Sunflowers on lottie

[ScrumpyJack]

easy Ceri and co,  

I place a useful well meant suggestion, and now we're gonna get pictures of half buried children.  I'm not sure if that kind of parental competitiveness is actually legal???

Surely cats is going a bit too far? unless its ok for me to enter my pet ant, anthony ?

[ScrumpyJack]

[Ceri]

as long as my Warren the woodlouse can join in too

[Hels_Bels]

What about those of us without pets or children?? Can I borrow the allotment cat? ;)

HB

[legless]

oh but buzz has just been practising sitting up straight next to plants  :(

[kenkew]

OK! OK!...How about we decide on a way to start and worry about the way to decide on how to win later. Taking the bulls by the horn; We plant when we're ready to plant and use any method we know to get the best results. Before judging time I'm sure someone will come up with an 'article' to hold which has a recognised length. (Or is that a woopsy?)
Anyway, all this gabbing is good fun but it's getting a bit like my old council meetings, shall we stop chewing the fat and get a move on?
Another thought, if we don't get a dedicated 'Sunflower competition' thread, one of us could simply cut and paste all sowing announcements into one posting.

[legless]

but i really think its more important to decide a way to end.... and i don't know enough about sunflowers to make a suggestion of a good measuring date.

basically there are so many environmental factors to consider that sowing date surely is less important as quality rather than length of growing season is the crucial factor.

taking into account variances in child/ cat/ ant/ woodlouse heights i shall ask Dr Legless to work out a formula so we can calculate the winner, of course it shall be so complicated that only he will understand it and naturally win so that might not be a good idea....

see, i can take it seriously  ;D

[legless]

right, so in gardeners world magazine it says that tall sunflowers should be sown direct at the end of april. sorted.

anyone know when they flower?

[kenkew]

From July.

[budgiebreeder]

Sorry been away do we have to put our names somewhere?

[kenkew]

Well, who's sending off for Monty's sunflower seeds?

[busy_lizzie]

Just posted my card off tonight Ken.  Have chosen "Florenza".  Looks very pretty and unusual colours.  Will not be using that seed for our competition. Reckon this summer we will be awash with sunflowers in our garden and at the lottie.   :D busy_lizzie

[Hels_Bels]

I'm going for Infrared - it looks as if they might come up in different shades. Sending off my postacrd this morning ;D

[Debs]

Boo Hoo !!...

I missed GW last night - is it repeated at all during the week ???

and what's all this about sending off postcards for sunflowers ???

WHAT DID I MISS ..... shall have a look on their website...

Debs

[busy_lizzie]

Debs, Just have a look on the BBC Gardeners World Site, as all the details for sending away for the seeds are on there.  They show the variety of sunflowers and the addresses to send away for them.  :) busy_lizzie

[legless]

ok how about this for a plan for the competition then...

we follow the GW trial dates cos Monty said we all had to sow the trial seeds together, and i should imagine they will have a programme towards the end of the trial asking for results. i suspect that will be july-august time. the sunflower man did say that in this climate its around 80 days from sowing to flowering i think...

we should allow exemptions for people who are off galavanting round the world when the sowing date comes and allow them to sow later.

what does anyone think?

if approved shall i start a thread so people can register their intentions, perhaps with seed variety?

[Hels_Bels]

That's a great idea - saves us the potential difficulties of finding a date to suit everyone and then we can use GW ones or not, as we think!

HB

[Debs]

sounds good to me.

My seeds are Sunflower giant single which can grow 6-15ft...

Got them free with Gardens Monthly.

Debs

[busy_lizzie]

Good idea Legless!  :)  Start the thread -  lets see who registers and then we can fine tune it with the how and whens. Looking forward to it!   :D busy_lizzie