Lessons From The Garden - Part 1

Now that the 2017 garden season has ended, I'll be starting a new series of posts about what I learned from the garden this year. Though I have been a gardener for 25 years, I still learn (or relearn) things every year that I want to put into practice in future seasons.

Lesson One:

Aggressively Thin Volunteer Sunflowers 

I love sunflowers. Cheerful and bright, they add height and texture to the garden, serve as support for vining beans and as food for pollinators and songbirds. I typically plant a few dozen each year, usually in the corners of each garden bed. 

This year, though, I let the majority of the volunteer sunflowers, that come up every year, stay as well. Not a good move. The large number of sunflowers blocked light and water from reaching the plants beneath them. Their large roots also hogged all the nutrients, leaving their neighbors sickly and susceptible to disease and insect damage. 

Next year, I will stick to no more than 2 sunflowers per bed. That will give me enough for visual interest, yet, give other plants enough resources to thrive.