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Sunflowers
are one of the most beautiful flower for your garden.
Are
you gardening?
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advices
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varieties
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how to plant?
••
how to eat ?
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FAQ's ?
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Where
come from Sunflowers?
- The sunflower is
botanically classified as Helianthus annus, and belongs to the
Compositae family.
How
to plant sunflowers ?
- There
are very few requirements necessary in the growing site when cultivating
sunflowers. They will grow in any soil type, from sandy to clay and
are very tolerant of strongly alkaline soils... ( as we found here in
Switzerland) where other plants don't usually flourish. To assure best
growth and seed production, one cup of commercial fertilizer per 50
feet of row is recommended.
What
are optimal date for planting?
- The
optimal dates for planting in:
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Europe from March to September
-
US from March to September.
- Asia
from February to November.
What
are the precautions?
Why ?
- Weeds
are a frequent problem during growing, but can be eliminated by mulching
with compost, grass clippings or similar material. Mulching also helps
to hold in soil moisture and protects soil from erosion. Birds are the
main pest of sunflowers; early harvesting or covering the heads may
help to deter them. Aphids suck plant juices and in large numbers can
cause stunting.
How
to dry sunflowers seeds ?
- After
harvesting, finish drying the sunflowers by hanging the heads upside
down in a warm, dry place. Delay in harvesting could cause loss to birds,
unless the heads are covered with nylon mesh.
How
to grow sunflowers not only during the summer season ?
- Don't
forget multiple planting is a key for a real success. Planting a batch
of seeds every two weeks (from March to July for example in Europe)
through the planting season to get a continous crop. Sunflowers can
have multiple plantings resulting in multiple blooming periods.
What
is multiple planting?
- Planting a batch
of seeds every two weeks it's multiple planting.
How
to prepare seeds for eating?
- To
prepare the seeds for eating, they should be fully dried. After they
are fully dry, they should soak overnight in a strong salt water solution.
Then, drain and place on baking sheet; roast at 200 degrees for 3 hours
or until crisp.
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