This is so very late in the season, but it finally happened.

Our first Hopi Black Dye sunflower seed head is opening!

When the seeds we’d started indoors neglected to germinate until after we’d already direct seeded outside, there was just one for a while. That one got transplanted into the old kitchen garden, and when a second seedling sprouted, it was planted here as well. Then a whole bunch sprouted, and they got transplanted to the main garden.

Of the two that were planted here, the first one was broken by high winds and did not recover, so there is just this one, now.

However, this one plant has three seed heads forming! The third one is mostly hidden under a leaf to the left of the one that’s opening.

It should be interesting to see how far they are able to develop before first frost hits!

Meanwhile, our recent rains have given us more sunflowers. Sort of.

This is where the large birdhouse landed, when the raccoons broke it. It had been almost full of black oilseed. The critters ate most of it, but as you can see, that still left lots behind to start sprouting! I think recently mowing over this area gave them the sunlight they needed to explode like this.

I’ve read that sunflower seedlings make for tasty microgreens. I don’t plan to harvest this out of the lawn, but one of these days, I think we should give it a try. 🙂

The Re-Farmer