FAQ's - Links

Hello, it's come to our attention that people viewing our site on cell phones are not able to see all the Links we have  on our side-bar. So, here they are: 

Overview and Benefits of the Sharing Gardens

Garden Location and Volunteer Info

Meet the Founders - Contact Us 

Wish List

Mission Statement 

"It Takes a Village..!" - Gratitude Journal

Videos About the Sharing Gardens

Letters of Support 

So, you want to start a Sharing Garden! 

If  you discover any broken links, we'd sure be grateful if you'd send us an email so we can fix them. Happy Gardening! Shareinjoy AT gmail.com

Chris  and Llyn - Sharing Gardens coordinators

             

Herbicide Contamination?

Sunflowers stunted by herbicide contamination.

(Re-posted from Spring 2017) Hi folks! It's been a long time since we posted anything new. We've been feeling challenged by a number of things and will write a more comprehensive post soon but wanted to get word out about a situation we had with many of the 'starts' we planted from seed this spring. Many of them were severely stunted or died from what appears to be herbicide contamination in our potting soil (which we made from combining last summer's compost and some composted horse manure).

We're posting this to our site in the hopes that people reading our posts about the deep mulch method of gardening and folks using grass clippings, animal manures, or hay or straw for mulch, or to build their compost piles will use discretion in acquiring those materials. Some herbicide chemicals can remain toxic for several years in plant materials and manure.

Herbicide-contaminated tomato plants

We always knew that farming chemicals can have damaging and long-lasting effects in the environment but didn't think we would be effected as we use no chemicals directly on our lawns or gardens.

It is ironic that, after championing the use of "local", organic materials to create garden fertility (instead of imported, concentrated fertilizers that are often mined and produced unsustainably) that we experienced such devastating results.

Of the hundreds of tomato and pepper seeds we started this year, not a single one was unaffected and all had to be thrown out!

If you are still using chemicals to fight weeds, we urge you to stop. Herbicide contamination is another reason to only eat organic foods as they minimize the use of these chemicals in our environment.

Here are links to two excellent articles we found on the topic:

(LINK) - Gardener Alert! Beware of Herbicide- Contaminated Compost and Manure

(LINK) - Herbicide Carryover in Hay, Manure, Compost, and Grass Clippings

We encourage you to do research of your own and share your comments below if you have relevant experiences.

Here are the details of our situation:

Right from the start, some of our seedlings did great but other varieties would do fine until they began putting on their second set of leaves and the leaves would begin curling in a distorted manner, never fully unfurling so the plants couldn't photosynthesize (get energy from the sun). We also noticed that some of the plants formed gold-colored nodules right below the soil-level where the roots begin to branch and on their root tips.

Onion starts did fine!

Some of our seedlings did fine:

• cabbages and kales
• cucumbers, squash and melons 
• onions
• artichokes

 But many of them did poorly or died altogether:

• tomatoes
• peppers
• peas, beans
• lettuce
• sunflowers, zinnias, marigolds

In many cases we started seeds three, and four times. It took us awhile to discover the likely source of our plant failures. For several months we thought our plants were suffering because it was so cool, wet and overcast; the Pacific NW - where we live, set records both for rainfall, and consecutive days of cloud-cover this past winter and spring. Plants sometimes develop a condition called "damping off" - (LINK) where they rot at the soil-level. 

Starting seedlings - before we knew our soil was contaminated.

After an on-line search, we found the articles listed above that outline the symptoms we were experiencing and they attributed the problems to soil contamination from a class of herbicides commonly used on golf-courses and other large public lawns, and on fields that are destined to be planted in grass-seed, livestock and horse-feed, and grain crops (such as wheat). These herbicides target broad-leaved weeds but do not kill grasses and grains. We haven't had our soil tested so we can't be sure but we feel it is likely that the wheat-straw we purchased to mulch our garden and build up our compost-piles might have been tainted with one of the products listed in the article (Clopyralid and aminopyralid, or something similar). It is also possible that one of the loads of composted horse manure that was donated had not been composted long enough and still contained herbicide residue.

OSU students sifting compost and manure to make potting soil.

Compost Contamination: This is the first year in the Sharing Gardens that we made our own potting soil. We've always purchased it in the past. For many years Chris has had experience making his own potting mix (prior to the Sharing Gardens) and always had good success with it. Last summer (2016) we made a huge amount of compost. It was made primarily from grass-clippings, wheat straw and leaves. For the first time since starting the gardens, we had enough excess compost after planting Fall crops, to save it for making potting soil.

Our recipe:

•  2-parts of our compost
•  1-part of composted horse manure/sawdust and 
•  a small amount of coffee grounds.

We don't know if the contamination came from manure that wasn't composted long enough or the wheat-straw we used to build our compost pilesl. We've checked with all the people who have donated large quantities of grass-clippings and none of them used any herbicides last year on their lawns so we feel confident that grass-clippings were not the source.

The reason we think it was our potting soil that was contaminated is that none of our seeds planted directly in the ground showed any of these same signs of distress.

Compost bins(left) and grass-piles (center) for garden fertility.

Note:

• Do not use contaminated compost or manures to make "compost tea" if you are going to be pouring it on any of the families of plants listed above. In addition, potatoes (in the same family of plants as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and tomatillos - solanacea should not be grown in contaminated soil or had tea applications. Lettuce may also be susceptible).

• Some chemicals can remain active in the soil. compost or manure for two years or more.

• They can harm vegetable and flower plants in concentrations as low as 3 parts-per-million!

• While it is unlikely that enough of these chemicals would be present in lawn clippings from a residential source to contaminate your compost or mulch-pile, there are several herbicides available from garden-stores that do contain aminopyralid or clopyralid.

      -- Here is a list of herbicides and their active ingredients organized by trade names.

      -- Here is an alphabetical list of herbicidal active ingredients, with trade names following.

We encourage you to do research of your own and share your comments below if you have relevant experiences.

Carrots (front) and nasturtiums (back) are thriving this year!

Once we discovered the source of our plants' distress, we bought some regular potting mix and have successfully started lettuce and most of our flowers. It's too late to start peppers and tomatoes.  The only pepper plants we have are ones we purchased at a nursery; unfortunately we won't have many peppers to share this year.

Steve Rose, in a previous year, with tomato plants he donated to the Sharing Gardens and Monroe's Food Pantry.

We're grateful to our friend Steve Rose for dropping off dozens of tomato plants he started from seed. If not for him and the tomatoes that "volunteered" in our greenhouses from fruits that fell on the ground last fall and sprouted this spring, we'd have no tomatoes. We've managed to dig up and transplant almost eighty tomato seedlings and even have had a few dozen to give away. Thank goodness for volunteers! (This is another great reason for only growing heirloom/open-pollinated seeds: if we had grown hybrid varieties of tomatoes, the "volunteers" could not be counted on to "grow true".)

Thank goodness for kale! Delicious, nutritious and unaffected by herbicide contamination.

On a happier note, it's now mid-June and we have most of the gardens planted. It's been a challenging winter and spring but we're feeling optimistic for the Summer and Fall to be able to fulfill our mission of providing bounteous harvests of vegetables to our local food charities.

LINK to Herbicide Contamination Update

The Sharing Gardens is a registered non-profit and tax-exempt organization. We exist entirely through donations. If you have found benefit from our project or our site, please consider making a small donation through PayPal. (Click button below.)

Herbicide Contamination Update

This is a great 'carrot-year' for us! Just in time to help loosen Bella (5) and Adri's (6) baby-teeth.

Hello Folks! The gardens are finally really thriving this year! We've put the 'herbicide contamination debacle' behind us and are thrilled to already be eating cucumbers, potatoes, summer squash, and tomatoes daily from the gardens. That's early for us! Both our local Food Pantries have begun receiving weekly deliveries of fresh, organic produce that, along with cucumbers and squash include cabbage, beets, carrots, kale, elephant garlic and lettuce.

We feel relatively confident that we have identified the source of the herbicide contamination that devastated so many of our seedlings this year. We had made our own potting-soil from a combination of composted horse-manure combined with last-year's compost (made primarily from leaves, grass-clippings, wheat-straw and vegetable scraps) and we weren't sure which ingredient was the cause of our problems. LINK to original article

We make our compost primarily from leaves, lawn clippings, wheat-straw and food-scraps.

We are reasonably certain that the horse manure was to blame. We have a friend who brings us his composted horse manure which we have used all throughout our gardens for several years with no ill effects. He has always been very careful to bring us loads from a pile that has sit fallow for many, many years. Coincidentally, the one time he brought us a load that was from a fresher pile was the load we used to mix up all our potting soil (at least 15, five-gallon buckets!).

Herbicide contamination of tomato.

The only places we've noticed the stunting effects of the herbicide were 1) in plants grown in the potting soil we made, 2) places where we dumped the potting soil in our greenhouses,  3) where we used that batch of manure to amend soil directly. None of the places that we have used the wheat straw as mulch, or the compost we made from it have shown signs of contamination  -- unless we also used the manure in those same spots.

Our last piece of evidence that supports our theory is that our friend used some of that less-composted manure on his tomato patch and all of his tomatoes are showing strong signs of contamination (and he didn't use any of our compost, or the wheat straw we thought might be the source).

It's becoming harder and harder to find clean sources of material to use as mulch, or to build our compost piles as more and more chemicals are being used to grow food, and showing up in the environment from other sources. This herbicide contamination was a real wake-up call for us!

Will we continue to use the horse manure from our friend? We've really meditated on this. It is our intention to demonstrate a "veganic" style of agriculture that uses no livestock manures, or commercial, concentrated fertilizers. It is important to us to use local materials - like leaves and grass-clippings to create soil-fertility. We don't eat meat of any kind and feel it's hypocritical to benefit from the by-products of an industry that is not sustainable and that we don't support philosophically. Recently we did turn down an offer for a load of goat-manure to be delivered to the gardens, for these reasons. We only used a 2-pound box of commercial fertilizer to get all our seedlings started this year, which is incredible when you realize how many hundreds of seedlings we started!

A pile of our finished compost - super-food for the gardens!

For now though, we're going to continue to accept Dave's donations of horse manure. Because he saw the effects of the contamination on his own plants, we're confident that he'll only bring us manure that is thoroughly composted. With the exception of the single contaminated load, Dave's been bringing us manure that's been composting for 20-years. We don't know how much nitrogen or other nutrients are left in it, but the composted manure has a beautiful consistency that really helps "fluff" our soil which has a high clay content. Maybe when Dave runs out of manure that's sit fallow for a long time, we'll wean ourselves off this source of soil-amendment.

Note: If you are using horse manure in your own gardens, be sure it has composted for a minimum of two years but the longer the better. Also, if the pile sits out in the rain and fresh manure is added on the top, it's possible that the rain can leach the chemicals down into the older material at the bottom. If in doubt, do not  add it to your garden, or use it to start seedlings until you test it. One website we visited recommended testing the manure/soil by planting peas or beans in it which are highly susceptible to contamination and will show signs of leaf-curling once the second set of leaves begin to form.

First ripe tomatoes - July 7th!

We're happy to report that, thanks to 'volunteer' tomato seedlings that we transplanted into our greenhouses, and Steve Rose's generous donation of surplus 'starts' that we have close to 100 tomato plants growing and the first Stupice plants began producing ripe fruit in early July - right around the normal time for our greenhouse plants!

The Sharing Gardens is a registered non-profit and tax-exempt organization. We exist entirely through donations. If you have found benefit from our project or our site, please consider making a small donation through PayPal. (Click button below.)

Organic Solution to Slugs - Iron Phosphate

(Updated and re-printed from June 2012) The Monroe Sharing Gardens is located on ground that stays marshy well into the spring - even on a dry year. For the last few years since we've been here, we've had exceptionally wet springs so it can be downright boggy. Add to this the fact that some years we add - literally - tons of leaves, straw, grass and other kinds of organic matter and you've got the perfect environment for slugs to thrive. 

 

Slug eggs - if you find these in your garden, get rid of them (not in your compost pile!)

In 2011 we had a bad infestation--they decimated lettuce, kale, broccoli, peas -- all the cool-weather crops but even in the heat of summer they never died back and some tomato plants were basically just slug apartment dwellings; all you can eat buffets for the gastropods that make the Pacific NW famous. Buckets of potatoes were too slug-eaten to save and went straight to the compost. We knew that this year would be even worse as we came across underground deposits of hundreds of their small, pearly white eggs, just waiting for the perfect spring conditions for them to hatch.
 

We moved forward in good faith, figuring that somehow their numbers would balance out and they would join in the spirit of sharing that the gardens are famous for - a little for them, a lot for everyone else. But when we came to the gardens just a day after a team of four OSU students did a massive planting of literally hundreds of lettuce, spinach and broccoli and found two out of the four, seventy-foot rows practically disappeared overnight, we knew we had to find  a solution, and find it fast.

Whole rows of lettuce and broccoli, eaten overnight.

Chris went on-line and searched for organic solutions. We needed to find something that would get the slugs under control without endangering humans or our healthy earth-worm population, the snakes who feed on the slugs, the birds who frequent the gardens, or any other wildlife. There are a lot of folk-remedies out there such as coffee grounds, eggshells, citrus peels and beer-traps. All with only moderate success rates, or unpleasant side-effects (emptying beer traps with decomposing slugs is not a pleasant task!)

So, imagine our great joy when Chris discovered that iron phosphate, commercially know as "Sluggo", is a mineral naturally found in the soil and is non-toxic to humans, worms and other wildlife. The iron phosphate is coated with something that is appealing to slugs, and keeps the pellets from dissolving in the rain (it can last up to two weeks for each application. It's also very easy to use -- you just sprinkle a little at the base of each plant, or in the spaces between the plants. When the slugs eat it, it makes them lose their appetites, or binds up their digestion and they die within a few days of eating it. This also disrupts their reproductive cycle as the slugs aren't around long enough to mature and lay eggs so, theoretically, once we bring the population back into balance, we will need to use far less of the product (or none at all) in future years.

Healthy rows of lettuce.

We have been applying it now for about six weeks and are having fantastic results. In the beginning we had to reapply it every few days to keep up with all the slugs being hatched. Now, the applications are staying uneaten until the product naturally dissolves into the ground.

If you buy the product "retail" you can expect to pay $6.00 - $7.00 (or even more) per pound. So, if you need a lot, look for a wholesale sorce of iron phosphate with a coating. It will be less expensive than buying name-brand products such as Sluggo.

Kept in balance, slugs can be integrated into the garden's natural fauna.

Here is info from another organic farming site (Green Methods)attesting to the safety and effectiveness of Iron Phosphate:  

Iron phosphate (brand name Sluggo), is an organic slug and snail controlling compound that breaks down into fertilizer which has proven itself extremely safe and amazingly effective, even in the wettest of conditions where slugs and snails tend to be most problematic. In fact, based on the copious amounts of positive feedback we’ve gotten over the years, we can say with conviction that this product last longer, works better, and is much safer than the industry standard, highly toxic, metaldehyde. 

This product can be used just about anywhere, and up to the day of harvest on crops. To use it, towards evening simply scatter the plastic-like granules on the ground or in the pots/benches where slugs and snails are found feeding (even in wet conditions). Once they have eaten the bait, they’ll find cover and slowly die. And it is literally as simple as that.

The Sharing Gardens is a non-profit and tax-exempt organization. We exist entirely through donations. If you have found benefit from our project or our site, please consider making a donation through PayPal. (Click button below.)

How to build a Bean Tipi/Teepee

Here are instructions for building a simple tipi, perfect for growing pole-beans. Tipis are a great way to support these vigorous climbers and a fun and shady hideout for your smaller garden helpers! 

 

Tipis are an efficient way to grow lots of beans if you wish to dry them and save them for a seed-crop or winter storage.

 

Note: tipis are not a good choice for peas as peas' tendrils are too small to grasp the poles. Beans spiral around the trellis with their whole vine so the pole's diameter is less crucial.

A large tipi covered in Scarlet Runner beans. See the red blossoms amongst the green leaves?

 

--You'll need: 12-20 bamboo poles approximately 1" in diameter and up to 12 feet long. The taller the tipi, the more poles you'll need to fill in the gaps between your initial tripod poles. If you don't have access to bamboo, other long, straight poles will work. Try vine-maple or willow. Most of the bamboo poles we've used have been donated by friends who have large patches of bamboo that benefits from thinning. Here in the United States, we've also found them offered for free on Craig's list.

 

--You'll also need something to secure the initial three tripod-poles together. Strips of inner-tubes work well though you can use heavy cord or electrician's tape. (LINK: How to tie tipi poles).

 

-- Grass-clippings, dried leaves, straw or other mulch for the floor of the tipi.

 

-- Three 18" stakes to secure initial tripod to the ground, and wire to attach. 

 

-- Bean seeds: Our favorite is Scarlet Runner beans though we've also grown Giant Greek White beans which are in the same family of beans. They're very tasty, and larger than the Scarlet Runners, but not quite as productive per vine. Morning Glory flowers are beautiful but of course you can't eat them! See: Grow your own protein; Scarlet Runner beans LINK

To begin, we prep the soil, fluffing it up with a spade-fork or roto-tiller and digging in enough compost so the soil isn't too heavy. Many times we have moved our large compost bins at the end of the winter (once we've emptied them out) and built our tipi right where the compost bin has been! Beans don't need a lot of fertilization as they are able to "fix" nitrogen from the air but they won't suffer from the extra fertility either. The soil needn't be heavily groomed as big bean seeds can find their way around dirt clumps but don't make their job too hard by planting them into soil that is weedy or too course.

This tipi is covered in Giant Greek White beans.

We use wood-ash (trace minerals) and coffee grounds (attracts worms) as soil amendments (you can learn about that here - LINK: Coffee and Wood Ash for Soil Fertility) Use just a light sprinkling of ashes; they're very concentrated! Work the wood ash and coffee grounds into the soil before putting up your poles so it's evenly mixed.

Lightly sprinkle wood-ash to give your plants a boost of trace-minerals - LINK

 

Next, we lay down a heavy bed of straw, leaves or dried grass-clippings in the middle (6" thick). This helps keep the soil's moisture-content consistent and also attracts composting worms to live in the soil. Mulch makes it more pleasant for kids to hang out in the tipi for play and for harvesters to pick the beans later as the ripe beans will hang down inside the tipi.

Laying on your back and looking up through the top of the tipi can be very relaxing.

Next we choose three stout, straight poles and tie a knot around them six to eight feet from the ground. You want to place your knot lower than the height of your shortest other poles as they need to be able to lay in the crotches formed by this tripod. If the knot is too high, they'll just slip through. Tie the knot tight enough to hold the three poles together but not so tight that you can't twist the poles into the tripod shape. Spread the three tied poles into a tripod with the legs equal distance apart. LINK: How to tie poles for a tipi.

 

Important: Stake the tripod firmly to the ground so your tipi won't blow over before the vines actually anchor it. We use 18" wooden stakes driven deep into the ground and wire the tripod poles to them securely.  

Start with a tripod...

...and fill in with other poles, leaving space for a door. Mulch the floor with straw or other soft material.

Lay the other poles in the spaces between these main poles. Place the first pole 10-12 inches to right of the bottom of the first leg of the tripod. The second pole, the same distance to the right of the second tripod pole and the third pole 10-12 inches from the third tripod pole. 

 

On the second round, continue to place one pole in each tri-pod section till you have them all placed. This spiral pattern will lock the poles together and make a stronger tipi.

 

Be sure to leave space for a door on one of the sides!

Poles are placed 10-12 inches apart.

Here's the tipi's top after all the poles have been placed:

Plant the beans about 4-5 inches apart, in between the tipi poles. Beans are a large seed so you don't have to groom the soil as much as for small seeds.

These bean plants are about 8-weeks old.

Beans hang down inside the tipi for easy harvesting.

Here's another way to use tipis. We grew a bush-variety of Delicata squash in their centers, nasturtium flowers at their doors and sunflowers behind.  It made for a beautiful edge along the north side of our garden.

 

Setting up the tipis

Early in the season.

Plants fully mature.

Thanks for following along on our garden adventure! We love to read your comments. Please consider leaving one below so others can share.

Why growing sunflowers is great for bees...

...and how to grow and process sunflowers for birdseed and sprouts.

Sunflower Pollen - Pro-"bee"-otics for Bees!

This is a post about the varieties of sunflowers we choose to grow, how we grow them and process them for winter use.
 
In reading an issue of National Wildlife recently, we came across an article about the health benefits to bees of sunflower pollen. With populations of many bees on the decline, they need all the help they can get! Apparently sunflower pollen reduces the infections of some varieties of bees from two widespread parasites. Previous research had "linked both types of parasites with slower colony growth and greater mortality rates". Scientists compared the effects of sunflower pollen with pollen from different types of flowers and "none of the other pollen had the same effect".

But, "while sunflower pollen may provide (the above mentioned) medicinal benefits, it is low in protein and some amino acids," say researchers in Scientific Reports. They conclude that sunflowers should be supplements rather than the main source of the insect's diet. "Bees do best," the scientists point out, "when they have access to a variety of flowers". *Source below.

Sunflowers are also powerful bioremediators, meaning they can absorb and accumulate heavy metals and toxins from the soil, effectively detoxifying it! IN the following article it is noted that, "after both the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear incidents, sunflower fields were planted across the affected areas in an effort to absorb radiation, then were harvested and disposed of safely." Cool, huh!? (LINK:U.Va. Undergraduate Researcher Studies Sunflowers’ Power to Clean Up Soil)

A border-row of Mammoth Russian sunflowers.

Sunflowers are one of our favorites. They're beautiful and easy to grow. They provide wonderful pollen for insects and home-grown bird-seed for our feathered friends. And, the seeds can be used to grow delicious, nutritious sprouts for winter greens.

Planting Sunflowers - direct seeding: Sunflowers can be directly sown, a few weeks before the expected last hard freeze (a light frost won't bother them). Push them into soil about 1/2" - 1" deep. If you have jays or crows in your neighborhood, you might need to cover the starts with row-cloth or some other protector until they're rooted as birds do love the seeds and, if they watch you planting, they may wait till you're not looking and dig them up (we've had this happen to us in the past). In order to avoid this problem, we usually start our sunflowers in pots and transplant later.

We've had young children help us plant large patches of sunflowers. It's a fun garden activity that's hard to get wrong. You may need to thin out your patch after they germinate so each plant has enough room to grow (3'- 4' between each plant on the tall varieties!).

Planting Sunflowers - transplanting from pots: We usually start our sunflowers in pots and transplant them out. This way they can have a strong head start. We plant two seeds in each 3" pot, at opposite corners and, after they germinate, either pinch one off, or carefully re-pot them so there's just one plant in each pot. Plant seeds about 1/2" deep. If you're going to divide and re-pot, don't wait too long as sunflowers have extensive root-systems and you risk damaging the plant if the two starts' roots become intertwined. Keep plants in a place protected from wind and full sun for a few days while they adjust to their new pots.

When you are ready to transplant outside, put plants outside your greenhouse for 5-10 days so plants are "hardened-off by exposure to wind and cooler nights before you put them in the ground.

Plant 'starts' in the greenhouse. Zucchini plants in foreground.

The tall varieties of sunflowers we grow need full-sun, wide spacing (3'-4' between each plant!) strong staking - so they don't fall over and shouldn't be over-watered.

Placement: If you plant a whole row of them, keep in mind that they will shade smaller plants, and block overhead sprinklers for watering. We almost always plant ours along the edges of garden beds so they get watered along with our other crops.

Watering: Sunflowers, if planted early enough that they can follow the water-table downwards through the summer, they can do well without much supplemental watering. Beware of over-watering as they can grow too fast, get top-heavy and fall over.

Staking: The tall varieties of sunflowers will almost certainly need staking.

Sometimes we'll drive an individual stake in the ground next to them; a 4'-6' metal stake is best. Drive it deep into the ground. Tie sunflowers to stakes with cotton strips.

Sometimes we'll erect a bamboo tri-pod , stake it and tie two, to three sunflowers to each one.

We've also grown sunflowers in long rows between tall stakes with heavy wire run between them. Attach wires at 3' and 6' heights and tie sunflowers to them with cotton strips.

Sunflowers can also be tied to fences with cotton strips to keep them from toppling.

This is a trellis we made by stretching strong wire between two fence posts. Here, Cindy is tying up bamboo poles to trellis bean-plants but this same kind of trellis would work for a row of sunflowers. For sunflowers, stretch two wires; one at about three-feet above the ground, and the other at about 6'. Tie plants to wires with cotton strips.

A bean-tipi (with scarlet-runner beans) and Mammoth Russian sunflowers growing beside it. They are each tied to a separate 4-foot wooden stake.

Varieties of sunflowers we like: Most years we just grow two varieties of sunflowers: Mammoth Russians and Autumn Beauties. The Mammoth Russians make good bird-seed for bluejays and other large seed-eating birds, and they are also great for growing sprouts, a delicious and nutritious source of winter "greens" (LINK to post on growing sunflowers sprouts). They can get extremely large (10' or higher) and will usually require staking so they don't topple in the wind when their heads are heavy with seed.

Mammoth Russian sunflowers can grow huge! You can see why it's important to stake them so the don't fall over when they're heads are full of ripe seeds.

Autumn Beauties also make great bird-seed for smaller seed-eaters and their range of colors from yellow through orange to a russet-brown make a beautiful border "hedge". They have many heads on one plant that ripen over the course of the season and though their individual flower-heads are quite a bit smaller than Mammoth Russians (6" vs 12" - or more) the plants themselves can get as tall as the Mammoths and will also require staking. They too need three to four feet between each plant. Autumn Beauties also make great cut flowers if you have a heavy, deep vase but beware, they drop a lot of yellow pollen on whatever surface they rest upon.

Autumn Beauty sunflowers...So beautiful against a blue, autumn sky! A favorite for bees and birds alike.

Saving seed: Sunflowers easily cross pollinate. If you want to save seed to plant next year's sunflowers, be aware that they are quite prone to cross-pollinating with other varieties. So, if you were to grow both Mammoth Russians and Autumn Beauties nearby to each other, the seed you save would have a high probability of being a mix of the two varieties. Though we've had good luck with growing pure Mammoth Russian seed, the Autumn Beauties (even if they don't cross with other varieties) tend to become less colorful with each generation. For these reasons, we usually just buy fresh seed each year.

When to harvest seed: If you're just growing the flowers for their beauty and you don't care about saving the seed, you can leave them standing for as long as you like, well into the winter. Birds enjoy them for winter perches and will happily eat the seeds right off the heads. But, if you wish to save seed to feed them later in the winter when natural forage is harder to find, here's how to do it:

Processing the seed: As autumn approaches, it is important to regularly monitor the ripeness of the seed. Sunflowers ripen from the edges in towards the center. Periodically pull a seed out and crack it open to see if the seed inside is fully formed. Notice if the birds are starting to eat them. If the birds are starting to eat them but they're still not ripe most of the way to the center, we sometimes cover the heads with a paper sack or a mesh onion-bag.The onion-bag is preferable because it allows the pollinators to continue to have access to the less-ripe seeds and more of them will be pollinated.

Onion-bags are great to protect seeds you're saving from being eaten by wild-life, or fruit from being harvested before the seeds are ripe. (Pictured: green-peppers ripening for seed).

Processing Autumn Beauties: Once the seeds are ripe, we cut the heads off and lay them on shelves in our greenhouse and turn them up-side-down or cover them with screens (to keep the birds from getting to them). We leave the Autumn Beauty heads to dry completely without removing the seeds. Then, over the course of the winter we place the dried heads outside for the birds to enjoy.

Llyn, laying Autumn Beauty sunflower heads face-down (to protect from birds) to dry.

Processing Mammoth Russians: The Mammoth Russian seeds we remove right away. This is easier to do before the heads dry. Remove the ripe seeds by rubbing them free with your thumbs. We usually use gloves as it can be a bit rough on the thumbs!

To remove seeds from head, use your thumbs to rub them into a tray.

Another reason to process the seed soon after harvest is that the seeds can mold due to the high moisture content of the flower heads. If it will be awhile before we can process them, we often cut off the fleshy backs of the flowers heads. By the way, this is a very relaxing process and a favorite autumn task for share-givers (volunteers) to enjoy while sitting around in the shade at the end of a busy morning out in the gardens.

Processing sunflower seeds is a favorite autumn task. (Crates of Delicata squash in the background.)

Even young people enjoy this quiet meditative task.

The Mammoth Russian seeds will almost certainly need more drying after they've been removed from the flower head. Be sure they are thoroughly dry before storage or they will mold and be ruined. Small quantities can be dried in a food-dehydrator. If the air is not too humid in your greenhouse at time of harvest, spread the seeds on screens or in shallow card-board boxes but be sure to protect them from birds and rodents while they dry with screens on top too. We've also put the seeds into shallow baskets and dried them on shelves above our wood-stove.

Feeding the birds: Autumn Beauties: Just put whole heads out on your table-feeders, or string them on a wire between two posts or trees.

Mammoth Russians: We buy millet in the bulk-food section and mix it with the sunflower seeds and put it on a table-feeder or directly on the ground.

Chickadees love sunflower seeds!
(Photo credit: www.wallpaperup.com/45606/sunflowers_1920x1200_wallpaper_Animals_Birds)

Growing your own sprouts: Here is a post we wrote about growing your own sunflower sprouts.

Sunflower sprouts for winter "greens". You'll need a sunny window or greenhouse but their delicious, sweet, nutty taste and high nutrient-content are worth it!

Herbicide contamination: Sunflowers are very susceptible to certain herbicides (see our post about herbicide contamination from un-composted horse manure).

Hopefully this post will inspire you to add some sunflowers to your summer garden. These glorious plants have given us much pleasure and they're sure to please you too! 

 

Though this farmer in Scotland is growing sunflowers too far north for them to set seed, his 250,000 plants must produce an incredible source of food for all the pollinators in his area! LINK: Farmer Creates Massive Sunflower Trail Growing 250,000 in a Pattern Out in His Fields

* Source: National Wildlife - Feb/March 2019, p 8.