Allotments 4 All
The Show => Sunflowers => Topic started by: sunflower on March 09, 2004, 17:17:00
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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?
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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8) 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.
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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 ;D
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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!!)
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Oooo - I wonder if I can involve my NGH (non-gardening hubby) in a sunflower-growing contest!
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What great idea! ;D A Lotties4All sunflower growing competition. I'm game too. Lets do it! The prize winner could have a Sunflower icon against their name. :D busy_lizzie
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brilliant idea - I'm up for that!
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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
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Good idea Lizzie. Can it be a weekend date then for all us workers?!
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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!
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You know th North east too well Ceri! ha ha! ;D 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. :D busy_lizzie
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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
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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?)
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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?
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Hmmmmmmmmmmmm we should post pics, with rulers next to em!!!
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hubby said there should be a person in the pics for scale, definitely need pictures. ;D
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I shall make sure I find a very short person then! ;D
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So; do we make a list of contenders? And are there any rules at all apart from dates?
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Mind if I join in? Jammyd junior would like to grow some sunflowers this year!
j ;D
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This date thing - us in the frozen north and them in the soft southern counties have different soil-warm up dates etc. And if somebody's seeds don't germinate, does that mean they can't play, or can they re-sow, thereby not using a set date after all?
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coming from up 'ere i agree with Ceri but we do need a list of contenders dont we??
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CONTENDERS ..... READY!!!
Shall we start a list - I'm up for it. Do you think Dan Dan the Admin Man can put up a box advertising the competition on the home page to which we can add our names - might encourage participation from those who may not have read this thread. I presume this means I'm finally going to have to learn (get my husband to learn) how to post pics!
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Aaaaagggghhhhh !!!!
You're talking technical now !!
Post pics !?! ( baffled, thick-look on face).
Debs.
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I shall send Dear Dan a message and see what he suggests! ;D
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ooo oooo, the ava family wanna play. Mind you, now I have to go and buy some sunflower seeds! Hoorah for competitions! ;D
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Would be great if we could have our own special Sunflower Competition Board. ;D Once we get that and a list of Competitors, then we can agree on a set of rules. :)
Here are my suggestions:a) Set up a day for seed planting, perhaps a Saturday for those who work. b) Maybe plant up to six seeds which we can choose from. c) Have regular updates on how our seeds are doing. d) Set a date for the grand unveiling of the pics. e) Work out a fail-safe method of judging how tall and also take into account the quality of the flower. f) Have some judges - perhaps some of our revered Board members; my suggestions: Tim, Hugh, Gavin, John Cooper and Alishka. The Prize with Dan's cooperation could be a sunflower icon beside our name.
It is true that us lot in the North of the country will have an obvious handicap in the weather conditions etc. ??? not sure how that can be overcome; any suggestions would be welcome!
So how about it? Any alternative suggestions? :) busy_lizzie
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This sounds great - I'm up for it too - also tagging reluctant-gardening hubbie with me!
Gardener's World is doing sunflowers next week - maybe they'll give some tips!
Had a thought about the date - aren't a few people going away in April - maybe we could have two sowings - one earlier and one later to allow northern soils to warm up a bit! ;
HB
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Correction and apologies, of course I mean John_Miller as a judge. :-[ :-[ John Cooper is actually one of our neighbours, and incidently an actor in Emmerdale, the Streets only claim to fame.Sorry! ;D busy_lizzie
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Dan says he will see what he can do! Good man that Dan :-)
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Mr Aquilegia is up for it too. I shall just have to make sure if his gets bigger than mine something mysterious happens to it! ;D I can't possibly have my NGOH growing something better than me!
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The 'North' planting dates probably will be behind the Southern ones, how about just a post that you have sown on a particular date but with an agreed 'finish' date?
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Yep, I'm in, just let me know the final rules before we start.
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Just had a thought,
given that a number of people may well be wishing to enter their children's sunflowers, would it not be an idea to have growers pictured against plant and measure as the number of times bigger the sunflower is than the grower (she says optimistically). That way, any pictures can be judged proportional to the grower, and our younger growers have a slightly biased chance of winning? (no offence meant to any tall friends)
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And no digging your children into the ground to make the sunflowers look even taller..... parenthood is very competitive you know!
I think the idea of a finish date may work better than a start date.
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oh if short people have a better chance can my cats take part?
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Well if it's to be judged on a pic of me standing next to my sunflower, I must mention here that I'm only 3ft tall. ;D
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easy Ceri and co,
I place a useful well meant suggestion, and now we're gonna get pictures of half buried children. I'm not sure if that kind of parental competitiveness is actually legal???
Surely cats is going a bit too far? unless its ok for me to enter my pet ant, anthony ?
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as long as my Warren the woodlouse can join in too
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What about those of us without pets or children?? Can I borrow the allotment cat? ;)
HB
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oh but buzz has just been practising sitting up straight next to plants :(
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OK! OK!...How about we decide on a way to start and worry about the way to decide on how to win later. Taking the bulls by the horn; We plant when we're ready to plant and use any method we know to get the best results. Before judging time I'm sure someone will come up with an 'article' to hold which has a recognised length. (Or is that a woopsy?)
Anyway, all this gabbing is good fun but it's getting a bit like my old council meetings, shall we stop chewing the fat and get a move on?
Another thought, if we don't get a dedicated 'Sunflower competition' thread, one of us could simply cut and paste all sowing announcements into one posting.
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but i really think its more important to decide a way to end.... and i don't know enough about sunflowers to make a suggestion of a good measuring date.
basically there are so many environmental factors to consider that sowing date surely is less important as quality rather than length of growing season is the crucial factor.
taking into account variances in child/ cat/ ant/ woodlouse heights i shall ask Dr Legless to work out a formula so we can calculate the winner, of course it shall be so complicated that only he will understand it and naturally win so that might not be a good idea....
see, i can take it seriously ;D
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right, so in gardeners world magazine it says that tall sunflowers should be sown direct at the end of april. sorted.
anyone know when they flower?
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From July.
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Sorry been away do we have to put our names somewhere?
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Well, who's sending off for Monty's sunflower seeds?
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Just posted my card off tonight Ken. Have chosen "Florenza". Looks very pretty and unusual colours. Will not be using that seed for our competition. Reckon this summer we will be awash with sunflowers in our garden and at the lottie. :D busy_lizzie
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I'm going for Infrared - it looks as if they might come up in different shades. Sending off my postacrd this morning ;D
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Boo Hoo !!...
I missed GW last night - is it repeated at all during the week ???
and what's all this about sending off postcards for sunflowers ???
WHAT DID I MISS ..... shall have a look on their website...
Debs
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Debs, Just have a look on the BBC Gardeners World Site, as all the details for sending away for the seeds are on there. They show the variety of sunflowers and the addresses to send away for them. :) busy_lizzie
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ok how about this for a plan for the competition then...
we follow the GW trial dates cos Monty said we all had to sow the trial seeds together, and i should imagine they will have a programme towards the end of the trial asking for results. i suspect that will be july-august time. the sunflower man did say that in this climate its around 80 days from sowing to flowering i think...
we should allow exemptions for people who are off galavanting round the world when the sowing date comes and allow them to sow later.
what does anyone think?
if approved shall i start a thread so people can register their intentions, perhaps with seed variety?
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That's a great idea - saves us the potential difficulties of finding a date to suit everyone and then we can use GW ones or not, as we think!
HB
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sounds good to me.
My seeds are Sunflower giant single which can grow 6-15ft...
Got them free with Gardens Monthly.
Debs
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Good idea Legless! :) Start the thread - lets see who registers and then we can fine tune it with the how and whens. Looking forward to it! :D busy_lizzie