I would water the plants until you harvest to make sure that the plants are still as strong as possible while the seeds are filling out. Sunflowers don't require a lot of water, I would think once per week is plenty.

I'm in the process of gradually doing the same thing in my Northern VA front yard. Your ideas sound like an excellent start. There is a very good Edible Landscaping nursery in Afton, VA near Charlottesville - not too close to you, but likely a reasonably day trip. They are at http://www.ediblelandscapin.com - they do mail order, but if you go yourself you can hand select your plants, save on shipping, and draw on the extensive knowledge of the owner (at least during the week). For fruit trees it depends on what you like to eat the most. Most varieties are available on dwarf root stock, which you should be able to space 8-10' apart. I planted Lingonberry and Wintergreen between my blueberry bushes - they grow slowly, but make pretty groundcover year round, happy in some shade as an understory plant, and are edible, too! I'm also interested in trying some wild ginger, which is native, though I don't have it yet. You can get bush cherries, and bush varieties of filberts (non-native), both grow into fairly large shrubs. Artichokes die back in the winter, but are very attractive in the warmer months, and are perennials you can grow from seed. There are also hardy kiwis which grow on thick, sturdy vines (similar to wisteria, but they don't grab on as aggressively). They take a fair bit of space, heavy pruning, and at least 1 male plant to pollinate up to 5-6 females. I prefer their small, smooth-skinned fruits over the hairy ones in the grocery stores. They fruit prolifically, and yield kiwis the size of large grapes - you can just pop them in your mouth without peeling! So far in my yard I have Sunshine Blue blueberries (tolerate less acidic soil than most blueberries), Hosui Asian pear, a non-astringent Asian persimmon (Shenko?), a contorted filbert, and a bush filbert (don't recall the variety) in my front yard. I will add another small tree (Asian pear or sour cherry, I think), and a pair of hardy kiwi. I'll also start new Artichokes - I let the ones I planted in 2007 get overgrown with grass, and they didn't survive last winter. Sorry for the lengthy post - I hope it helps a bit! Enjoy your project. -Leah

I have managed to extend the blooms of my peas into late summer when the sunsflowers were blooming by removing their seed pods. However my concern about this combo is that giant sunflowers drink up a lot of water and would likely compete with the peas. It wouldn't be as big a problem with morning glories which have deep roots.

I don't know if all crabapples are edible but last fall I made some crabapple jelly from a neighbor's tree (variety unknown). It was quite good. I also made a dessert wine from it, also good. In addition another neighbor has a crabapple tree that fits the description of the tree that you have. I researched it and it appears to be a variety called "Sargent". The fruit is red, small, quite tart and tannic but it is edible. I plan on trying to make both jelly and wine from it this coming fall. I have tasted and eaten its fruit but it is too tart and tannic to enjoy, however jelly and wine might be another story. I am still alive by the way. You could give it a try. The recipe for the jelly was from "The Joy of Cooking". Good luck