What a great way to bring some bright vibrant color to your garden and help pollinate your plants as well. Sunflowers are a great bee-bringer. I chose to plant Mammoth Sunflowers that grow to 8-10ft. I've planted them on the edges off all my boxes in places where they wouldn't be a shade to vegetables but still in the good soil. After they produce seeds it makes a great bird feeder. In the past I've cut the heads off the flowers and hung them in the fence for the birds to dine on. I've also planted some right below my bedroom window in hopes that I'll have a really cool bedroom shade of sunflowers.
So a little while back a posted about my grapevine extending out from my fence into the alley. It needed some support for it to continue its growth. So I brainstormed and thought what better way than to re-use the stalks from the sunflowers as a natural trellis. So I found a few tall stalks that were great for the task. I literally had to hatchet the stalks down. My clippers weren't strong enough to cut through their thickness. I already broke one set of pruners trying. I stripped the leaves off and dug them into the ground. Then used a smaller stalk as a cross beam for the vine to travel down. I think they really work out well. They similar color to the vine itself and add a natural touch to what would probably be an artificial structure. I have no idea how long they will hold up but I'm hoping a long time. Especially once the vine become entangled. I've also used some of the smaller sunflower stalks to create support sticks for leaning plants. I reccommend trying to...
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