First sunflower seedlings

These are strictly speaking not the first sunflower seedlings on my plot as my neighbour's plants from last year seem to have self-seeded everywhere on the path and on my plot (the decomposing roots are excellent green manure when they get eaten!) but they're sunflower seeds I've sown or seedlings I've just planted out. 

As well as the usual 'Russian Giant', I'm growing 'Copper Queen' in the orange/red flower bed between my asparagus beds, 'Evening Sun', 'Infrared' (one of my favourites) and 'Valentine', a gorgeous beige multistemmed one. I've also got dwarf 'Little Leo' sunflowers in the coffee sacks planters by the pond (pic below). I'm a big fan of sunflowers and take the view you can never have enough on an allotment!

Of course planting out sunflower seedlings is always high risk as I know I have a lot of snails and slugs lurking around in the evening. I've found using V-shaped cloches around the seedlings and backfilling with woodchips seems to do the trick. It also has the advantage of keeping the young plant warm and protecting it from strong winds while it establishes. 

And I tend to sow a few seeds direct where I plant out sunflower seedlings, just to be on the safe side.