User avatar
mrsgreenthumbs
Senior Member
Posts: 256
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:26 pm
Location: Santa Maria, California

I know it's a little late for planting seeds but...

I have new neighbors and they are PIGS. Their entire front yard is full of trash and ... just YUCK! They never mow their lawn (if you can call it that) and well Id like to block them out. Now I was wanting to plant some sunflowers as well to harvest and dry for my chicken's but I have totally run out of space with enough sun. Then the light bulb clicked... DUH plant sunflowers along the fence line. They get tall and right there get's lot's of sun and stays really warm... So I thought I could buy a couple bags of soil mix it with my compost and plant the sunflowers along the fence line (don't want to put too much into this just toss something out there iv got LOTS of other project's to work on right now) and then of course when buying the seeds my step son talks us into buying burpee bush sugar baby watermelon because "dey will be so cute!" so I'm wondering if it will work to plan the watermelon under the sunflowers? Kinda like the 3 sister's planting method. What do you think?

DoubleDogFarm
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 6113
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:43 pm

Welcome to the vegetable gardening forum, about time you got out of the What doesn't fit elsewhere. :wink: :D

How about some large nursery pots. Stack them along the fence like soldiers. The sunflowers and melons will like the extra heat from the black plastic. You should also grow Jerusalem artichokes (Sun Chokes). You not only get your tall sunflowers, you get edible tubers also.

User avatar
mrsgreenthumbs
Senior Member
Posts: 256
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:26 pm
Location: Santa Maria, California

What if I used some really sturdy strong plastic bag's (like the giant trash bag's) and cut them open (or even planted inside them). I could cover the bed's with the plastic OR fill the bag's with my potting mix. (just trying to do this on the SUPER cheap my husband lost his job last week and were REALLY struggling)

User avatar
Ozark Lady
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1862
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:28 pm
Location: NW Arkansas, USA zone 7A elevation 1561 feet

Have you been saving milk jugs? They make fine pots. And they decrease the trash in landfills. And you get them from time to time, or even gallon juice jugs. Think recycle!

User avatar
mrsgreenthumbs
Senior Member
Posts: 256
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:26 pm
Location: Santa Maria, California

Ohhhh :oops: ummm I have to admit my paranoia now.... I save the milk jugs and wash then fill them with clean drinking water.... just in case something happens. Not purely End of the world hysteria (a bit though) but in case the water get's cut off or we get rationed (california has been in water conserving and drought awareness my entire life) or what have you. Never know so right now Iv got.... 20 milk jug's in my kitchen under the breakfast nook benches.... full of water. I started planning on keeping a few gallons per person in my house and now.... just can't stop. :roll:

DoubleDogFarm
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 6113
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:43 pm

don't forget about dehydrated foods, canned and of coarse growing your own. :D I have friends that are hoarding hand tools and manual power items. Same reasons. :wink: And if it gets serious, now someone with a gun collection. 8)

Back to growing a neighbor screen. Black garbage bags would work :( but not for me. If you go this route, poke some holes in the bottom. I would just cover the ground with cardboard, cover with soil, compost and plant your seeds.

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

For most of us it's not late for planting sunflowers and still a bit early for planting watermelon. For you in California maybe could have been done a little sooner, but not a problem. The problem here with waiting longer than you need to to plant watermelon is that the door is going to close at the other end of the season when it gets cold again. You have a long growing season and plenty of time. The watermelon likes nice warm weather.

I agree, I'd avoid the plastic bags and just plant them. Remember watermelons take up a LOT of room.

User avatar
mtmickey
Senior Member
Posts: 212
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:18 pm
Location: Ronan, MT

Don't feel guilty about the water jugs, we do the same in my household and even have a couple of carboys full of water at all times. I don't think gallon jugs would work well for sunflowers, at least if you plant the Giant variety. The roots on giant sunflowers get HUGE. The one I just pulled up from last year would have filled a 2 gallon jug easily.

User avatar
Gary350
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

If you want to block out your neighbor plants are only temperary. I have a witch for a neighbor. It is a very long story. She calls the police on me about 3 times every week. Busy body has too much free time and nothing better to do. Police office said, glad she lives next to you and not me. City code said there are no rules against having a 10 foot tall wood fence so I built one on the property line.

I have bought sunflower bird seed and planted them and they grows fine. When the seeds get ripe look out. Every bird and squirrel within a mile comes to my house to eat the seeds. All the seeds are gone in 2 days. It is pretty amazing to watch. 100s of birds look like a large swarm of bees. There are so many birds the sky is black. The squirrels will break down the plants when seeds are ripe.

Plant bamboo it will last and stay green year round. There are lots of different bamboos, some are small and some get 100 ft tall 5" diameter. 1/2" to 3/4" diameter bamboo about 15 ft tall is nice along the edge of the yard. It sends out roots that send up more bamboo stalkes. When the bamboo crop gets the width you want mow along the sides with the lawn mower to cut down new shoots before they get started. You can keep it under control fairly easy with the lawn mower. A friend has 2 kinds of bamboo one has 3/4" diameter cains that grow about 4" apart, his other bamboo is 2" diameter cains that grow about 1 foot apart. He keeps the 3/4" bamboo mowed along both sides so it is 3 ft wide border along the sides and back yard. The larger the diameter the farther apart the cains grow. Some bamboos can withstand cold winter weather.

I ordered bamboo seeds from several places but none of they will germinalte and grow. I gave seeds to several friends they can not get them to grow either. Bamboo makes seeds ever 49 years. I read online that bamboos in China, Vietnam, and several other countries made seeds about 10 years ago so the seeds that are being sold may be too old to grow. Transplant a root, keep it watered in full sun. Next year dig up the sprouts and move them. The following year you will have sprouts from several plants you can transplant. It will take a few year to get enough sprouts to make a border along the side of the yard.
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri Apr 30, 2010 11:19 am, edited 7 times in total.

User avatar
jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Watermelons will not do well under sunflower plants.

Before you plant bamboo, do some research on it.

tdmichaelson
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu May 06, 2010 10:12 pm
Location: Pittsburgh

Yeah make sure you either buy a strong liner specially made to contain bamboo, or use clumping varieties. The runners can get out of hand in a few years and they become almost impossible to control.



Return to “Vegetable Gardening Forum”