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applestar
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Here's my new sunflower& "house"

It's not really a "house" since it has a wide path through it rather than an open space -- more of a circular raised bed. I'm planning to cut into the cardboard and plant seeds under cut-off 2L soda bottle cloches for early start. Cleome, Sunflowers, Corn, Beans, and Squash. It's about 8' across.

[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image6552.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image6554.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image6555.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image6556.jpg[/img]

katylaide
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That looks awesome, apple. I don't know that much about permaculture, but that path in the middle of the bed looks like something I saw Geoff Lawton do in his Greening the Desert project in order to catch rainwater.

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rainbowgardener
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Beautiful, I like how the path has a little curve to it. Your five sisters planting! Was that traditional or is that your modern elaboration? Does the cleome have a function (beyond feeding the spirit with its beauty!)? Do you plant the sunflowers on path edge or how do you keep them from shading everything else out?

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applestar
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I read an article somewhere that said Cleome was traditionally planted... or allowed to grow... as the *fourth* sister (probably in the region where there are native species -- Cleome serrulata/Rocky Mountain beeplant). It's a nitrogen-fixer as well as an insectary plant. It's the Sunflowers that's not usually mentioned as a traditional sister, though it's pretty much an accepted companion plant for the primary three and, I know, will serve as an insectary plant as well. (I'm also going to let Lambs Quarters and Purslane grow, if they happen to spring up or if I have extra seeds. Amaranth and Quinoa are other possibilites.) However, Sunflowers are going to be the main planting in this bed.

Planting scheme is going to be a bit tricky, but in addition to the "Sunflower House" this bed design also borrows from "Keyhole Garden" design in the sense that the path meanders North-South. So I'll generally plant the tallest plants to the near end of the bed/path and outside-in. Picture tallest sunflowers and corn on either side of the entrance to the path. I think it will add to the "mystery" of the design not to be able to see into it. It will be opposite of the usual low to the front ~ high to the back scheme. You'll walk down the path (or walk around the bed) turn around, and -- hopefully -- see the full effect with the house in the background. This also happens to be the view from the kids' play structure (swings, slide, sandpit).

I have different varieties of sunflowers to plant. Shortest being the Music Box, which only grows to 18". I'll plant those to the very front and along the path.

Though I didn't do that on purpose, I was happy to note that the path acts as a water catchment. It'll need it during the summer drought. I'm starting to realize that this method of building the raised bed -- digging the path and flipping the sod on top can inherently turn the paths into swale-like depressions. So that should be kept in mind when building them, and the contours of the land should be considered.

Joyfirst
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Can't wait to see the pictures in the midsummer!

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applestar
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Here it is planted. Nothing growing yet though (except for the 2L bottle hot caps) :roll:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image6660.jpg[/img]

LOTS AND LOTS of earthworm activity under as well as on top of the cardboard already. Also, there were enough wheat seed in the straw to start sprouting. Rather than considering this to be a problem, I've been pulling them out as they emerge from the mulch to lay on top as the green mulch. 8)

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applestar
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SUNFLOWERS ARE SPROUTING!!! :()
First one is 'Chocolate Cherry' sunflower.

[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image6769.jpg[/img] [img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image6770.jpg[/img]

Covers are off the sprouted seedlings. Corn seeds are still sleeping.

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applestar
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Here's an update photo:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7010.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7028.jpg[/img]

I have sunflowers (Mammoth Russian, Chocolate Cherry, Sun Samba mix, Music Box, Thithonia - but not all of them survived the snails/slugs), sweet corn (Double Red Sweet -- 2@7 on one side and 2@5 on the other), pole bean (Marvel of Venice - a moderate vigor grower that shouldn't pull down the corn), bush beans (Jade), edamame (Tamba Kuro Otsubu seeds saved from last year's harvest), cucumber (Lemon), pumpkins ('Cinderella Pumpkin' Rouge vif D'Etampe -- just sowed seeds today), sweet potatoes (Hanna and Garnet slips grown from last year's fingerlings + unknown store-bought organic variety grown slips), nasturtium (Alaska), a celosia, and a tomato (Brandywine Sudduth) planted. And a volunteer clump of milk weed that somehow managed to grow THROUGH all that pile. :shock: So of course, I let them stay. :wink: I tried to grow Cleome but none of the seeds have sprouted or the snails/slugs got them all (I'm having the worst luck with them this year. I have 1, possibly 2 tiny germinated sprouts in a berry basket flat that I'm hoping will not die. For all I know, later in the season, they'll start growing in all the places I scattered the seeds :roll:)

I have to distribute and plant all those sweet potato starts/slips in the windowbox. I don't think there's any more room here, although I *might* put a few more in the side wall along the path. I was seriously considering planting them in the kids' sandpit but I was voted down. :?

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applestar
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Update photo (taken through a window screen with morning sun on it -- sorry for the bad quality):
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7176-1.jpg[/img]
Due to slug damage/repeat sowing/lack of germination/growth in corn, the beans have started to twine before the corn has reached the ideal height, so I've temporarily positioned thin bamboo stakes for the beans to climb on. This is the tricky part about the Three Sisters. The pumpkins and cukes have germinated and have their first true leaves.

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applestar
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And another update:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7276.jpg[/img]

... and the FIRST sunflower bloom! This one must be out of the Sun Samba mix:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7293.jpg[/img]

I don't have the latest photos, but here are the Chocolate Cherries from mid-June, and an unusual speckled stemmed one from the Sun Samba mix:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7228.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7229.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7232.jpg[/img]

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Sage Hermit
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It looks colorful and diverse. Very sheik , no? So I have black seed sunflower seeds ready for thinning in my containers. I wonder how they will look this summer and how they will impact the farm.

~Peace to those practicing righteousness

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applestar
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Thanks Sage. Every year, I grow things from seed, and every year, I'm amazed by how fast they grow and how BIG! :shock: :lol: I can't get over it. :wink:

Here are some more pictures. The circle is looking tiny now...
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7395-1.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7376.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7382.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7377.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7379.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7380.jpg[/img]

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applestar
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An update photo with a flower from the Fiesta del Sol mix:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7503.jpg[/img]

Another update photo, taken from upstairs window:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7582.jpg[/img]

I LOVE noting the way sunflowers turn towards the sun throughout the day. One of the Chocolate Cherry sunflowers opened yesterday. I'll have to go get a close up photo.

In addition to being amazed by how big these plants can grow from a seed the size of my fingernail, I'm thinking of the way the deep and far-ranging roots are opening up the clay soil in the depths that I can't manage, and they will be adding to the soil tilth after I cut them down at ground level at the end of the season.

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applestar
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Here's Chocolate Cherry Sunflower. It's so dark I had to push the exposure to get any color to show up:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7598.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7616.jpg[/img]

This one, I think, is from the Sun Samba mix. It's a multi-headed sunflower, and the funny thing was that this flower pointed straight up when it first opened:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7600.jpg[/img]

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applestar
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Update photo. The two sentinels have flowered! :D
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7721.jpg[/img]

The bamboo pole, placed next to the taller one for reference, is 8 ft long. :shock:

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applestar
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I've underplanted my Sunflower& House (currently sunflowers, corn, beans, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and cukes) with scarlet clover and buckwheat for now. Planning on sowing oats and vetch in mid~late August (maybe as late as early Sept -- still working on the timing, but I believe I'm supposed to give the oats 6 weeks before frost kill) then carrrots/parsnips in spring followed by tomatoes for the summer. (probably some garlic and peas in there somewhere along the way, maybe beets too)

Technically, according to crop rotation charts I'm reading and contributions by Lorax recently, cucurbits should follow solanacea. Mescluns, brassicas and alliums should follow cucurbits. Followed by grains/legumes, which precedes solanacea.

ronbre
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beautiful, I have sunflowers here and there in my garden but not organized..however..I did put a lot of jerusalem artichokes as rear borders in 4 of my beds..and they are way taller than me, and tight..

I was sitting in my garden swing..swinging..yesterday and I LOVE the feeling of the garden when the plants are tall (corn, sunflowers, dwarf trees, jerusalem artichokes, tomatos, asparagus, etc.) it is so magical to be in a garden that encloses you and towers over your head

lily51
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This is a whole new topic for me, but one that is very intersting. Your creation is inspiring! Sunflowers and smiles just go together. Thanks for sharing your photos. I'm looking forward to learning more.

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rainbowgardener
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I agree, don't have a sunflower house (my resident ground hog won't let me grow sunflowers, she constantly eats the little plants down to stubs, it's her favorite!). But I have two long narrow flower beds, full of hummingbird and butterfly plants with a path down the middle between them. Currently in the beds are broom corn, joe pye weed, and iron weed, all of them considerably taller than me (as well as a lot of shorter stuff). They all tend to lean over from the weight of flowers/ seed heads at the top. So currently walking down the little path is like walking through a tunnel made of plants. I love it!

I leave all those plants and seedheads all winter. It adds life and motion to the winter garden watching them sway in the slightest breeze.

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applestar
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The birds -goldfinches and cardinals- are already enjoying the sunflower seeds. A squirrel has managed to climb and break off a few branches of multi-headed sunflower seed heads. :roll:

I've harvested late summer lemon cukes and recently dug up a nice harvest of sweet potatoes as well as late bush beans and edamame from this bed. The French pumpkin languished -- probably not enough sun/planted too late. The oats didn't sprout -- I think I didn't water carefully enough during the drought conditions in which I sowed the seeds, but the vetch is sprouting and growing nicely. Since I still have time to sow Spelt, I think I'll just do that. Back to the drawing board to research oat growing for next year. :?



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