Cutting it Fine - the challenge is on!

caeler

I grew Russian giants last year. I started sowing sunflowers on 1 April after I started the sunflower Challenge on Twitter! Lovely to see how every bodies are growing after sowing them at the same time! 

savingholmes

Sunflowers are stunning and beloved by the wildlife too

Kittenkirst

Hi Sandy, we also have some sunflowers to grow this year, but I wasn’t sure if we’d missed the sowing season or not, great to know everyone does theirs on the 1st I think I’ll be following suit with you guys!

SandyShores

Hi Kittenkirst, really excited to grow sunflowers this year.  I've chosen the Pike's Peak ones which are huge, and then I was just reading a comment about making sure the size you choose fits in with your garden - whoops, no they will definitely stand out in mine as its a very new garden and everything is tiny.  Oh well, its a bit of fun.  And if the wildlife love them as well SH, its just a bonus isn't it.  I didn't know there was a sunflower challenge Caeler, I'll look out for that.  I was remembering my mum growing some huge ones when we were children and loving them.  When I was a singleton (with my own garden and greenhouse) I grew some that weren't super tall but the heads were massive - a colleague in work took them for her parrot after they'd finished.  Ah, they just bring back memories and represent sunny days and smiley faces to me.

caeler

Sunflowers make me happy. I’ve got the Russian giant variety. 

Kittenkirst

I’m not sure which variety we have; our neighbour gave us a sunflower in the summer (when our young cat passed away unexpectedly). We kept the head and let it dry to plant the seeds again this year; however we will be moving so it will be in a nice pot this year.

SandyShores

Lovely that you have the seeds from last year Kittenkirst, though sorry to hear about your youngster.  Nice that you can grow the sunflowers again.  I'd forgotten how good it is to watch things grow, its amazing how plants grow and produce seeds.  We're still doing some of the harder landscaping in the garden and I now want a shed and raised beds.  I'm excited to get going with the seeds but its better to wait until the concreting is done before putting in seedlings.  We had a few plants in pots while we were in rented, it was amazing how they sprang up as soon as they were set free in the ground.  I don't know if you'll have any space for pots at your g/f's parents but if you can have a few things they can be getting roots ready for your new garden.

My week of running has started well and we all seem quite positive in the Shore's household, must be something to do with seeing blue skies and sunshine.  Mortgage overpayment made up so another £1k has come off the capital this month.  Next month should see us with an additional 1% of equity in the house.  We've a total 1,056 sq ft, so we currently own about 75 sq ft - is that the bathroom paid for ?  I need to get onto the old energy suppliers as they haven't sent the money through yet.  I'm wondering if its because I cancelled the direct debit so they might not have my bank details on file.  A phone call today I think.

SandyShores

Phoned our old energy suppliers and the final refund was in our account within a few days.  Glad to have that finally sorted and added to the accounts.  I found my old SOA from 3 years ago, interesting to see it showed -£5,000 debts minus assets.  So I thought I'd do another today and we're now at +£31,000 and counting.  Getting back on the property ladder was the best thing we've done.

On the personal side, I've been making progress with regular running and stretching and I'm eating a lot more healthily (although getting nowhere with weight loss).  Studying is going okay and I'm expanding my horizons slightly, which is making me feel a lot more positive.  I'm also trying to look ahead more, rather than the rear view mirror, and its working.  

Feels there is hope for coming out of lockdown in the not too distant future, which makes a difference too.

savingholmes

That's great progress in 3 years

Kittenkirst

Great progress there in the 3 years, and also with the health focus too. It takes time for it to show physically I find, but hopefully you are feeling the mental lift from the better eating and exercise

Youve reminded me to call our old energy provider- we tried to switch to Shell energy and they let the Elec go but not our gas weirdly (both on the same DD so no idea why)- need to call them and moan this afternoon and get it sorted! With moving in a few months its better for the buyer if with the same supplier really (and will be easier for us with closing down accounts etc). Thanks for the reminder