Can anyone help me restore the soil beneath my bird feeder? I have a large and previously lush veggie bed directly below my bird feeder. Last year the area produced prolifically - greens, peas, tomatoes, onions, potatoes. Since the fall, the soil has become infused with the toxin from the black oil sunflower hulls that fall to the ground, and now not even a weed is growing there. The hulls have fallen 2" to 3" thick in some places, over an area about 10'x15'. I've scraped them up periodically but clearly the damage is done - the rain has leached this toxin down into the soil. If there's a way to restore this area, to neutralize the toxin, I would love to know about it. Thank you for any advice! Frith
Frith, here's a previous discussion of sunflower allelopathy: http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=14964 I have nothing really to add. This just made me curious since I tend to pop in sunflowers here & there & feed the birds (a little). Never noticed a problem.
