Sunflowers on lottie

[sunflower]

I love sunflowers & want to grow some on my new lottie, i know the birds love the seeds so am a bit worried that my fellow allotmentiers will not be best pleased with me   for attracting to many birds.Are birds generally a good thing on the lottie?

[traceym]

Most of the plots on my site have sunflowers every year,only birds most of the lottie peeps complain about are the wood pigeons,never seen them on sun :)flowers.

[Doris_Pinks]

Sunflower, I love to see the birds on my lottie, and have a Robin and lady blackbird that follow me around eating the nasties when I am digging, so I would say those are GREAT birds to have!
I have Wood Pidgeons....grrrrrrrrrr  it is the only bird call that drives me crazy!! One sits on an oak above my plot an woo woo's all day  And of course eats my struggling brassicas! Loads of sunflowers on our site too, the seeds wont be a problem until the flowers have faded and gone, then you can always cut the seedheads off and hang them in your own garden if you are worried. I am going to start mine off in pots this year, as I find they tend to be slug fodder  Hope this helps! Dottie P

[gavin]

Go for it, sunflower.  My littl'un has had them for a few years - we cut off some of the seed heads for ourselves, and hang the rest around the plot for birds in autumn/winter.

While they're growing and flowering, birds aren't interested, and in late summer there's so much food around they can't be bothered flying up six feet to get a few seeds!

All best - Gavin

[Colin_Bellamy-Wood]

When I bought my Dalek type compost bin from the Council last year, I got a packet of sunflower seeds for free, planted 'em and 14 grew.   The tallest grew to 12'/14'  and had to be supported by tying them to the fence.   Some of the flowers were the size of dinner plates.  

The seed heads are drying out in the greenhouse, and I shall be sowing some soon.   Next door's chickens don't think much too them as a food source.

When it came to cutting them down, I had to use a pruning saw, the stumps are not rotting, and neither are the trunks which have a diameter of approx 1".   Perhaps I won't be sowing any seeds after all.

[budgiebreeder]

  8)Sunflowers are a good way to start children off getting interested in growing seeds.Mine used to have an annual competition to see who could grow the tallest Sunflower.

[legless]

i'm growing sunflowers on my lottie, especially for the birds and cos i'm a big kid and want to have a competition with hubby to see who can grow the tallest one  

[Debs]

dear legless,

Youve got competition then !!

My kids ( I include myself there) are going to grow sunflowers on my lottie ( when I eventually get some digging done  to prepare it!!)

                             

[aquilegia]

Oooo - I wonder if I can involve my NGH (non-gardening hubby) in a sunflower-growing contest!

[busy_lizzie]

What  great idea! A Lotties4All sunflower growing competition.  I'm game too.  Lets do it!  The prize winner could have  a Sunflower icon against their name.    busy_lizzie

[Ceri]

brilliant idea - I'm up for that!

[busy_lizzie]

We would have to have a level playing field with all seeds planted on the same day etc.  Anybody got any more ideas to make it fair?   busy_lizzie

[aquilegia]

Good idea Lizzie. Can it be a weekend date then for all us workers?!

[Ceri]

what do you mean fair playing field?  All's fair in gardening and war - fiendishly complicated compost mixes, secret fertilizer brews, dark looks over the fence, muttering in corners, sleeping in the lottie to deter competitors nicking your best plant ..... oh sorry, got mixed up with the local leek shows!

[busy_lizzie]

You know th North east too well Ceri! ha ha!  We could plant the seeds on the same day, but that doesn't mean we exclude witchy mixtures or beer brew concotions if so desired.  In fact the more the better, it would make it more interesting, but I draw the line at midnight raids with gardening shears.   busy_lizzie

[Doris_Pinks]

So whens the planting date chaps? Are we all using the same type of seed? (note to self pick the tall ones!)  Let me know and I shall give it a grow!  DP  

[kenkew]

I'm game and I was thinking that colder climes and heated propogators might give people a better/less chance. But, Ceri (that's my sister's name, too) really has the right idea. Maybe we have 'special ways' and methods, and why not? Would a time span of say 10 days to plant the seed with a pic of the end result at a date to be decided on be a fair idea?

How about (long after planting time,) we admit to the seed we used? Possibly the winner might let us all into a few secrtets?)

[legless]

right i'm on the lookout for an electric fence to stop debs and clan sabotaging mine!

a final measuring date is surely more important than a sowing date?

[Doris_Pinks]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm    we should post pics, with rulers next to em!!!

[legless]

hubby said there should be a person in the pics for scale, definitely need pictures.