Sunflower Pot Project - Winter 2007

Hi, Fellow Gardeners and Sunflower Enthusiasts!

I am documenting a real live project during winter/spring '07/'08.

Plan: force the sunflowers and daffodil bulbs in a container to bloom early just by starting to water it and warm the soil using my indoor lights. Follow along with me and the photographs of the progress.

Last fall I planted sunflower seeds in a pot surrounded by daffodil bulbs. The pot was in the garage and I wanted it to freeze, like mother nature would.

In fact I put it outdoors around New Years and forgot about it until February 7th.

I took this photo after a 14" snowstorm.

I didn't really mean to leave the pot outside this long. I meant to bring it in on February 1st. I'm running a week late; oh well.

Here is the pot sitting in an east window, right after I brought it inside from it's winterizing.

The snow melting will be the first real "watering" as it begins to thaw.

Project Update - and Conclusion

It was outdoors on my deck in early spring and nothing came up. I wondered, did the squirrels or chipmunks dig out the bulbs and seeds (for food)? I didn't see any evidence though.

In the early summer I discovered something else interesting. Chipmunks got into our garage and nibbled on my wild sunflower seeds and other "edibles" I had stored in a show box during the winter. I caught one scampering out once.

When I planted the wild sunflower seeds (marked clearly on the envelop), I thought they looked like mostly seed shaft. And it turned out that none of the wild sunflowers I planted did come up.

I still had a few that self-seeded and I nurtured them when I weeded like usual. But it WAS disappointing.

Sometimes, Folks, you try something and it just doesn't work. I figured that since the daffodils also didn't show up, most likely everything rotted, or was eaten in my project planter.

Maybe I should stick to planting the sunflower seeds in real garden dirt instead using potting soil. I'll put the daffodils in the ground in the fall next time too.

Karen