dad. At least he was until my sister & I grew up and stopped playing sports. But while growing up, he never missed a game or meet, ever. Although basketball was our the main sport, there was a brief number of years where we played softball, too! I remember using his childhood baseball mitt once I grew out of my first softball mitt. It was cooler and way more broken in. What do they have at baseball games? Sunflower seeds! Yes, this year, we are growing our own sunflowers to hopefully harvest hundreds of seeds!

I tried growing a few indoors, but only 1 made it through the attack of the critters while waiting to get in the garden. The rest, we just planted from seeds last weekend directly inside the fence. Hopefully we’ll get at least a few full size sunflowers before the summer is over.

Ok, I guess that was a little bit of a reach, but seriously, couldn’t get much else from what is in the garden. Oh well. Happy Father’s day to all the great Dad’s out there! Even the ones who aren’t into gardening!

Why am I bringing this up now? I just read an article on the new “Superfoods” you need to have in your diet — and one was Chia! I had no idea the seed was edible at all, much less such a nutritional food item (with lots of fiber, iron, omega-3, and calcium).

Maybe I should raid my parents basement to see if I can find my old Chia tree to try again!