The Prophet said to plant a garden...

...So that's what I did.

Every year I plant a garden. Some years that means just a tomato plant. Some years this means I steal tomatoes from neighbors and leave IOU notes. (hee hee) I don't know what I do wrong, but our harvest is never plentiful. These are Lindsay's peas. She planted them. She waters them faithfully every day. She has waited very patiently, but now it is too hot and her little peas are withering up and dying. Do you think I would do some permanent damage to her if I were to sprinkle frozen peas on the ground and have her come out and gather her peas up?

And these are my 2 tomato plants. I was feeling generous and kind and told my neighbor that she could choose a plant to be hers when they were little baby tomato-lings. She glanced at the then same-sized plants and says, "I'll take the one on the right." The one on the right is the only one growing. What the...
(And yes, those are my poor excuse for cucumber plants in front of them. Good thing I don't even like cucumbers because they won't be producing fruits - or vegetables for that matter - anytime soon).
And last. My sunflowers. I LOVE sunflowers. I wanted sunflowers at our wedding and this was the only thing Jeramy put his foot down about...."No way am I having WEEDS at my wedding!" So no sunflowers for me. I have threatened to plant them every year and he has told me not to do it.
This year, I did it.
I planted my sneaky little seeds and waited and waited and waited. Finally many weeks later, my little seedlings came up. Us girls all loved watering and weeding and loving our secret sunflowers. Then one night when we were out watering, Lindsay got a little too excited and ran inside, "Daddy, come see how big the sunflowers are!" And Daddy came to see the sunflowers.

It's not that I was really hiding it from him, but he went 4 weeks without going on that side of the house, so he never saw them coming. :)
That's not the point of my sunflower picture though. The point is this: I planted those bad boys mid-April. Count with me now
April to May
May to June
June to July.
That's a lot of time for sunflowers. Still no blossoms.
A few nights ago we were sitting outside with our neighbors and I noticed THESE sunflowers. I was shocked because I drive past this side of their house daily and I hadn't noticed them before. So I asked when they planted their seeds. "Um, these just popped up on their own in like the past 2 weeks."
Sigh. I can't even grow weeds. :(
Want to be even more depressed for me, check this post out. I didn't quite dare to plant this kind, but seriously, all I want is a few sunflowers...is that asking too much??

So, I think I'll continue bargain shopping and stocking up on fruit snacks and cake mixes. I don't think I'll be needing a deep freeze anytime soon for all these fresh vegetables. Maybe next year!