Transitioning Sunflowers & Up-potting Tomatoes

Village Farm Team,

Our sunflowers are beginning to transition out of their cut-flower phase and into their seed-harvesting phase. Though the yellow outer petals are what we often see as the “flower”, it’s the central disc of the sunflower that is made up of many small, tubular shaped flowers. Behind each of these small flowers a seed forms. Large sunflower heads can produce upwards of almost two cups of seeds! The heads are ready to harvest for seeds when the back of the flower changes color from green to yellowish-brown. Be on the lookout for these sunflower heads at the farmers market in the coming weeks.

We are in the process of up-potting our fall tomato transplants this week. We observed very good germination among all of the varieties we planted and now that they are a few inches tall and have produced several true leaves, it’s time to transition them to bigger 4-inch pots. This allows them to establish a stronger root system before we harden them off and eventually plant them in our beds.

Our annual La Tomatina Padre event on Saturday was a success! Twelve dads and their families came out to the farm to enjoy our farm-made slip-n-slide and a bevy of snacks. We put our split and overripe tomatoes to good use in the tomato toss which is arguably the most entertaining part of the whole event. The kids eagerly lined up in order to (lovingly) pelt their dads with tomatoes while the dads took it all in stride. Thank you to everyone that made it out on Saturday!