T H E D I S H O N D I R T | B Y L E S L I E C R AW F O R D
March in the Garden
M
id-March is time to plant sunflower seeds for blooms around the Fourth of July. There are many great varieties of sunflowers, so stagger your starts with different colors and sizes over the next few months to have blooming beauties into the fall. It is preferable to start seeds in a flat with seed starter soil and let them grow until they are about 5 to 6 inches tall before planting them in the ground. Snails and slugs LOVE to munch on fresh seedlings and will take them to the ground overnight, so starting your seeds in flats will help avoid that disappointment. I’ve grown all kinds of sunflowers, but my favorites are the giant sunflowers with green centers, which I
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CROWN CITY MAGAZINE
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MARCH 2019
will plant in March, and the smaller multi-headed red and orange sunflowers, that I will plant later in the spring for fall blooms. Sunflowers are one of the most satisfying plants to grow for all ages because they are easy to nurture, grow quickly and are spectacular to have in your garden. Bees will happily buzz around as flowers open up. For a new or young gardener, the novelty of a tall plant with a giant flower is unbeatable. For older kids, point out the Fibonacci Sequence (a mathematical sequence found everywhere in nature) in the seed patterns. I don’t save the seeds for eating, but I do cut the heads off the stalks when they are done blooming and lay them out for the birds to pick at, completing a perfect cycle in the garden.
