Sunflowers!

They can be tall, short, or in between, yellow, orange or red, ornamental or edible. It’s a summer favorite of young and old alike and hopefully there’s room in your garden for at least one helianthus annuus, more commonly known as the sunflower.

Sunflowers are easy to grow to from seed. Simply sow them directly into the soil where you want them to grow. Give them rich soil, ample water and with plenty of sunshine, they’ll do the rest. If you don’t want to go the seed route, many nurseries offer sunflower seedlings, some already in bud.

Sunflowers can be categorized by ornamental types or those with edible seeds. Ornamentals, those best suited for cutting, are generally more compact and branching with a wide range of colors and names: Lemon Eclair, Prado Red, Velvet Queen and Cinnamon are just a few available for the home garden.

When selecting flowers for cutting, choose blooms that are barely showing any color as these will last longer. Cut the stem at a 45 degree angle anywhere between 1 and 1 1/2 feet from under the flower head. Immediately place in a vase of water. Once cut, sunflowers can last in water from 6 to 12 days providing the water is replaced every 3 days and the water level kept full.

The giant sunflowers, aptly named Mammoth, grow from a single stalk with big faces of golden yellow petals, brown centers and gray and white striped seeds. To harvest the seeds, wait until the petals drop and the seed kernels swell. Preserving the flower head is crucial: provide some kind of covering around the head such as a mesh or paper bag so the birds and squirrels don’t make off with the seeds! Cut the stalk at the base when the seeds have a hard shell. Let the seeds completely dry before eating or using in a bird feeder.

Debra Togliatti has her own gardening business: Weed It and Reap: Garden Restoration and Design and is a teacher who gets young children involved in gardening and nature experiences. She lives in the Bay Area of Northern California.

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Seed Starting

Late winter is the perfect time to start seeds indoor. You don’t need to have a greenhouse or green thumb: starting seeds are easy, fun and an economical way to get the plants you desire for your home garden. If you don’t have any experience, chances are your child has done this in school! All you need to start this project is good potting soil, containers and a spray bottle for watering and seeds!

Seed Starting Basics

To start your seeds indoors, you’ll need a potting soil mix (preferably a seed starting mix), containers for the seeds and whatever seeds you want to grow. Some seeds are best sowed directly in the ground in spring (sunflowers, for example) and others do better if just broadcast into the soil like California Poppies or wildflowers. Ideal seeds to start indoors are those hardy sun lovers like cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, corn or beans. Just about anything can serve as a container from egg cartons, plastic or clay pots just as long as it has drainage holes. Be “eco-thrifty” and creative!

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Now that your low water-need plants are in and you have some irrigation, there’s one more important step to take in your garden to save you money and water: adding mulch. Mulching means applying a material, preferably organic, to exposed soil. Its purpose is to maintain soil moisture so that less water is needed. A side benefit is that mulch can suppress weed growth. An organic mulch will decompose over time, not only improving soil conditions but reducing soil erosion as well.

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Whether you have a big backyard or live in a small apartment, it’s easy to turn your kitchen scraps into garden rich compost, suitable for your indoor or outdoor plants. This type of home composting can be achieved on a small or large scale. This article will address the simplest, easiest and least expensive means of composting: the compost bucket.

What Can Be Composted:

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Water is precious and we need to be more proactive about conserving it, no matter what part of the country you live in. You’ve probably heard this by now in the news or from your eco-conscious friends but it particularly holds true in light of the entire drought we’ve experienced in the past few years. So before you start your spring planting, evaluate how, and in what areas of your garden you can save water.

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

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