feed
Sunflower
Oil seed and chicken feed. Mammoth for seed, multi-head types for blooms and birds.
A crop that feeds you and the flock and marks the August garden.
- When to sow
- Mid-May, 1 in deep, after crows lose interest or under a board for a few days.
- Spacing
- 12–18 in. Stake if your ridge is windy.
- Days
- 80–100
- Harvest
- Back of the head yellow, bracts brown, seed coats black. Bag heads against birds, cut, hang to dry.
- Store
- In-shell in buckets. Press oil if you have a press; otherwise feed the flock and snack.
- Save seed
- Easy. Dry the best heads.
- Companions
- Cucumber at their feet. They shade lettuce in July.
- Pests
- Birds. Bagging is simpler than war.
- A 20-ft row of Mammoth is a winter of scratch grain extender.