🌻🌻🌻🌻 The green leafes are edible, the flower petals can be dried to make tea, the inner pulb of the sunflowers stalks can be scooped out and dried, for a quality gluten-free gourmet pastry flour. The dry stalks can be used as kindling for fire. 🔥
Hi! I'm French I'm 50 old and I remember that when I was young every places people grew fruits and vegetables you would find a few sunflowers...now I understand why! Old and healthy way...
I amended an 8x4 mostly empty bed with compost and raised bed soil for fall planting. Plants started coming up and my pant ID said they were sunflowers! They bloomed beautifully, about 2-3 feet high. I like to think they are a gift from my mother who passed in May. P.S. The bees love them!
Bonus points! The stem is extremely useful. It has two separate parts that have numerous uses, each. First, there's this foam-like white inner pith that has uses including, but not limited to: 1. Putting in the sun/in a dehydrator/etc. until completely dried out, then grinding into a fine powder, which can then be used to replace flour in a number of cooking uses, or extend the flour you have. 2. Putting into a tin that can be sealed air tight (but with venting holes on the top) and putting it into low flames until it starts to smoke, then into higher flames until the smoking stops. This creates biochar that has all sorts of uses, not the least of which being, an extremely useful fire starting material. 3. Feeding to livestock. Second, there's a very wood-like outer shell that has uses including, but not limited to: 1. Cutting into varying shapes for use in building trellises and other structures around your land. Use your imagination, the possibilities are limitless! 2. Burning as fuel for fire. 3. Chopping into chips to use as mulch. Of course, both parts also always have the option of just composting them, but still. XD
Nowhere near too much yet, but, really CARBON belongs in the soil! Nature told us that, but we didn't listen. Some of us, like yourself, are doing that. Cheers all!
I planted a bunch for the wildlife in a weedy field and of course...zero rain...again. We just had our first real rain since June on August 30-31. I bought a bunch of Sunchoke tubers to plant in the area last spring. Massive drought and record heatwave killed them all. My soil is hard packed sandy red clay with gravel layers so I`ve been building soil from creek sand, grass clippings and forest debris for 2 years since moving here which requires daily or nightly trips into the forest all year long with a bucket, garden wagon, rake, shovel and saw to cut roots. My daily chore is never skipped unless my back hurts too bad to walk. My garden is constantly improving and expanding. I`ve started putting the sand/debris mixture in cardboard boxes with pieces of rotting wood and green grass clippings in the bottom and planting something immediately to convert the old driveway where grass can`t grow on one side of the yard into a garden. I add a handful of rich soil from my garden to the center of the box to activate the new mix. It works. I put a cherry tomato cutting in one and it thrived. I tie one wrap of hemp twine around the box to hold the shape and later I put sections of small rotting logs around the box and then cover with the sand mix. It creates something similar to a raised bed or row if the boxes are placed in a line. My lot was once a hill about 12 feet taller than current ground level and was bulldozed then whoever lived here covered the clay with large gravel. I used a mining pick to plant over a dozen fruit trees then began adding the same forest debris, grass clippings, cardboard and creek sand around those creating mounds. Mushrooms sprout in the soil I create. I transplanted turnips to a mound in my garden then added small amounts of lime dust and bone meal and a small amount of organic fertilizer with 20 microbes in test areas until I found the right blend for tubers, greens and other vegetables/melons.
I’m growing Russian mammoth sunflowers for the first time this year, they’re just now flowering from a late planting. The stalks are about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and twelve + feet tall with massive flowers. I typically grow a multi flower decorative type, and have black oilseed come up volunteer from using chicken run compost in my gardens, but the goldfinch typically pick out every single seed before they mature. I’ll probably have to bag the seed heads once the blooms fade to get seeds.
As a reminder to everyone: during the growing season sunflowers are very heavy feeders so if you plant them along other plants make sure those other plants occupy a different root zone than the sunflowers.
I was going to write the same. Sunflowers are probably the heaviest feeders of them all. I have some cabbages planted to a reasonable distance and the closest ones just won't grow, and the rest get larger as the distance increases. Same soil, same sun exposure.
@@mamarrachopunpun There is something else going on. Sunflowers use and grow Mycorrhizal fungi to bring in plant available nutrients and cabbage does not. Some Cabbages does not like high fungi soil
I can't believe how amazing mine are doing. We just broke ground on a new garden in April and we just seeded the whole thing with sunflowers. They are an amazing plant
My sunflower patch seeded itself from a bird feeder. I started spreading them around where I wanted them and pull up sprouts from pathways. The thinnings are feed to my chickens. Me green house now has a ring of sunflowers around it. The weather is hot by the time they get tall. This shades my green house. I’ve counted a dozen different pollinators and small birds utilizing their bounty.
Was just thinking about planting sunflowers as supplemental food for my chickens. It's great to know how much they'll help the soil too! I needed that extra information to help motivate me to go ahead and get them planted. Thank you for all of the information!!
Great vid. I love growing sunflowers but never knew their power in breaking up hard clay soil (which is most of California). Shall absolutely plant a ton of them next season. Thank you!
Thank you for pointing out that 98% of bacteria & fungi are beneficial! I've always planted a few sunflowers so that the birds have a place to land while they scope out bugs in my garden. Next year, I will be sure to plant a larger number of them! Some of your people have mentioned using the inside of the stems for flour. That's a cool idea. I will have to try that too!
At frame 10:17, is that a giant bumblebee in the middle of that flower head? If it is, it's got to be one of the biggest ones I've ever seen! 😳😳😳 Cowpeas are a good companion plant for sunflowers. 🤗
Thank you for this!!!! Beautiful sun flowers!!!! Reminded me of my childhood at my grandmother's homestead where we also grew sun flowers in fields. At that time I didn't know it was to regenerate the soil but my grandparents knew. It was the most fun to walk through those fields. happy happy times!!!! I hope to tried them too, at my own homestead one day soon!!! God bless you for the lesson!!❤💚💛💜
Nice to know. My modest row of sunflowers (now 6'-10') along my front yard trellis also serve as a living trellis for my runner beans. #winwin :) They, along with my plethora of native plants in my front yard, bring smiles to passersby.
Thanks to you I believed I can grow at least something . And now I got ton of tomatoes 🍅 peppers , herbs , flowers growing in my backyard. Used only dried leaves from last year and that’s it !!!!!!!!! Thank you so much 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Those sunflowers look absolutely stunning 🌻
I grew several varieties this year and had some around 9-10’ tall. I have clay soil and also don’t irritate or fertilize. Before I started my vegetable garden I grew sunflowers and for a couple years and chopped and dropped them to break up the soil and build it up. I also have honey bees but I find that the bumble bees are crazy for them. Often there will be 3-4 on one flower head! And my grandchildren love to pick them!🐝 ❤
This makes me really happy because I just planted some sunflowers a few days ago! Now I feel good about it! I'm growing black oil sunflowers for the birds and squirrels to enjoy
Last time we had 2 inches of rain was in May. One more storm in early July. None since. Been 105 degrees avg since middle of July. 1 sun flower left. The storm blew the others down.
I lightly rototill the soil 1 inch deep. Then walk the field with a large chest worn seed hand spinner broadcaster. Then rototill again to cover them and mix in, Aways do this before a heavy rain storm. Reason to keep birds from eating them
Beautiful! I have dozens of sunflowers in my yard that I didn't even plant this year. I love the variety of red, orange, yellow and black. I just keep the heads for the birds in the winter. Plus the cats get some entertainment on the cold days
sunflowers are impressive, Im in arizona and planted my seeds in august during the wild month long heat wave. Only 3 seedlings survived the heat out of 15, but that's genuinely impressive with 20 days of 110+ weather, mine are already about to bloom and so I've planted a second round. I can grow them year round here apparently so I'm never running out of flowers.
I just found your channel a couple of days ago and I love it. I'm 61 and would love to stay at home garden and sell my product. I just don't know how to do it. You're such an inspiration. I begin with medicinal herbs and really don't know how to work the internet with selling and this year I started vegetables. My garden has flourished and I've tried not to use anything but everything all natural. Although I do have very bad clay soil
I'm from Kansas so I'm a sunflower gal! I grow as plain as variety as I can, I think those are better for pollinators than the fancy hybrids. I'll chip those pithy stalks for mulch or often reuse the stalk that following year for a tomato or vegetable support. The only negative is they seed out so prolifically in my residential yard. I tried to clip them after they've bloomed and the pollinators have eat them but before they had gets anywhere near maturity.
Thanks for the fresh ideas. And, thanks for helping spread the message on how awesome it is to cooperate instead of trying to push nature around. The field is beautiful.
Well done Mark. You are always great in whatever you are doing and the results speak for themselves. You are easy and very clear to understand. Just a great teacher. Extremely authentic and genuine person. God Bless
Mark, I feel like you didn't finish the story. So the sunflowers are up and look beautiful. You pulled up one stalk to reveal the root system. But, at the end of the season should I cut them down to ground level and let them rot, or let them stand and die naturally? My purpose is soil building, not selling the heads.
Sorry about that. Yes, cut them to ground level. Do not remove roots . They will let air and water into your soil and are also food for the living microbes also. Thanks.
Okay.. You cut them to the ground.. Do you add the plants to compost or back to the soil?? Please pin the original comment and your replies.. I watched this to see what you did Afterwards, as well. Thx for the video! 😊🌻
So glad to see another video, I sit on the edge of my chair phone in hand waiting for your wisdom haha nah not that bad but true so happy to see another video on soil building building. I put my life savings into buying a 12 acre property Australia, we love it but the soil has no life and is pretty sandy so I hang off your words of wisdom. Sorry to make this long. I'm a little confused on no dig method and planting cover crops. How do I plant a field of cover crops on no dig? So I've decided to dig then plant cover crops chop it down then play no dig on what I have built. Does this sound like a plan? Thank you in advance Mark from I am organic Tony from Australia G'day mate.
You can always till or loosen the soil to 1 inch deep so you seeds have contact with the soil . This way the birds do not eat them all. No till means to me not deeper then 1 inch..
@@iamorganicgardening thank you Mark I have sandy soil here and I dug in chickens bedding and goats bedding and rabbits bedding which had a lot of grey stripped sunflower seeds in it wich they didn't eat dug them in about 4 inches on 100 square metre garden bed and seen 2 worms only so not much happening in my soil. Did the same thing to another garden bed around 8 months ago now when I dig I find a few worms so maybe working, now trying cover crops thanks to your advice so a bit of what I've done and cover cropping sooner or later I should be doing OK well my soil will be. Thanks Mark
I actually got excited when I realized you were showing us the roots of the sunflower! I’m growing some multi-stem ones in my small backyard garden for the first time and wondered what the root system looked like.
Stunning 🌻🤩 I’m in nw Nevada desert… hot, dry with little rain. My garden area is well amended but out side of it .. sand. However I have random sunflowers that come up in just sand. I don’t water them & they do OK .. nothing to brag about like my garden 😊 👵🏻👩🌾❣️
Bravo........I use sea weed from ocean.......stinging nettle .........sun flowers grow 10 feet tap root......bee love ya..........sunflower honney.......cheers
I was wondering where you went but just realized that I didn't click on the bell icon to notify me of new videos. Now I can binge on all of the recent episodes I missed. Almost spring here in NSW Australia, but nice, sunny days here already. running late, as usual but plenty of time. I have stockpiled compost, ready to go. Been collecting things to grow for free & cheap. Community food bank is a great source of vegetables & fruit seeds!
I've been using sunflowers for years. Planted 4-5 years ago and they come back every year. I really like them in my Strawberry patch, they provide shade, and the birds poop meets the nutrient demand of the patch, with the added benefit of the birds keep the slugs away from the berries. Another place I like to use them is for ground cover on my park strip. Sure I have to go trim them back so the sidewalk is passable, but they are fairly drought tolerant, and despite being allergic to the plants and most the bees that feed on them, it does a world of good for the pollinators, and doesn't look half bad in the park strip.
They are magnificent. Grew the mammoth sunflowers last year. They are everything as you said except mine couldn’t support themselves well. I had to popped them up with strong support. There’s a bit of work to process the sunflower seeds which I happily donated to the local food bank.
They are a great soil builder, Just cut the stem down at ground level when the sunflower dies off, The old roots feed the soil microbes so they make plant available nutrients. YEAH, nature is AWESOME. Enjoy.
I have a few questions as I have never grown sunflowers before. 1. Did you just spread sunflower seeds in that large area without any tilling in your field in early spring and the end result is what you showed in this beautiful video? 2. Do you cut the sunflower plants at the ground level after cutting off the sunflowers leaving the roots in the soil? 3. What do you do with the sunflower plants after the sunflowers are cut off? 4. Would you sow sunflower seeds in the same area the next Spring and if so would you do any tilling of the soil beforehand?
1, I till 1 inch down early spring then spread seeds then rotor till once again to bury. 2 , Yes, cut sunflower of at soil level when down, 3. cut then up with a large mower to 1 inch pieces 4 YES, just like answer #1
Sunflower is not one big flower with yellow petals. Every seed is produced from a separate floret. The yellow “petals” are a different kind of florets too.
It's mid summer here and I just filled a new raised garden bed with leaf mould, coffee grounds, seaweed and a few layers of soil. I'll plant some sunflowers in it for now and some peas in early autumn 👍
A few years ago I left sun sunflower heads on the table outside for the birds. Of course the squirrels got to them. Soon one of the squirrels figured out that there are more sunflower heads growing in the yard and proceeded to devastate every single one of them. I had to stop growing for a few years til that squirrel was out of the picture. This year the sunflowers are doing just fine!
Same with me. The squirrels ravaged the one sunflower plant I planted last year, so this year I planted 20. Early last month, eight wild Parrots flew in and munched on the heads of several sunflower plants. However, they left more than enough heads for the squirrels. 🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜🐿️🐿️🐿️
The tomatoes I replanted for the second season after following my sunflowers as you suggested several years ago and last season I believe they were less than 1/3 the work efforts and barely lost to my hardest method to raise tomatoes of the 6 method I tested in my garden mid Ohio clay base soil and 6a. Thanks Mark I'm with you Buddy
Thank you Mark! I've enjoyed and learned so much over the years. It was your video of sunflowers and strawberries in the round, raised bed that inspired Me to subscribe. 😃👍🖖-KJ
So nice of you, That was 6 years ago, THANK YOU for watching for all that time. I found what might be the answer to electric Culture under my microscope. In the next video.
New subscriber here Sir! Beautiful flowers doing beautiful work. I seem to remember reading somewhere that nibbling on sunflowers is really helpful if someone is stopping smoking. xx
Hi Mark, after cutting the stalks I assume I would leave the roots for a while, but how would you suggest I deal with planting the cash crop with all the huge roots and partial stems left there. Can you till them in? Other ideas?
I always have at least 6 huge ones in my small garden. Birds and bees love it and my hard clay soil is wet and nutrious i dont even have to feed them. I do have a couple differnt types, the rd brown ones and the bright yellows
Wow!! They are SO beautiful!!! I can't wait to plant these!!! I didn't know they were so useful!!! My friend's father grew them and people thought he was eccentric!!
i grow extra stuff for the animals the eat them, make it easy access to those specific plants the rest i make it take just SOME effort an it works out cus i guess they think "why would i go for that behine the fence and wire or trellis when this is right here already for me" fruit trees are a bit harder cus it takes a couple years so you cant just plant extra plants like that. but for peppers and tomatos it works
Great video! We try every year to do a small sunflower field in my yard and the groundhog that resides under my shed eats almost every seedling. How do you get the groundhogs to not eat them all?
Hi Mark! I started a raised garden bed with leaves this spring and planted sunflowers in it to try and get some roots to loosen my hard clay soil underneath. It did really well. The leaves as expected and you explained have shrunk down to half of the raised bed. Since I now have plenty of finished compost from summer grass clippings and the garden, can I put that on top of the leaves in the bed to fill it back up? Your input is so appreciated.
Oh, also, that stuff you brushed off of the seed heads? All those tiny little yellow petals? Brush them off in a way that lets you save them, and those-together with the larger petals all around the outside-can either be dried, then steeped in boiling water to make a kind of tea; or used to make an inexpensive yellow dye.
I planted Mamouth Sunflowers along the backyard fence this past spring before the chicks were hatched. They grew taller than my 12 foot quilt frame pole but most of the heads did not set seeds. I will try planting them a month earlier next year so be bees will have earlier food. I also grow broccoli and let it go to seed so the bees have a reason to visit. Thank you for the Sunflower info and Greeting from two planting seasons in South Louisiana.
Awesome video. I was planning on planting some sunflowers this year but I have hard clay and wasn't sure they would grow. Now after hearing your explanations, I think it will only improve the soil in my garden area. Definitely going to try it come spring.
Love your presentation! I started my small homestead last year, a couple of hundred sunflowers spread out in patches across around 3‘500 m2. I’m curious how you sow the seeds. I did it manually one by one. I want to plant way more next year. How would you suggest to do that?
I remember how on the widescreen TV a video popped up of a field of sunflowers. The hamster running on the wheel immediately stopped and went straight to the front of the cage where he could get the best view of it.
How do you protect your young sunflowers from birds and critters? Ive done quite a large patch and they ate everything. Thought about throwing some cover over it but its expensive
I have the same problem. I planted over 200 sunflower seeds this spring. Saved from previous years. I had to plant 3 different times because they kept getting eaten. Persistence, I finally got a great crop. Good luck!
birds leave my row of sunflowers alone bcz I have a bird feeder filled with hulled sunflower seeds I buy in bulk. I was wondering why the birds aren't touching the sunflower plant, then it dawned on me it's easier to eat from the feeder! I provide birdseed year round. Some of them like to eat the leaves!
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
🌻🌻🌻🌻 The green leafes are edible, the flower petals can be dried to make tea, the inner pulb of the sunflowers stalks can be scooped out and dried, for a quality gluten-free gourmet pastry flour. The dry stalks can be used as kindling for fire. 🔥
Really!!! I never knew!!! Thanks!!!
Wow!
Hi! I'm French I'm 50 old and I remember that when I was young every places people grew fruits and vegetables you would find a few sunflowers...now I understand why! Old and healthy way...
THANK YOU for sharing
I amended an 8x4 mostly empty bed with compost and raised bed soil for fall planting. Plants started coming up and my pant ID said they were sunflowers! They bloomed beautifully, about 2-3 feet high. I like to think they are a gift from my mother who passed in May. P.S. The bees love them!
Sending you a cyber-hug. Blessings to You and Yours! Thanks for sharing.
@@lilyrose4191 Thank you!
🙂@@nysigal
Totally agree. Sunflowers are our easiest plant to grow and the chickens absolutely love them. Awesome channel!
Thanks so much!
Did I miss how you planted these? Do you have a tractor with a plow? Brush hog them down at the end of the year.
Bonus points! The stem is extremely useful. It has two separate parts that have numerous uses, each.
First, there's this foam-like white inner pith that has uses including, but not limited to:
1. Putting in the sun/in a dehydrator/etc. until completely dried out, then grinding into a fine powder, which can then be used to replace flour in a number of cooking uses, or extend the flour you have.
2. Putting into a tin that can be sealed air tight (but with venting holes on the top) and putting it into low flames until it starts to smoke, then into higher flames until the smoking stops. This creates biochar that has all sorts of uses, not the least of which being, an extremely useful fire starting material.
3. Feeding to livestock.
Second, there's a very wood-like outer shell that has uses including, but not limited to:
1. Cutting into varying shapes for use in building trellises and other structures around your land. Use your imagination, the possibilities are limitless!
2. Burning as fuel for fire.
3. Chopping into chips to use as mulch.
Of course, both parts also always have the option of just composting them, but still. XD
THANK YOU for this helpful advice.
Yes, CO2 is not a bad thing. It's just plant food! Your love and amazement at the wonder of the living soil is infectious! 😊
Absolutely!! not bad . Just to much is. Thanks
Nowhere near too much yet, but, really CARBON belongs in the soil! Nature told us that, but we didn't listen. Some of us, like yourself, are doing that. Cheers all!
This city girl is jumping up and down with joy with what she just learned. thank you sharing, sharing and sharing some more.
My pleasure to share, THANK YOU.
Hallelujah, we have around 200 so glad to have a multi fold purpose🌻
GREAT to hear, Thanks
I planted a bunch for the wildlife in a weedy field and of course...zero rain...again. We just had our first real rain since June on August 30-31. I bought a bunch of Sunchoke tubers to plant in the area last spring. Massive drought and record heatwave killed them all. My soil is hard packed sandy red clay with gravel layers so I`ve been building soil from creek sand, grass clippings and forest debris for 2 years since moving here which requires daily or nightly trips into the forest all year long with a bucket, garden wagon, rake, shovel and saw to cut roots.
My daily chore is never skipped unless my back hurts too bad to walk. My garden is constantly improving and expanding. I`ve started putting the sand/debris mixture in cardboard boxes with pieces of rotting wood and green grass clippings in the bottom and planting something immediately to convert the old driveway where grass can`t grow on one side of the yard into a garden.
I add a handful of rich soil from my garden to the center of the box to activate the new mix. It works. I put a cherry tomato cutting in one and it thrived. I tie one wrap of hemp twine around the box to hold the shape and later I put sections of small rotting logs around the box and then cover with the sand mix. It creates something similar to a raised bed or row if the boxes are placed in a line.
My lot was once a hill about 12 feet taller than current ground level and was bulldozed then whoever lived here covered the clay with large gravel. I used a mining pick to plant over a dozen fruit trees then began adding the same forest debris, grass clippings, cardboard and creek sand around those creating mounds. Mushrooms sprout in the soil I create. I transplanted turnips to a mound in my garden then added small amounts of lime dust and bone meal and a small amount of organic fertilizer with 20 microbes in test areas until I found the right blend for tubers, greens and other vegetables/melons.
I’m growing Russian mammoth sunflowers for the first time this year, they’re just now flowering from a late planting. The stalks are about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and twelve + feet tall with massive flowers. I typically grow a multi flower decorative type, and have black oilseed come up volunteer from using chicken run compost in my gardens, but the goldfinch typically pick out every single seed before they mature. I’ll probably have to bag the seed heads once the blooms fade to get seeds.
As a reminder to everyone: during the growing season sunflowers are very heavy feeders so if you plant them along other plants make sure those other plants occupy a different root zone than the sunflowers.
Thank you, I didn't know that.
Here is a video showing that is not true but helps. Click on this link ua-cam.com/video/X3P3uCOXhhY/v-deo.html
I was going to write the same. Sunflowers are probably the heaviest feeders of them all. I have some cabbages planted to a reasonable distance and the closest ones just won't grow, and the rest get larger as the distance increases. Same soil, same sun exposure.
@@mamarrachopunpun There is something else going on. Sunflowers use and grow Mycorrhizal fungi to bring in plant available nutrients and cabbage does not. Some Cabbages does not like high fungi soil
Thankyou for the info. Great video
Happy holiday America.
I can't believe how amazing mine are doing. We just broke ground on a new garden in April and we just seeded the whole thing with sunflowers. They are an amazing plant
My sunflower patch seeded itself from a bird feeder. I started spreading them around where I wanted them and pull up sprouts from pathways. The thinnings are feed to my chickens. Me green house now has a ring of sunflowers around it. The weather is hot by the time they get tall. This shades my green house. I’ve counted a dozen different pollinators and small birds utilizing their bounty.
Good point. Our pollinators need all the support we can help with. Especially bees and butterflies!
Amazing how it all works together.
Was just thinking about planting sunflowers as supplemental food for my chickens. It's great to know how much they'll help the soil too! I needed that extra information to help motivate me to go ahead and get them planted. Thank you for all of the information!!
Glad it was helpful. You can do it. Thanks
I hope you are OK. I love your videos and I miss you! You are so positive and encouraging to gardeners like me! Love you!
Great vid. I love growing sunflowers but never knew their power in breaking up hard clay soil (which is most of California). Shall absolutely plant a ton of them next season. Thank you!
Ty! We have alot of clay soil. We really needed help...sunflowers are beautiful!
Yay!👏🏻Happy to see you back Mark!
Yay, thank you!
Thank you for pointing out that 98% of bacteria & fungi are beneficial!
I've always planted a few sunflowers so that the birds have a place to land while they scope out bugs in my garden.
Next year, I will be sure to plant a larger number of them!
Some of your people have mentioned using the inside of the stems for flour. That's a cool idea. I will have to try that too!
At frame 10:17, is that a giant bumblebee in the middle of that flower head? If it is, it's got to be one of the biggest ones I've ever seen! 😳😳😳
Cowpeas are a good companion plant for sunflowers. 🤗
Orioles love them. Blue and yellow. They bring in soo many more types of birds. Makeing your home a very diverse eco system.
Thank you for this!!!! Beautiful sun flowers!!!! Reminded me of my childhood at my grandmother's homestead where we also grew sun flowers in fields. At that time I didn't know it was to regenerate the soil but my grandparents knew. It was the most fun to walk through those fields. happy happy times!!!! I hope to tried them too, at my own homestead one day soon!!! God bless you for the lesson!!❤💚💛💜
Nice to know. My modest row of sunflowers (now 6'-10') along my front yard trellis also serve as a living trellis for my runner beans. #winwin :)
They, along with my plethora of native plants in my front yard, bring smiles to passersby.
This year, I have cucumbers trellising up my Mammoth sunflowers! I have a row of 22 sunflowers this year... my most ever!
Beautiful sunflowers!! I find Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) make amazing soil very quickly too!! 🌻
Yes they do, Thanks for sharing.
I absolutely love this video! I let my mammoth sunflowers grow wherever they want in my gardens and I'm always in amazement with them.
VERY NICE, Enjoy
Thanks to you I believed I can grow at least something . And now I got ton of tomatoes 🍅 peppers , herbs , flowers growing in my backyard. Used only dried leaves from last year and that’s it !!!!!!!!! Thank you so much 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Those sunflowers look absolutely stunning 🌻
Wonderful! You can do it. Thanks
Guy talks all about sunflowers! I love it. I appreciate your voice & enthusiasm. Thank you~😄💕
I grew several varieties this year and had some around 9-10’ tall. I have clay soil and also don’t irritate or fertilize. Before I started my vegetable garden I grew sunflowers and for a couple years and chopped and dropped them to break up the soil and build it up. I also have honey bees but I find that the bumble bees are crazy for them. Often there will be 3-4 on one flower head! And my grandchildren love to pick them!🐝 ❤
This makes me really happy because I just planted some sunflowers a few days ago! Now I feel good about it!
I'm growing black oil sunflowers for the birds and squirrels to enjoy
Great to Hear, Thanks
Last time we had 2 inches of rain was in May. One more storm in early July. None since. Been 105 degrees avg since middle of July. 1 sun flower left. The storm blew the others down.
Sorry to hear that....
Do you direct sow the seeds for a sunflower field of this size? If so, how many seeds would one need to sow for a patch this size?
I lightly rototill the soil 1 inch deep. Then walk the field with a large chest worn seed hand spinner broadcaster. Then rototill again to cover them and mix in, Aways do this before a heavy rain storm. Reason to keep birds from eating them
I grew Skyscraper sunflowers this year. It was a cool wet summer in Fairbanks, Alaska, but my tallest is 12 feet with leaves 2 feet across.
Wow.......I had no idea that this flower was such a powerhouse......we need good soil.
You are so correct, Enjoy.
I've been thinking about planting some sunflowers to feed to my chickens. You've convinced me. It's on the top of my to do list for next year.
Wonderful!. And your chickens will be happy.
Thank you, I will definitely be planting sunflowers next year to brighten my garden.
Wonderful! Enjoy
I bet the deer love them too! Never knew that about sunflowers ! Planting them next year for sure!
They do. That is why I spent 15 thousand $ for a 8 foot deer fence around my farm. Thanks
Beautiful! I have dozens of sunflowers in my yard that I didn't even plant this year. I love the variety of red, orange, yellow and black. I just keep the heads for the birds in the winter. Plus the cats get some entertainment on the cold days
sunflowers are impressive, Im in arizona and planted my seeds in august during the wild month long heat wave. Only 3 seedlings survived the heat out of 15, but that's genuinely impressive with 20 days of 110+ weather, mine are already about to bloom and so I've planted a second round. I can grow them year round here apparently so I'm never running out of flowers.
I just found your channel a couple of days ago and I love it. I'm 61 and would love to stay at home garden and sell my product. I just don't know how to do it. You're such an inspiration. I begin with medicinal herbs and really don't know how to work the internet with selling and this year I started vegetables. My garden has flourished and I've tried not to use anything but everything all natural. Although I do have very bad clay soil
I'm from Kansas so I'm a sunflower gal! I grow as plain as variety as I can, I think those are better for pollinators than the fancy hybrids. I'll chip those pithy stalks for mulch or often reuse the stalk that following year for a tomato or vegetable support. The only negative is they seed out so prolifically in my residential yard. I tried to clip them after they've bloomed and the pollinators have eat them but before they had gets anywhere near maturity.
Thanks for the fresh ideas. And, thanks for helping spread the message on how awesome it is to cooperate instead of trying to push nature around. The field is beautiful.
Well done Mark. You are always great in whatever you are doing and the results speak for themselves. You are easy and very clear to understand. Just a great teacher. Extremely authentic and genuine person. God Bless
Many THANKS . Glad to share with you all.
Mark, I feel like you didn't finish the story. So the sunflowers are up and look beautiful. You pulled up one stalk to reveal the root system. But, at the end of
the season should I cut them down to ground level and let them rot, or let them stand and die naturally? My purpose is soil building, not selling the heads.
Sorry about that. Yes, cut them to ground level. Do not remove roots . They will let air and water into your soil and are also food for the living microbes also. Thanks.
@@iamorganicgardeningWhat do you do with the stalks?
@@KayAteChefcan compost, or use to make a "bee hotel", or break up and use as mulch. All roads lead to Rome, so to speak.
I use the stalks to wind up the spider webs that grace the house exterior.
Okay.. You cut them to the ground..
Do you add the plants to compost or back to the soil??
Please pin the original comment and your replies..
I watched this to see what you did Afterwards, as well.
Thx for the video! 😊🌻
So glad to see another video, I sit on the edge of my chair phone in hand waiting for your wisdom haha nah not that bad but true so happy to see another video on soil building building. I put my life savings into buying a 12 acre property Australia, we love it but the soil has no life and is pretty sandy so I hang off your words of wisdom. Sorry to make this long. I'm a little confused on no dig method and planting cover crops. How do I plant a field of cover crops on no dig? So I've decided to dig then plant cover crops chop it down then play no dig on what I have built. Does this sound like a plan? Thank you in advance Mark from I am organic
Tony from Australia G'day mate.
What State ,NSW? Aussies should have a no dig garden forum.
@@margaretraumer9068 yes near picton nsw
You can always till or loosen the soil to 1 inch deep so you seeds have contact with the soil . This way the birds do not eat them all. No till means to me not deeper then 1 inch..
@@iamorganicgardening thank you Mark I have sandy soil here and I dug in chickens bedding and goats bedding and rabbits bedding which had a lot of grey stripped sunflower seeds in it wich they didn't eat dug them in about 4 inches on 100 square metre garden bed and seen 2 worms only so not much happening in my soil. Did the same thing to another garden bed around 8 months ago now when I dig I find a few worms so maybe working, now trying cover crops thanks to your advice so a bit of what I've done and cover cropping sooner or later I should be doing OK well my soil will be. Thanks Mark
At the end of the season what do you do with the plants? Do you have to knock them down to prepare the ground for the next year?
Fungi in all bird poo... Great to know what makes the world go round.
Feeding the soil does great for watermelon too! Thanks Mark ‼️
They are the air shipment team.
I actually got excited when I realized you were showing us the roots of the sunflower! I’m growing some multi-stem ones in my small backyard garden for the first time and wondered what the root system looked like.
When the sunflower is done, just cut the stem of at ground level and leave the roots in the ground to die off.
Stunning 🌻🤩 I’m in nw Nevada desert… hot, dry with little rain. My garden area is well amended but out side of it .. sand. However I have random sunflowers that come up in just sand. I don’t water them & they do OK .. nothing to brag about like my garden 😊 👵🏻👩🌾❣️
GREAT, they are such great plants to grow in all types of soil and weather. THANK YOU for sharing
Bravo........I use sea weed from ocean.......stinging nettle .........sun flowers grow 10 feet tap root......bee love ya..........sunflower honney.......cheers
That is so GREAT to hear. THANK YOU.
I was wondering where you went but just realized that I didn't click on the bell icon to notify me of new videos. Now I can binge on all of the recent episodes I missed. Almost spring here in NSW Australia, but nice, sunny days here already. running late, as usual but plenty of time. I have stockpiled compost, ready to go. Been collecting things to grow for free & cheap. Community food bank is a great source of vegetables & fruit seeds!
We are from NSW too Austral, are you close ?
I've been using sunflowers for years. Planted 4-5 years ago and they come back every year.
I really like them in my Strawberry patch, they provide shade, and the birds poop meets the nutrient demand of the patch, with the added benefit of the birds keep the slugs away from the berries.
Another place I like to use them is for ground cover on my park strip. Sure I have to go trim them back so the sidewalk is passable, but they are fairly drought tolerant, and despite being allergic to the plants and most the bees that feed on them, it does a world of good for the pollinators, and doesn't look half bad in the park strip.
They are magnificent. Grew the mammoth sunflowers last year. They are everything as you said except mine couldn’t support themselves well. I had to popped them up with strong support. There’s a bit of work to process the sunflower seeds which I happily donated to the local food bank.
Great to her about your sunflowers an the seeds you Donate. FANTASTIC. Thanks
Rather than dispose of the long stems, split lengthways, scoop out the insides, dry, and crush between two flat stones and you have flour for cooking.
Or put in a blender.
I just grow them for pollinator attracting. Watching to see what other benefits they have.
They are a great soil builder, Just cut the stem down at ground level when the sunflower dies off, The old roots feed the soil microbes so they make plant available nutrients. YEAH, nature is AWESOME. Enjoy.
I have a few questions as I have never grown sunflowers before.
1. Did you just spread sunflower seeds in that large area without any tilling in your field in early spring and the end result is what you showed in this beautiful video?
2. Do you cut the sunflower plants at the ground level after cutting off the sunflowers leaving the roots in the soil?
3. What do you do with the sunflower plants after the sunflowers are cut off?
4. Would you sow sunflower seeds in the same area the next Spring and if so would you do any tilling of the soil beforehand?
1, I till 1 inch down early spring then spread seeds then rotor till once again to bury.
2 , Yes, cut sunflower of at soil level when down,
3. cut then up with a large mower to 1 inch pieces
4 YES, just like answer #1
Awesome video, thanks for all the info, definitely planting sunflowers next year.
Sunflower is not one big flower with yellow petals. Every seed is produced from a separate floret. The yellow “petals” are a different kind of florets too.
This is very true, Thanks
Thanks for the video, bro. Much love from the UK.
Glad you enjoyed it!
It's mid summer here and I just filled a new raised garden bed with leaf mould, coffee grounds, seaweed and a few layers of soil. I'll plant some sunflowers in it for now and some peas in early autumn 👍
That is so great. Enjoy
A few years ago I left sun sunflower heads on the table outside for the birds. Of course the squirrels got to them. Soon one of the squirrels figured out that there are more sunflower heads growing in the yard and proceeded to devastate every single one of them. I had to stop growing for a few years til that squirrel was out of the picture. This year the sunflowers are doing just fine!
Wonderful. so great to hear. Thanks for sharing
Same with me. The squirrels ravaged the one sunflower plant I planted last year, so this year I planted 20.
Early last month, eight wild Parrots flew in and munched on the heads of several sunflower plants. However, they left more than enough heads for the squirrels. 🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜🐿️🐿️🐿️
I learn so much when I watch your videos. Thank you!
I'm so glad! THANK YOU.
Sunflowers are my favorite flower! Just BEAUTIFUL AND HAPPY!
I fully agree with you, Thanks
The tomatoes I replanted for the second season after following my sunflowers as you suggested several years ago and last season I believe they were less than 1/3 the work efforts and barely lost to my hardest method to raise tomatoes of the 6 method I tested in my garden mid Ohio clay base soil and 6a.
Thanks Mark I'm with you Buddy
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing
Thank you Mark! I've enjoyed and learned so much over the years.
It was your video of sunflowers and strawberries in the round, raised bed that inspired Me to subscribe.
😃👍🖖-KJ
So nice of you, That was 6 years ago, THANK YOU for watching for all that time. I found what might be the answer to electric Culture under my microscope. In the next video.
New subscriber here Sir! Beautiful flowers doing beautiful work. I seem to remember reading somewhere that nibbling on sunflowers is really helpful if someone is stopping smoking. xx
Very Interesting. Thanks
Hi Mark, after cutting the stalks I assume I would leave the roots for a while, but how would you suggest I deal with planting the cash crop with all the huge roots and partial stems left there. Can you till them in? Other ideas?
Wow! Beautiful sunflowers grown by the wonderful grower. Thank you for sharing knowledge!
So nice of you for say. THANK YOU.
sunflowers are my favorite flower
Kia Ora & Good Morning from N.Z. …
Good morning!
It's All About the Biology! Beautiful sunflowers, thank you for sharing.
Yes , You are 100% Correct. Thanks
I always have at least 6 huge ones in my small garden. Birds and bees love it and my hard clay soil is wet and nutrious i dont even have to feed them. I do have a couple differnt types, the rd brown ones and the bright yellows
They are such HAPPY flowers! So they are not only good for the soil, they are also good for the soul!
Great way to look at this. THANK YOU.
I love th simplistic view
Love the detailed video and beautiful garden thank you for sharing!
So nice of you, THANK U.
Wow!! They are SO beautiful!!! I can't wait to plant these!!! I didn't know they were so useful!!! My friend's father grew them and people thought he was eccentric!!
Enjoy the beauty and results of them. Happy Gardening
i grow extra stuff for the animals the eat them, make it easy access to those specific plants the rest i make it take just SOME effort an it works out cus i guess they think "why would i go for that behine the fence and wire or trellis when this is right here already for me"
fruit trees are a bit harder cus it takes a couple years so you cant just plant extra plants like that. but for peppers and tomatos it works
Wonderful video. Greatly appreciate your discussion about living soil and the importance of diversity to create a successful market garden.
Always here to help you. Thanks
They follow the sun ❤ love them I grow them too
Beautiful abundance of Nature 👍
It really is! THANK YOU.
Great video! We try every year to do a small sunflower field in my yard and the groundhog that resides under my shed eats almost every seedling. How do you get the groundhogs to not eat them all?
Buy a live catch trap and catch it. Then remove it by driving 20 miles away from you and release it.
Eat the groundhog
Very informative,i loved this video,please guide how far each sunflower seed should be planted
8 inch to 1 foot apart
Love your passion and enthusiasm.
THANK YU so very much. Happy Gardening
It also attract leaf footed stink bugs which if planted strategically can keep the leaf footed stink bugs off of your other crops.
GREAT to Know. Thanks
@@iamorganicgardening your welcome thanks for your video, very informative.
Hi Mark! I started a raised garden bed with leaves this spring and planted sunflowers in it to try and get some roots to loosen my hard clay soil underneath. It did really well. The leaves as expected and you explained have shrunk down to half of the raised bed. Since I now have plenty of finished compost from summer grass clippings and the garden, can I put that on top of the leaves in the bed to fill it back up? Your input is so appreciated.
Yes you can!. It is a great mulch. If you se it get molded just turn the grass to let more air in. Thanks.
So beautiful, thank you.
Beautiful Sunflowers!
Thank you! Cheers!
Oh, also, that stuff you brushed off of the seed heads? All those tiny little yellow petals? Brush them off in a way that lets you save them, and those-together with the larger petals all around the outside-can either be dried, then steeped in boiling water to make a kind of tea; or used to make an inexpensive yellow dye.
Thank You for this Helpful advice and sharing.
So informative, thank you☀️
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
THANK YOU kindly.
Great video. Gives me ideas... What do you do at the end of season with the stalks and such...
Cut them up with a mower.
I planted Mamouth Sunflowers along the backyard fence this past spring before the chicks were hatched. They grew taller than my 12 foot quilt frame pole but most of the heads did not set seeds. I will try planting them a month earlier next year so be bees will have earlier food. I also grow broccoli and let it go to seed so the bees have a reason to visit. Thank you for the Sunflower info and Greeting from two planting seasons in South Louisiana.
Thanks for sharing
Greetings (thanks) from Pakistan
Thanks for saying Hello. Enjoy.
Beautiful sun flowers
So nice of you to say. THANKS
Awesome video. I was planning on planting some sunflowers this year but I have hard clay and wasn't sure they would grow. Now after hearing your explanations, I think it will only improve the soil in my garden area. Definitely going to try it come spring.
You can do it! Your soil with say THANK YOU.
New to gardening so great to have found you
THANK YOU. Here to Help You.
Absolutely loved your very interesting video from rainy England.
What a wonderful sharing ✌🏼💗
Thank you! Cheers!
Nice sunflowers
THANK YOU , Kindly
Any other tips regarding growing sunflowers is greatly apprectiated.
Thx
Love your presentation! I started my small homestead last year, a couple of hundred sunflowers spread out in patches across around 3‘500 m2.
I’m curious how you sow the seeds. I did it manually one by one. I want to plant way more next year. How would you suggest to do that?
I remember how on the widescreen TV a video popped up of a field of sunflowers. The hamster running on the wheel immediately stopped and went straight to the front of the cage where he could get the best view of it.
How do you protect your young sunflowers from birds and critters? Ive done quite a large patch and they ate everything. Thought about throwing some cover over it but its expensive
I have the same problem. I planted over 200 sunflower seeds this spring. Saved from previous years. I had to plant 3 different times because they kept getting eaten. Persistence, I finally got a great crop. Good luck!
Sorry to hear that. As you can see I never protect them. I do plant the seeds always before a large rain 1 inch deep so the birds do not like them wet
birds leave my row of sunflowers alone bcz I have a bird feeder filled with hulled sunflower seeds I buy in bulk. I was wondering why the birds aren't touching the sunflower plant, then it dawned on me it's easier to eat from the feeder! I provide birdseed year round. Some of them like to eat the leaves!
My problem too, they eat the tops only and kill the plants, sometimes they reach 4 feet and begins flowering but then BAM the tops are gone 😢