Sunflowers AND Teasels

As the cold weather really sets in, Dirty Nails finds great pleasure in watching the birds that visit his garden for a feed. As well as providing nuts and other tidbits for his feathered friends, he always cultivates certain plants especially for the birds.

Sunflowers
Sunflowers are good to grow. At this time of year thick stalks of the Giant Single variety still stand 10 feet (3 metres) or more. Their large heads, which at the peak of the season were incredible gold and brown glories the size of a dinner plate, are now drooping, dark and pecked ragged. They are high up on the menu for many seed eaters, including greenfinches. Dirty Nails will leave his sunflowers standing right through the winter, unless adverse weather snaps them first.

To please his eye in the summer, and feed the birds in winter, he sows sunflowers singly in pots of moist compost during March, popping in the black and white striped seeds to a depth of ½ an inch (1½ cm). They are strong growers in the greenhouse or on the windowsill and should be big enough to plant out in early May. Allowing 2 feet (60 cm) or more at this stage may seem a bit extravagant, but Dirty Nails is always generous with his sunflowers when it comes to giving them space. They like to be kept watered during dry spells, and respond to a monthly dose of nettle and comfrey feed with energetic growth and spectacular flowers from high-summer onwards.

Teasels
Another provider of nourishment for birds in winter is the teasel. By November it has become a crisp brown skeleton, up to 6 feet (2 metres) tall, with numerous stems supporting dozens of spiky, egg-shaped seed heads. It is a magnet for goldfinches. These birds have beaks which are perfectly evolved to fit into the depths of these ‘hedgehogs’ and extract the seeds. A flock of goldfinches is known as a charm, and when travelling thus they have a beautiful call which makes Dirty Nails think of thick and precious dripping liquid. His veg patch has teasels popping up all over the place, descendants of those that he introduced from a packet of mixed wildflower seeds. They develop a low rosette of leaves, studded with soft spikes, and are easy to identify.

Natural History In The Garden: ‘Jenny’ Wren

Look out for the diminutive wren this month. With woody plants now all but bare, these stumpy little birds can be spotted as they flit between trees and bushes around the garden. Wrens are less than 4 inches (10 cm) in length and sport chestnut-brown upper parts with lighter colouration below. A bandit-like eye stripe is distinctive, and so too the short, cocked tail. They are active, like clockwork toys, constantly bobbing up and down as they tick-tack along branches in search of insect food. Wrens have a powerful song and at this time of year listen out for their short, sharp, ‘tit-tit-tit’ delivery. It is slightly harsher than the not dissimilar robin.

Dirty Nails moves these self-sown plants to his chosen growing site any time from October to March. Borne on the ‘hedgehog’ in high summer, the purple flowers are also very attractive to many long-tongued insects.

Vegetable Snippets: Fuller’s Teasel

Both the common teasel and fuller’s teasel are valuable additions to the rough corners of a vegetable patch, or integrated into the flower border. Their wildlife value in terms of attracting pollinating insects is excellent. Subsequently the seeds are attractive to birds. The plants themselves are physically impressive. They lend an air of majestic structure to a garden, especially if allowed to stand throughout the winter when they can become beautifully decorated with frost.

Teasels are easy to grow in all soils (including heavy clay) as long as their position is a sunny one. They self-seed freely, and in subsequent years will need to be kept in check with regular weeding sessions to remove the flat rosettes of tough green leaves sported by immature seedlings. This is not too demanding because as first-year youngsters they send down a creamy central tap-root which is lifted easily enough when loosened with the aid of a border fork.

Fuller’s teasel differs from the common variety in that the seeded flower head develops hooked barbs as opposed to spikes which are straight. This quality was exploited initially during the agricultural depression from 1650 to 1750 in areas such as North Somerset, where fuller’s teasel became an important crop. The dried seedheads were employed in the woollen industry for raising the nap on manufactured cloth.

Fuller’s teasel has its reputed medicinal uses too. Ointments made from the roots were used to treat warts. An infusion of dried root was believed to be beneficial to one’s stomach, to enhance one’s appetite and clean the liver.