Sunflower Dreams

This last monday I harvested several bunches of sunflower heads from my plot in the community garden. They're a little green, so right now I'm hanging them upside-down to dry. In a few days or so I'll have quite a lot of Black Dye sunflowers seeds to try out. I'm pretty excited, despite the fact that I have no fiber or cloth to color.

I'm also saving seed from two particularly outstanding volunteer (wild) sunflower plants on the east side of my garden plot.

About a month and a half ago, I realized that those mistical free tomato stakes weren't coming. I had planted all my tomatoes and beans fairly close together under the belief that I would be pruning them heavily, and staking the plants upright. I ended up pulling a few of the tomatoes to give the rest more room, but I wasn't happy about it.

Then I looked right, and saw that there were these two sunflower plants that were each at least eight feet tall*, and as thick as sapling trees. I walked over, and shook each plant, They had a little give, but not too much. One of my crazy hair-brained ideas was born.

Why not grow a biological trellis for tomato plants? That would certainly be easier than coming up with a system that breaks down easily and stores under the bed each winter. Sunflowers would also attract beneficial insects, provide shelter for predator species, provide forage for birds, and the long tap-roots would also help naturally aerate the soil.

I realize some of you are thinking: "You dumb young girl, why not just use corn? It's been the historical choice for a biological trellis for ages!". However, corn wouldn't be a good choice for this application. Maize is pollinated by wind, so it need to be planted in fairly tight blocks to get a good crop. Tomatoes require full sun to get good production. The corn would cast too much shade on their little buddies, so you only really get a good secondary crop around the edges of the corn block.

Besides, I would have to do quite a bit or research to figure out which corn might be strong enough to hold up a tomato plant and all of it's fruit. Then, there would have to be trial and error with a ton of different varieties to see what worked, and what didn't.

Sunflowers, on the other hand, are pollinated by insects, so I could plant them to suit the space and light requirements of the tomatos. Plus, I already have the seed, and an interesting idea, so it won't hurt to try.

The two plants I saved seed from were both really tall, and really strong. One had a single large flower at the top. The second plant had a smaller main flower but was covered in small, mutated blooms. The side blooms looked like conjoined twins, and were equal parts cute and unsettling.

My plan is to try both sets of progeny out as a trellis for beans and tomatoes next year. I'll hand pollinate in order to start stabilizing the two varieties for tallness, and strength. They'll naturally be selected for disease resistance in my area, and ability to tolerate heavy clay.

In a world where I have infinite time and space I would also work in the black dye genes, seed edibility (or even oil production), and red petals (red is the best color) into my sunflower variety. I would also trial a few other varieties that seemed like they would be a good match. Unfortunately, I dont have a lot of either of those things, so I'll just have to stick to this one slightly unrealistic project for now..

Would you use a biological trellis if something workable was available?

* The two varieties I planted topped out at four feet in our heavy soils.