Heartbreak in My Vege Garden

 Peas and radishes are growing beautifully, potatoes are taking off and delicate carrot fronds are definitely a thing. So where are the beans and sunflowers that I planted?

Where I thought I had bean sprouts, I found they were more potatoes. There might be some baby spinach plants in among the puha that's coming up. It's too early to be sure. 

So I did some digging. When I found a bean seed, it had a hole in the side and the rest was either hollow or rotten. Something has been eating my seeds. I went all along the rows and it was the same everywhere I'd planted them. 

There was an entire packet of Kentucky Pole beans gone.

I have a container of bean seeds that I'd harvested quite a few years ago. It was a mix of the pole beans and two colours of dwarf beans. 

I also had a paper bag of runner beans and purple beans from about 20 years ago. I've been meaning to give them to the chickens. I'm not particularly fond of runner beans unless I pick them when they are really small and tender. 

I decided to float them to see if they were still viable, with a very few exceptions, they all seemed good. 

I've planted them out in much heavier concentration than before. If anything is going to eat them, hopefully they won't get to all of them and the odd ones will grow first.

I still have some left in case it doesn't work. 

While I was planting them out, I noticed sunflower seed husks scattered around where I planted the sunflowers. The seeds are gone and the husks have been broken up and spread around. Even the ones coated in fungicide. That was three packets of seeds.

I'm blaming the blackbirds for that.

I think I might have to start seeds in pots and transplant them out. I didn't want to do that because I don't usually manage to harden the plants off very well and forget to transplant them in time. 

I'm a little gutted.