End of Wheat, Beginning of Blooms

Well, our wheat project has come to an end. But it was interesting, nonetheless. We planted it on October 25, watched it sprout and get established. We watched it through its dormancy during the long, dry winter. Then it sprang back to life and got thick and lush and green as spring approached. Stalks came on, it started to head out. The heads looked nice and full.


I hadn't done any watering of it, until the first part of April, then I put a little water on it fairly regularly. But unlike the farmers, we didn't give it the benefit of some kind of fertilizer. Even so, it had nice-looking, full heads of wheat on May 19:




But just a week later, it looked sad, sad, sad. An article in my Kansas hometown paper talked about the effects of "heat stress," and I think that's what may have happened. We did have some unseasonal days for awhile of near-100-degree heat.




It just suddenly looked very spindly, sparse, and some stalks were fallen over. The wind may have helped with that, I dunno.




So we decided to "harvest," though we won't really be doing anything with it. Believe it or not, I actually had a GREEN COMBINE. A GREEN COMBINE WITH ONE SICKLE.




I also had an assistant, who worked some on one of the rows.




The view from the combine operator's seat.




Field cut, combine parked. LOL




Rows of stubble.




The pile of wheat stalks.




Closeup of the poor, spindly heads.




Meanwhile, other things are taking off. This yellow-flower-that-I-like-so-much is really going to town.




These beautiful yellow blooms are what made me grab the plant at walmart in the first place. :)




Our rose is actually putting out some fresh greenery after its severe pruning.




And, the "birdfeeder sunflower" has a little brother!