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Few things bring to mind an American Fall season quite like Sunflowers…well, maybe pumpkins, but we’re going with Sunflowers on this one. A native plant to America, the Sunflower (Helianthus annus) is an annually blooming plant and can grow to be over 3 meters tall. The Sunflower is well known for exhibiting heliotropism, or following the path of the sun throughout the day from east to west. While there are certainly a number of ways to go about getting Sunflowers to decorate with this Fall season, here are some thoughts on what to keep in mind in case you’ve decided that you want to grow your own.

Plan Ahead to Plant Early

If you want to grow your own Sunflowers than you had better plan ahead and plan to plant in early Spring. Getting the seeds into the ground by between March and August, with mid-May being an ideal time, is the best way to go to ensure that you get maximum return on the seeds that you plan. Also, make sure you test the soil where you’ll be planting well ahead to make sure that there’s not too much Nitrogen in the soil, but that there is a good amount of Potassium and Phosphorus.

Give Yourself Enough Space

Growing Sunflowers can take up some space, so make sure that you have enough space devoted to the amount of plants that you will be growing. You’ll want to plant each seed roughly 1 to 2 inches deep into moist soil, spacing the seeds 12 inches apart in rows that are spaced between 2 and 2 ½ feet apart. If you’re planning on growing a larger varietal of Sunflower than you may want to give yourself even more space to allow for the added size.

Managing the Plants

Your Sunflowers plant should mature in roughly 60 to 90 days at which point they will need to be cut daily. The best time to cut your Sunflower plants is in either the early morning or late afternoon. Once you’ve cut your Sunflowers you’ll want to immerse them in clean buckets filled with water and a solution of Quick Dip to open their pores. Refrigerating them within a few hours of cutting ensures that they will last long once they are put on display.

Ready by Fall

Depending on when you plant your Sunflowers they can be ready to be cut anywhere from September and into October. You can display your Sunflowers in any number of ways, to having them be the center of a large display to using them as a way to add color and vibrancy to an existing floral arrangement. If properly managed and prepared before being put into an arrangement, your Sunflowers can maintain their fresh flowers appearance for upwards of two weeks.

Just in Case

Ok, so you can see that it’s not really that hard to grow your own beautiful Sunflowers for your Fall floral arrangements, but what if you don’t have the time, or the green thumb, to grow your own Sunflowers. Well there are number of places that will offer fresh flowers this time of year, chief amongst them being Sunflowers. While there is certainly a certain satisfaction in growing your own flowers, if you don’t have the time or space to do so, there’s certainly nothing wrong with deciding to buy flowers from your local florist and having them include some fresh Sunflowers for you.

About the Author Steve Papoulakos is the president of Vogue Flowers and has been in the floral industry for over 22 years, offering fresh flowers and flowers online for those looking for quality and experience. Vogue Flowers can be found at: http://www.vogueflowers.com

Gardening Articles

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is an essential tool for all landscapers and gardeners, whether professionals or weekend do-it-yourselfers. This simple and free tool will help ensure you select only the correct plants, shrubs, or trees for your region. If you do not follow this guide you risk the health of your plant, and ultimately your time and money.

The Map was designed to show the average annual minimum temperature range throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. There are 11 different zones that describe the minimum temperature that can be expected. The zones were divided based on a 10 degree Fahrenheit difference in the average annual minimum temperature.

It is important to understand the zones in order to select a plant that will survive the winter in your region. This is called the plant’s winter hardiness. The winter hardiness of the plant is one of the most crucial factors for the survival and environmental adaptation of the plant. A plant’s hardiness indicates the lowest temperature the plant can sustain and still survive.

Most plants purchased at commercial stores will have their hardiness level indicated on their tag. Determine the Hardiness Zone of the area in which the plant will be located, and make sure the plant’s hardiness falls within the correct zone.

Zone 1 contains areas that see an average minimum temperature below (-) 50 degree Fahrenheit. Example locations include Fairbanks, Alaska and Northwest Territories in Canada.

Zone 2 contains areas that see an average minimum temperature of (-) 50 to (-) 40 degrees. Example locations include Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and Pinecreek , Minnesota.

Zone 3 ranges between (-) 40 and (-) 30 degrees. Examples are International Falls, Minnesota and Sidney, Montana.

Zone 4 ranges between (-) 30 and (-) 20 degrees. Examples are Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota and Northwood, Iowa.

Zone 5 ranges between (-) 20 and (-) 10 degrees. Examples are Des Moines, Iowa and Mansfield, Pennsylvania.

Zone 6 ranges between (-) 10 and 0 degrees. Examples are St. Louis, Missouri, and Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

Zone 7 ranges between 0 and 10 degrees. Examples are South Boston, Virginia and Little Rock Arkansas.

Zone 8 ranges between 10 and 20 degrees. Examples are Dallas, Texas and Gainesville, Florida.

Zone 9 ranges between 20 and 30 degrees. Examples are Houston, Texas and Fort Pierce, Florida.

Zone 10 ranges between 30 and 40 degrees. Examples are Victorville, California and Miami, Florida.

Zone 11 is for annual minimum temperatures above 40 degrees. Examples include Honolulu, Hawaii and Mazatlan, Mexico.

Author Matt Adler is the creator of http://www.laffodils.com, a free website for landscape and gardening advice. See further description of  Plant Hardiness Zones, as well as Maps.

Organic Garden Articles

Compost piles must hold a minimum of organic material before they will maintain rapid decomposition. So the pile should be at least 3-feet-by-3-feet and 4-feet tall. Naturally piles can be larger. Moving leaves to the pile, then chopping them up with a lawn mower or leaf shredder before they go on the pile aids composting considerably, as small particles decompose faster than large ones.

There are other things we can do to accelerate composting and make it more efficient. As slightly wet leaves decompose quicker than dry ones and rain may not penetrate the pile center, I’d dampen dry leaves before adding them. Ground limestone may also be scattered in if we add a bunch of oak leaves and we’re concerned about the acidity they may generate in our pile. Scatter about a pound of lime for every five leaf layers. But do not use lime if your compost will be given to acid loving plants such as mountain laurel, blueberries, azaleas, rhododendrons and potatoes. Adding lime to compost is an option rather than mandatory.

The addition of fertilizers speeds composting. Scatter 1 cup of fertilizer for every 15 square feet of pile.
Two pounds of dried cow manure can be the fertilizer. The addition of fertilizer is not a necessity.

Shady piles seem to compost faster than sunny ones, as they more promptly retain the moisture microbes need. Drenching a dry pile with water can be helpful in hot weather. Construct your pile lower in the center and higher on the sides, that way rain will go in more easily. Covering the pile with plastic sheets to reduce evaporation can help in conserving that most important water supply. Turning the pile every month with a garden fork or similar tool aerates our microbes and speeds composting.

Garden waste material and vegetable scraps make great compost additions, but don’t place meat, bones, glass, plastic or metal in the pile. Keep material loaded with weed seeds, plant disease or insects out of the pile. Never put in material that’s been treated with herbicide. Straw or hay can be added, but seeds in the hay may not decompose, sometimes causing weed troubles. Pine needles may be added, but because of their waxy coatings, they may take longer to break down. If you add twigs make sure they are small and broken, or they will take forever to break down. If you add newspaper they need to be shredded into tiny strips. Choose an inconspicuous site for the pile. While piles aren’t ugly, they are seldom beautiful.

Compost has so many garden uses that I never get enough of this terrific stuff. I blend compost into every planting hole, whether I’m planting a dogwood tree, petunia beds, tomatoes or anything else.

Jim’s articles are from extensive research on each of his topics. You can learn more of organic materials by visiting: Compost Piles

Organic Gardening Tips

Tasteless food is a good measure of the micro-mineral concentration in your soil. ASAP Plant Minerals is the effective way to assure biosynthesis of phytochemical nutrients in crops. Nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus work in synergy with micro-minerals and need them present to grow not just plants, but plants with nutrition. The strong fragrance in flowers and rich taste in food is due to micro-nutrients present during photosynthesis of phytochemicals. Testing leaves is an easy way to see what’s going on underground.

Plants need two distinct groupings of fertilization. The well known type of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and sulfur applications that are adjusted depending on season. In the spring, the nitrogen and phosphorus with a lower potassium combination is applied to stimulate root and green growth, then as photoperiod shortens after the summer solstice, potassium is high, with nitrogen and phosphorus delivered at a lower concentration to stimulate fruit maturation. The other type is the micro-mineral elements, which are poorly understood and mostly neglected having not as obvious an effect on growth as NPK. Minerals stimulate photosynthesis of phytochemical nutrients inside the chloroplast cells at the microscopic size frame and their effects are less apparent until the crop is harvested and can be tasted. The major difference between the two is that the first type produces the size of food, the second type puts the nutrition into food. ASAP understands these two areas of soil and plant nutritional requirements and can offer some clear thinking on the subject.

It is extremely important that the right amount and kind of the first group fertilizer is applied to fruit trees and grape vines. For example, too much nitrogen (N) can result in oversized, poorly-colored fruit which does not keep well. If growth continues late in the season (because of excessive N), trees fail to harden properly and are more subject to winter injury. Diseases such as fireblight of pear and apple, or canker of peach, can be more serious if N levels are too high. Too little N also causes problems such as poor fruit set, small fruit, pale foliage and stunted growth. N control is the most common and serious nutritional problem in Ontario orchards and vineyards. Excessive levels of N occur more frequently than deficient levels.

Micro-nutrient stripping in the soils in the United States is more common. K deficiency and excess are also frequently encountered. Grapes, for example, often show K deficiency as the crop matures, even though the clay loam soils on which they are grown test high in K. This is more serious in dry years or with heavy crops.

Soil pH should be checked every 2 to 3 years. Micro-nutrients are very sensitive to acid or base conditions and incorrect pH can produce unavailability or toxicity. Excesses or deficiencies of micro-nutrients also can result in serious metabolic functional problems in crops. This is where ASAP Plant Minerals has its greatest effects, micro-minerals are essential for the utilization of the big three and even more important if you are growing food for nutrition. With increased fertilizer costs and environmental concerns, proper fertilizer use becomes even more important.

Excessive potassium can lead to magnesium deficiency. Low magnesium levels particularly in vineyards and apple orchards are becoming more common. Without understanding the intricate link between NPK and micro-minerals Zn, Mn and B deficiencies are created in orchards when micro-minerals are not replenished. When the big three are used year after year; these minerals are simply removed. All disorders, however, can be most readily identified by leaf analysis to evaluate what is missing in the soil by identifying what is found in the leaf tissue. In many cases, growers have found that the cost for each leaf sample has been returned many times over in reduced fertilizer costs and/or in better crops of higher quality fruit.

Leaf Analysis:

The Ontario Leaf Analysis Service for fruit, initiated in 1958, was one of the first to be introduced in North America. An analytical service is now available from accredited private laboratories for apple, peach, pear, plum, cherry, grape, strawberry and blueberry. Growers of these crops have an effective method of predicting fertilizer requirements and of measuring responses to their fertilizer and cultural programs. Each lab has a basic and complete two tier analysis.

The best method of determining the kind and amount of fertilizer to apply to fruit trees is by leaf analyses. It effectively measures macro and micro-nutrients and indicates the need for changes in fertilizer programs. Leaf analyses integrates all the factors that might influence nutrient availability and uptake and shows the balance between nutrients. For example magnesium (Mg) deficiency may be the result of a lack of Mg in the soil or from excessive K levels or both of these conditions. Leaf analyses can indicate the balance between K and Mg and show hidden or incipient deficiencies. Adding N, for example, when K is low may result in K deficiency because the increased growth requires more K.

An example of how leaf analyses data might be interpreted:

A Fuji apple leaf sample taken the last 2 weeks of July tests 2.30% N. This is at the low end of the optimum range and suggests a need for slightly more fertilizer N. If the trees had been heavily pruned the previous spring a greater increase in fertilizer N might be applied since pruning would have increased leaf N concentrations. On the other hand, if the trees are to be pruned heavily next spring, the same rate of fertilizer N might be applied this year since growth and N uptake will be stimulated by the pruning. If the trees are on M26 or M9 rootstock, an even greater increase in N rate should be applied since the leaf N is no longer in the optimum range. If the leaf K is 1.4% an increased rate of K fertilizer is needed since this is the bottom of the optimum range and an increase in N fertilizer rate will increase the need for K. The increased K rate may increase the need for Mg if the Mg concentration is below .25%.

Testing fruit and leaf is an easy and safe way to investigate the condition of the minerals in your soil to assure the growing medium of your plants. But applying ASAP Plant Minerals in fall and spring will always provide the stripped micro-nutrients back to your soil for the big three to work.

August Dunning is the head Research Director at http://www.asaporganics.com

Soil Articles