The Runts Rule!

These are the runty sunflowers that grew between the larger, more vigorous ones in my row in the backyard. I decided to thin them to allow the stronger ones to grow, and on a whim planted them along the side of our house to see how they did. They were frail things that I had to stake so they wouldn't blow over. Now they're doing great! In fact, they are a lot bushier and sturdier than the backyard ones, if not quite as tall (these are thigh high). The reason? Better soil! The soil on the side of our house is sandy and loose, and has been cultivated before. The patch where the backyard ones are has soil that is compacted and clayey. They are growing are right up against our retaining wall, where there has been nothing but a layer of sod before the pile of lumber for 9 months. I think the runty ones will all be goth sunflowers. I can't wait till they bloom.

Okay, swedish gorilla, here's the naked, unvarnished, full-length (almost) backyard photo. (Cringe.) For my blog I like to pick the best-looking thing in the garden and take an artful shot of it, making sure to leave out the bare earth and other unsightly elements. But here is what it is, bare earth and all. I'm not the only one whose garden is half in her head. Amy Stewart (see book list) writes that she saw her garden with an outsider's eye when a friend was coming to visit, and realized that all the things that she was seeing in her head (the gazebo, the masses of flowers, the neatly mulched paths) hadn't actually been achieved yet. That's how I feel. You can't see the newly enlarged raised bed, the overflowing blooms of nasturtiums that haven't been planted yet, the curved flagstone paths I drew out on graph paper, and...and...some other stuff.
This photo does show the backyard sunflowers, now waist high, and how spindly they look. But they are about to bloom, too. There is lots of worm activity around them, due to the watering and compost I put down. There are castings all over. Yay.
A blogger named cloudscome has a Sunday Garden Tour with links to other blogs. This is my Sunday Garden Tour, although I couldn't figure out how to link to the official tour. She has lovely photos of her garden and her own haiku. Read the ones about the butterflies.