Originally published at: So many dwarf sunflower seedlings | Boing Boing
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Get those mammoths in the ground asap. Sunflowers do tap roots and the mammoth flowers won’t grow mammoth if the tap root is blocked by a pot, even if just for a bit. I sow sunflowers directly into the ground for that reason. I also sow all the seeds because we have rabbits who love to eat the seedlings. If I get 30 seedlings, I might have 5 flowers in the end.
Sunflowers are good for bees. The pollen helps keep them healthy. If you have more places to plant, like a long a fence, do it! Sunflower pollen has medicinal, protective effects on bees -- ScienceDaily
ETA I don’t begrudge the bunnies the seedlings. I just want a few flowers for myself and the native bees
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Two of the three are now in their forever homes.
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Dang, missed out again. Mondays suck…
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This reminds me that i need to figure out what i want to grow from a seedling this year. Last year i went a bit overboard with pepper seeds, they struggled with the winter here in TX but i’m hoping they’ll bounce back. I might see if i can do a small tomato plant but i might get randomly obsessed with something else
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Ran off to the garden store for potting soil, pot, and more plants. Brought home strawberries, tomatoes and tomatillos.
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Corn and sunflowers are not really transplantable. They grow really fast so just wait till the ground is warmed up and stick the in the dirt. I live in Illinois and I can attest that neither sunflowers or corn need transplanting. You will probably wind up with a lot of badly damaged plants.
Transplanting tomatoes and peppers work because they are finicky about soil temperature and are very slow to germinate unlike corn and sunflowers.
Gardening is a great way to introduce your child to nature and the food supply.
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I have many bird feeders and squirrels who love to stash seeds in every flower pot and all over the lawn. I have found that you can transport sunflower seedlings while they are at the two petal stage with a 80%ish success rate and a two inch plant with about a 50% success rate. I never have to plant the seeds, just transport the tiny plants to along the fence so I can use the pots for other plants. Keeping sunflowers in a pot tends to make a spindly gerber daisy size flower with little to no seeds.
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How about thai peppers (somehow that’s a specific generic) or enough rosemary to surprise people when they find tofu or whatever wrapped up in it? …then let me know how you did it? #plantingInSand #plantfeedingregimens #grownweedyunderthesolarlanai
…And those cardboard or plastic rings around seedlings to stop cutworms, and little plastic ‘teeth’ to prevent squirrel grazing, don’t have to be all that precisely set.
But I haven’t gotten it to work w. carrots yet. Wish me sensibility?
I have a bunch of large metal cans like gallon size with both ends removed. I put them into the dirt around my transplants it stops cutworms and keeps water concentrated around the roots. They are really good for fertilizer that’s dissolved in water. I leave the cans all summer. Tomatoes and peppers really love the cans. Nothing stops squirrels except dogs and guns.
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