Unexpected day in garden, sunflower seeds, more Kew veg

I ended up having some time to work in the garden this afternoon. I wasn't expecting to be free to garden, so I didn't have a plan or list of chores. On my way home form work, I stopped by "Bloom", a nursery in Dripping Springs. Bloom is a very small affair, taking advantage of garden space in one of Dripping Springs few decent eateries (sorry, Sonic), Thyme and Dough. At first, the nausea brought on by the sickening pun of a name kept me away from the establishment, but good eater that I am, I eventually went in. It's a good place - croissants, uppity sandwiches, torts and such. Bloom, while small, is locally owned and run and it shows. The plant selection is spot on, if a plant can grow in Dripping Springs, she has it. I wanted some basil and some mint for containers, which I found. As good readers know, I couldn't leave without buying something I didn't need or have a plan for. This time it was sunflower seeds. At least at $1.79 each for two seed packets, it will be a cheap impulse purchase.
I tried sunflowers twice before, failing each time. A phenomenal feat, to fail to grow what are basically weeds. My first failure was when I lived in Alvin. I chalked up the sunflower's death there to the fact that Alvin, Texas makes you wish you had never been born, or at least died when you were young. The sunflowers probably broke out of the ground, looked at Alvin, looked at me and said "Why?" and died. The next time I killed sunflowers was here in lovely Austin, at a rent house on 38th street. We had a crazy old neighbor lady who peered over the dilapidated fence and gave out bad advice sprinkled with threats ("the last renters at your house left their porch lights on late, like you do. They were broken into. I think the thiefs pick houses with porch lights on late. I wouldn't leave mine on, unless I wanted to be robbed."). She occasionally gave me Alvinesque feelings, but I can't blame the plant's death on her. I killed them my favorite way, neglect. There are many ways to kill plants and, as of this weekend, I'm proud to write that I've done them all. Neglect is best - pick a good plant, put in the right place and then ignore said plant until it is almost dead, at which point you can keep ignoring it or realize your error and try to save it. It doesn't matter -the plant is a goner. Next is ignorance. Putting a plant in the wrong spot, picking the wrong plant, planting at the wrong time, planting incorrectly. They all work. They don't give that good empty feeling like neglect, but ignorance is effective. And last, you can kill by caring for your plant too much. This is well recognized as a sub-category of ignorance, but I list it separately here because it is new to me. Is there any such thing as too much compost, too much organic fertilizer or too much water? Turns out, yes. I killed the ever loving snot out of 7 mexican feather grass this past year. This is a plant that, when left alone, has reseeded and is growing very well in my caliche drive. Amazing.
So this year, sunflowers for the third time. I think I will direct seed some into the garden and start some in peat pots. Surely one or the other will work.
I planted cucumbers and courgettes (British for zucchini) from the Kew seed selection today. Same as with the peas, it felt good just to pretend my garden is in London. The instructions on the back of the seed packets said to start the seeds in sterile seed germination media and then transplant outdoors. I didn't have any such thing around, so I direct seeded them. A quick reference of Garrett and Beck's Organic Texas Gardening, the definitive text, revealed direct seeding is just fine. But I hate to stray from Royal Botanic suggestion, so I will start some transplants at the same time I start the sunflowers.