Sunflowers

Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers on the farmstead. I purchased a heritage variety from an online Ontario seed company. They weren't kidding when they said they would reach 10 feet. This year they reached the roof line of our house!

They were the talk of the farmers along our Line. I'm always amazed at how such a tiny seed can grow so massive. Bees LOVE these sunflowers as do the birds once they go to seed. Sometimes the bees get so tired you will find them attached to the flowers, dead from exhaustion. It kinda freaked me out the first time I saw them all, but that's the life of a working bee.  You can harvest the seeds for personal use or they can be used to supplement your chicken feed. Harvesting I have learned over the past few years is extremely important. If you don't do it correctly all of your seeds will mold and go to waste. 

Sunflowers are ready to harvest around the end of September. When the heads begin to droop and the majority of petals have fallen it is time to cut the flower heads off. As the flowers are so high it is best to cut the stalk halfway up with a hack saw. I removed the leaves and compost, the stalks are so thick we bring them to the local Municipal yard for them to chip up. You can also pile them to dry out and burn them if you wish. Leave a few stalks up with the flower heads and the birds will feast on them while they are on their migration south. 

You can dry the seeds in a few ways. Some people leave about a foot of stalk, tie twine around it and hang from garage rafters. I don't have enough room in our garage, nor do we have a large barn. If you leave them outside to the elements they will rot. I leave them on my front porch that is covered. I've tried drying them in the house but the smell of sunflowers is brutal. Trust me, you don't want the smell of drying sunflowers or the tiny bugs flying around your house. If you look closely you will notice that the sunflowers are made up of many flowers. The ray flowers are the larger petals around the disk. The disk itself is made up of many little flowers and where the seeds form.

By rubbing the surface of the sunflower disk you can remove the leftover bud. I rubbed them off over the wheelbarrow and composted it all. Wear gloves if you don't want to have black fingers. Allow them to dry for about 1 week. If you wait longer than that the sunflower base will start to go mushy and the heads will begin to mold. The reason you don't remove the seeds right away is that if you do that before they start to dry out they are almost frustratingly impossible to remove.  

Remove the seeds from the disk within a week of harvesting. Allow to dry out on an old bed sheet outside. Flipping the seeds everyday. It will take about another week for them to be completely dry. Store in burlap or paper bags not plastic. Plastic tends to retain any moisture and will ruin your full batch. 

Plant the seeds in the Springtime after chance of the first frost is over. Plant each seed 3 feet apart in well drained soil in full sun. Sunflowers can take pretty crappy soil conditions but full sun is a must. You can always plant a few extra as the squirrels tend to love the yummy green leaves when they first come up.