Foxy Lady: Poor pumpkin. I can see the scene in pumpkin heaven now....
'What happened to you?'
'Halloween. You?'
'Yep, same here. How about you?'
'Well you're not going to believe this but there was this woman with a mad gleam in her eye coming at me with a syringe full of milk....'
Anyone know how to dry out sunflowers properly? I grew some really giant ones this summer and want to harvest the seeds ( the neighbours all want some for next year) Do I cut em down now that they are all drooping or do I wait unti they are all dried up? ANy ideas would be appreciated.
Rose: I've tied a paper bag over the end and when they have finally died off you can then cut the flower head off and all seeds should have been caught in the bag.
skipinnz: That's a kool idea. At what point do you tie the bag on? Most of the seeds are still white. Do I wait until they start to turn black or do they turn black after they come off the flower head? ( total newbie here)
Rose: re :
Anyone know how to dry out sunflowers properly?
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you take off all your clothes,stick the wet seeds to your skin all over,then stand out in the sun in the backyard until they dry out.
Here are some instructions I found for saving sunflower seeds @ : http://ag.arizona.edu/gardening///index.html-
Flowers in the center of the flower disk will have shriveled. The flower head will have begun to droop and the green back-side of the head will have turned yellow. Finally, pull a few seeds out and split them with a knife. The kernel inside should be solid and well-formed.
To harvest, cut the flower head off leaving about one foot of the stem attached. Place the flower head in a paper bag or cheesecloth sack and hang upside down in warm, dry location. The bag will catch any seeds that may fall during drying. When the seeds have dried, they can be easily rubbed from the head."
Lamby: Awesome hun, that's just what i needed to know.. Thanks so much for that! ( will send u some giant seeds thru the winter, these things were the biggest anyone around has seen!)
HARVEST
You can begin to harvest sunflower seeds as soon as the center flowers turn brown or the backs of the heads turn yellow, to prevent birds from stealing them. Cut them, leaving a piece of stem to hang them in a well ventilated place to finish drying. Cover them with netting, paper sacks with holes or cheesecloth to catch falling seeds as they dry.
They can be allowed to dry on the stalk, but you'll have to cover them this way to keep the birds from eating them all before you can harvest them for yourself!
If you've grown sunflowers for the purpose of feeding birds, you can either leave them in the ground, or harvest the heads as above, then hang them in the yard or garden when they are ready. This method has an advantage in that you can dole out the heads over the winter, instead of seeing the seed all eaten within a few weeks.
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http://extension.missouri.edu/extensioninfonet/article.asp?id=3404
I like the sounds,but it just my garden is NOT quiet.there is a cemetery across the lane from our house.redtail hawks live in a high tree there.tree frog & cicadas sing in the trees.
and if it gets too quiet at night,there is an old raccoon who sneaks over from the cemetery & livens things up by bangin' around the garbage cans.
Foxy Lady: yes true Foxy Lady,fall mean work,but also harvest,and beautiful fall colours,jumping in a pile of leaves,stuffing leaves up ScarletRose's shirt,fall is also a little philisophical for me,the years end in sight,a time for reflection.