I have been trying all the available sorghum varieties, to see which ones yield the best and make decent syrup. This year it’s “Dale”, versus Sugar Drip and Mennonite from past crops. It is really fast growing, and has big seed heads:

I originally planted Cherokee White Eagle corn in the center, then decided to add a row of sorghum on the outside to deter 2-legged varmints.  It worked, you can’t see the corn on the inside and the grain is rocking. I planted it the first week of June and it’s almost ready.  I tried planting sunflowers in that area, but only three seeds made it out of a hundred I sowed. Must be the soil, the same seeds did just fine in a planter of potting soil. I will run the syrup in August, maybe it will be sweeter than the Mennonite. BTW I used last season’s syrup to make molasses cookies, they were pretty good but still had a tang to them.

I think I need to start the sunflowers in trays, or augment the soil. It’s too clayey and dry I guess.  I tried a young ear of corn, it’s edible but not sweet. This is more of a dent corn, so it will need to finish and be dried for flour (which was the point).