Avoiding waste after a plant is finished growing can require some creative thinking, but luckily, a pair of gardeners have a clever solution.
The scoop
Amber and Nick of The Disco Garden (@the_discogarden) posted a video on Instagram of how to turn spent sunflower stalks into trellising for the next growing season.
They cut the stalks about an inch from the ground and trimmed away any leaves about an inch from the stem, adding in the caption that you'd want to leave some of the "'nub' ... for vegetation grappling."
They set aside the felled sunflower stalks in a single layer to dry for 45 days, noting to keep an eye out for mold. "If all goes well and they don't mold or rot along the way, these babies become great trellises for all kinds of trailing stuff!" they wrote in the caption.
"Sustainable, resourceful, and best of all free," they concluded the video, along with a reminder to compost any plant material you pull off the stalk.
How it's working
A trellis can be necessary for a variety of plants and vegetables grown in home gardens, like tomatoes, beans, peas, and cucumbers, but depending on the size and scope of your plans, it can be expensive to purchase. Using the sunflower stalks saves money and makes the most of a plant that has completed its life cycle by not letting it go to waste.
House Digest also explains that you can use the stalks as simple stakes for climbing plants or bend and tie them to form more elaborate structures, like a lattice pattern. And at the end of the growing season, if the stalks aren't looking like they'll hold up, they'll still be compostable, unlike a metal or plastic trellis purchased at a store.
Growing vegetables at home is a great way to save money while getting the freshest food possible. An investment of just $70 can yield $600 of produce a year, all of which will taste better because you grew it yourself.
What people are saying
The hack had a lot of fans in the comments on the video.
"THANK YOU!!! I had no idea what to do with my sunflowers and now I CANNOT wait to get this process started!!" one person wrote.
Other people had additional suggestions on how to make the most of all the sunflower parts. "Leaves are edible and stalks can be ground for flour as well," one person wrote.
Another offered, "Give the heads to the squirrels and birds."
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