Saturn – These types of peaches may not look like your image of a peach, they are neither round nor fizzy but are white-fleshed. Their taste will blow your mind. The mouth-watering fruit is easier to eat out of hand simply because you can pop it out with your thumb. Because of its unusual shape, it is sometimes called the “Doughnut” peach. This variety can work in both high and low climates.
Peaches are rich in nutrients and can be beneficial to humans in allergy relief, digestion, and also smoothing skin. Also, they are filled with antioxidants that protect the skin from aging and diseases. All in all, a peach is a fruit you will want to consider adding to your diet.
Sunflowers
Honey Hill organic farm joined forces with the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and ARS Account Resolution in 2015 planting 15 acres of sunflowers for pressing the oil. The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a year-long plant with a daisy-like flower face. The flowers may be of different colors (yellow, red, maroon, orange, brown) but mostly they are bright yellow with brown centers that come to maturity into heads filled with seeds. Sunflowers are heliotropic meaning they turn especially their flowers to follow the direction of the sun from morning to sunset.
Heliotropism mostly occurs during the earlier stages just before the flower gets heavy with seeds. Sunflower seeds can be pressed for oil that can be used for cooking. Today, there are different types of sunflowers to pick from that suit your garden. Those with single stems or branched stems, the ones that are best for bouquets which mostly are pollen-free, and those with ample pollen for pollination, those that give rise to edible seeds, and those that stay small or soar above the rest of the garden. A normal growing sunflower starts to mature from 80 to 94 days depending on the variety, some grow to over 16 feet in height while others rarely grow to a foot tall! Most flower heads within the large-seeded type grow up to over 11 inches in thickness.
PLANTING
Honey Hill Organic Farm suggests the following best practices when it comes to sunflowers.
GROWING SUNFLOWERS
Look for a sunny field area! Sunflowers thrive best in environments with enough sunlight — approximately 6 to 8 hours a day — this ensures the flowers blossom well.
Make sure it is an area with well-draining soil. Proper drainage ensures that the soil does not get too dense and wet, altering the plant’s growth. Water-logged and saturated soils make the roots oxygen-deprived, and unable to take up water to the other parts of the plant.
When preparing a bed to plant, dig up to 2 feet in depth and about 4 feet across, this is because sunflowers have long taproots which stretch out as the plant grows. This means that the soil can’t be too compact.
They are not particular when it comes to the soil pH. This is the measure of acidity and the basicity of how a solution is. Sunflowers flourish in moderately acidic to rather alkaline soil (pH 6.0 to 7.5).
They are known to be heavy feeders, this means the soil must be nutritious with manure and organic matter. One can also use granular fertilizer but it is best if it’s 6 to 8 inches deep into the soil. Fertilizer helps replenish the nutrients in the soil.
It is important to plant sunflowers in a well-sheltered place to prevent them from strong winds. Strong winds make sunflowers blow over, to avoid this, plant them perhaps near a wall, a building, or along a fence.
Birds can be a problem when flowering starts and birds start scratching around the seeds. There are methods to keep them away, for example, using nets or bird busters which make a screeching sound scaring away birds.