The Mess

This week while picking green beans, I had quite a bit of time to look into "the mess" to see how my second sowing of sunflowers were doing.

They weren't. Doing, that is.

Each sowing used about 3# of birdseed. A fairly good stand grew the first time. The birdseed sunflower seeds of August fed the birds!

The notion that there was enuf debris on the ground to shield the seed was obviously in error ... the big family of quail probably scratched through the debris and there was quite a flock of English sparrows in the garden last week. I think the population of sparrows has been growing as more houses have been built in the immediate neighborhood in recent years. The environment is becoming more English sparrow friendly ... and I contributed to the welcome with several pounds of sunflower seed ...

Steve

digitS' said:

This week while picking green beans, I had quite a bit of time to look into "the mess" to see how my second sowing of sunflowers were doing.

They weren't. Doing, that is.

Each sowing used about 3# of birdseed. A fairly good stand grew the first time. The birdseed sunflower seeds of August fed the birds!

The notion that there was enuf debris on the ground to shield the seed was obviously in error ... the big family of quail probably scratched through the debris and there was quite a flock of English sparrows in the garden last week. I think the population of sparrows has been growing as more houses have been built in the immediate neighborhood in recent years. The environment is becoming more English sparrow friendly ... and I contributed to the welcome with several pounds of sunflower seed ...

Steve

Click to expand...

maybe not warm enough now?

i think next year you'll get plenty of sunflower sprouts in that area.

flowerbug said:

maybe not warm enough now?

Click to expand...

That's a good question.

We are told that the recent temperatures have been about 10° above normal. There was a light August frost in my garden years ago; it burned things and killed the cucumbers. Plants fairly well shut down afterwards because of continuing cool temperatures.

I suspect sunflower seed sprouts at a low temperature. Small plants can take quite a bit of cold. To till them in, I'd have to haul the rototiller back out there ... Wait! This was supposed to be weed suppression easy peasy. Peas, hmmm? No, wait!

If I knew that I will use this ground in 2020, I might be willing to do more. Really, I think that all fertilizer and tilth needs and goals could be reached using green manure crops. Keeping ground out of production for human needs for a year or two for this purpose appeals to me. I just dream about it and bumble along as usual .

Steve