Roasting sunflower seeds

sunflower seedhead

I recently did a post on sunflowers with some great pictures. I grow sunflowers for attracting beneficial insects, feeding birds and because they are beautiful. But there is something else you can do with them—you can roast the seeds from the heads after the flowers fade and EAT THEM! The biggest sunflowers like Titan, Kong, Giant Gray Stripe and Mammoth which produce big seeds are best. Cut the heads off when the plants are starting to fade and the sunflowers plant yellows. Then let the heads finish drying till they are brown and dry but move them inside as the birds will start to eat the seeds if they find the heads. The smallest flower heads I leave out around the garden for the birds to get the seeds.

After the big flower heads are dried, rub off the front of the flower head to reveal the tightly packed sunflower seeds. Using your thumb, start to rub from the edges and the seeds will release and continue till you get most of them. I do this outside as it is a bit messy with dried parts everywhere. I just sit at my outside patio table to do this. Clean out the dried flower parts from all your seeds before the next step.

Now you’re ready to salt and roast your seeds. The following recipe is provided by the National Sunflower Association—sunflowernsa.com:

Cover unshelled sunflower seeds with salted water, using 1/4 to 1/2 cup of salt per 2 quarts of water. Soak seeds in the salt solution overnight. The next morning, drain off the water and pat the seeds dry to remove excess moisture. (You can also roast the seeds unsalted — simply skip the soaking process.)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread the sunflower seeds evenly on a cookie sheet or in a shallow pan, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. The seeds often develop a small crack down the center as they roast. Taste after each stirring to see if the seeds are completely roasted. After roasting, remove seeds from the oven and allow them to cool completely. Store the seeds in an airtight container for future snacking. YUM!!

Sunflowers in the fall

Sep14

sunflowers sunset

I love sunflowers. Every year I plant many varieties because they are so beautiful in the garden. An added bonus is that many bees both native and honeybees love them too. Being a beekeeper I want to help my bees by planting bee friendly plants. Bees like both nectar and pollen from sunflowers so they are a great flower to plant for honeybees and native bees. Individual sunflowers rarely self-pollinate but depend on the bee to help them. In fact bees are the major pollinators of sunflowers. The bees get covered in pollen when they visit a sunflower and then visit other sunflowers pollinating them. Here are some pictures from the garden of my sunflowers. They are particularly beautiful in the fall.

International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day this Sunday-May 1, 2011!

Apr27

GIANT TITAN SUNFLOWER

This Sunday, May 1 is International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day where people all around the world will go out and plant some sunflower seeds in a public or private place that needs beautifying this summer. Look for places that have bare ground and maybe a drip system where you can plant the seeds next to a drip emitter so the seeds have a chance. Also try not to plant them where they may be cut down by a someone who might think they are weeds. Guerrilla gardening is done to beautify otherwise neglected areas. You may be brazen or secretive about your planting. Let’s make this an annual event!

For anyone interested, I will supply FREE sunflower seeds on this Sunday, May 1 for you plant. Come gather at Liquid Light Glass located at 926 Baca Street #3 here in Santa Fe, NM. Show up at 12:30 to get your seeds and everyone leaves at 1pm to go plant. Oh, and don’t forget your trowel!

Afterward if you want, add your experience and where you planted on the ‘Comments’ section of this post for all to read. Later this summer when they flower, take a picture and send it to me and I will print it in a post with others! Hope to see you Sunday! May the force be with you!

Here are some ideas of where to plant (feel free to add your own):

RED SUNFLOWER

1. On medians that the city takes care of

2. In the parks

3. In empty dirt lots

4. On the Plaza (you’ll have to be sneaky)

5. On dirt streets or street corners

6. In church lots

7. At state building grounds

8. By the courthouses

9. At the museums

10. on school grounds

11. At restaurant grounds

12. At big box stores parking lots

13. You think of somewhere-be creative and let me know!

Beautiful garden entryway-amaranth and flowers

May25

This year I want a beautiful garden as well as a bountiful one. I planted tons of flowers in the entry way and along the entry fence. Inside the entry fence I planted Titan sunflowers again (I call these the ‘guardian angels’ of the garden) which will grow behind some scarlet runner beans (good hummingbird attractors) that will grow up the fence. Last year the Titan sunflowers got 10 feet tall and heads up to 18 inches across. Then in the entry arbor I planted rattlesnake beans (a green and purple streaked pole bean) that hopefully will grow all over the arbor giving me a very lush, green entryway (and tasty one too). Then after you walk through the arbor immediately on the left, I’m going to try amaranth-Loves-Lies-Bleeding and cockscomb-Flamingo Feather. I saw these on the Seed of Change garden tour last fall here in NM and they looked fantastic, so I thought I’d try some. I also planted sunflowers-Goldie and Chianti, Queen Anne’s Lace, Zinnias and Cosmos flowers. All this with the asparagus that I had planted last year in the entryway. I figure I have a few years till the asparagus kicks in-so I’ll plant pretty stuff around it till it does. I am also putting a glass water basin for the birds in this section of the garden. Last year it was a nice entry and I hope it will be even better this year with the arbor and the flowers. Hope to have some good pictures later in the season. Ah, fantasies of how it might be..