twissted_sisster has left a new comment on your post "The Frugal Bird Feeder":
I be willing to bet that your Arkansas soil would grow quite a crop of sunflowers. I think I'd be tempted to save a dollar or two and grow my own birdfood and have a enjoy a summer of beautiful blooms in the process.
Best Nest offers this blend:
Birds that enjoy this seed:
- blackbirds, bluebirds, cardinals, chickadees, crows, doves, finches, flickers, goldfinches, grackles, grosbeaks, jays, juncos, mockingbirds, nuthatches, pheasants, quails, redpolls, siskins, sparrows, starlings, titmice, towhees, woodpeckers, and wrens
Ingredients: 30% peanut pieces, 25% medium coarse sunflower chips, 25% coarse sunflower chips, 20% dehulled millet
Duncraft has a berry blend:
Very Berry Blend
Very Berry Blend- preferred by fruit loving birds.
Dried blueberries and cherries along with black oil sunflower seed, millet and sunflower heart chips create this custom blend. Appealing to woodpeckers, grosbeaks, cardinals, pyrrhuloxia, chickadees, buntings and more.
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GJ - I grew lots of sunflowers in Phoenix and New Ulm, as well as Midland and Sturgis, Michigan. In January I will order giant Russian sunflower seeds from Harris.
The combination of shade and shallow soil in my yard makes rose growing difficult, except near the front door. I have a garden area close to the main road which will be good for sunflowers.
The sunflower is an ideal project for all ages. The giant Russian variety (striped seeds, great for eating) is my favorite. Children enjoy having competitions - who can raise the tallest or the one with the biggest seed disk. The sunflower will respond well to being planted in full sun, with a column of composted manure or compost under it, mulch around it, and plenty of water. Like another heavy feeder (the pumpkin), the sunflower leaves will wilt when more water is needed.
Sunflowers attract various insects - bees, of course. Grasshoppers love to sit on leaves and enjoy a shaded meal. Birds enjoy the relative safety of being perched above the reach of most cats.
One of my favorite projects was surrounding a children's climbing set with a thick wall of sunflowers. Once they were tall enough, kids loved to hide in them and pop out again. "Mom. I'm lost. Where did I go? Here I am!"
Sunflowers need very little care beyond extra water and rich soil underneath. As I recall, their roots tend to deny growth to other vegetation. Nevertheless, mulching will keep more moisture in the soil and enhance the rotting organic effect loved by earthworms and heavy-feeding plants.
Mulch includes grass clippings, newspapers, wood shavings and chips, manure, and compost. All organic material on top of the soil will be pulled down by earthworms into the earth. Even evolutionists are impressed that the purpose-driven earthworm will fertilize the soil, create channels for rain water and air, and multiply with abandon when given a little encouragement.
The sunflower will drive its root deep into the soil, bringing up minerals and opening the soil for more growth in the future. I leave my sunflower stalks up all winter, to serve as bird perches. God's creatures love a trashy garden, with stalks and branches, mulch and weeds.
I will rake a supply of leaves into my garden area, to let them rot over the winter. We get plenty of precipitation, mostly rain, only a little snow and ice. Leaves are not as good as grass clippings, but they are still handy for shielding the soil for more composting activity all winter and adding their own contribution to the infinite chain of dependencies in anyone's backyard: birds, predators, squirrels, soil creatures, bees, insects, spiders, and man himself.
