I'm having the same trouble trying to plant Sunflowers and while I haven't seen them, I'm almost positive it is the squirrels. We don't have deer or rabbit. It might have been a groundhog, but he would have eaten a lot of things and made a huge mess. I've sown the seeds three times already. After the first set of seedlings disappeared [all but two] I sowed more seed and put hardware cloth down over the seed area and some of those edges were sharp. They still managed to get in between them a little but it looked like they gave up. But, to get back at me, they pulled out the two remaining sunflower seedlings that were about 6 inches tall already. After the second set of seeds germinated, I didn't want them to grow up through the wire, so I took it off and weeded around them. Back they came and did the same thing. So I've started the third bath which are already up. I've kept the wire covering on and bent it up a little to allow the sunflower seedlings a little room to grow. This time I am not going to weed around them because I think disturbing the soil at all, is a trigger for attracting them to the area. I even left the pulled sunflower seedlings right where they left them. If this doesn't work, I'm going to try using the netting I have over the strawberries, that seems to be working fine for the strawberries. Maybe that way I can get them to a decent size before they can get at them. I hope.

Lrae..LOL...go ahead, I'll post some more for you to drool over soon. :) Chris...yep those Munsons will do it every time. You should see my Munson beds, really getting lots of bloom now and so pretty. Actually this is Thebes 2nd bloom season in my garden. Gnomey....thanks, but I just get lucky I guess, that and I've got a great camera! LOL Judy....get out there girl...you need more dl's, don't you know? :) Missylin...glad you enjoyed looking at my dl's. CK is a real beauty in person, but then again, most of them are to me. :) barbiescrapes....as I told gnomey, I guess I just get lucky and have a good camera. VM is a beautiful and very distinctive dl I think. Thanks to everyone for your comments. I've added today's seedling blooms to my last seedling thread. Link below if anyone is interested. :) Here is a link that might be useful: Today's seedlings

Why are you adding the packing peanuts? No on the gravel. The name of the game in container culture is moisture control. There is no one right growing mix. If you adjust your watering frequency to your growing mix (or vice versa), you will be successful. Remember, your tree is almost completely dependent on you for moisture/nutrients when it is growing in a container. Promix is a peat based growing mix with perlite and vermiculite added. Peat and vermiculite break down quickly. If you are looking for a more long lasting growing mix, this isn't it. You will be repotting your tree more frequently. The addition of perlite will increase your watering frequency. I don't know if the addition of mushroom compost will be of any benefit. Here is an excerpt about it: If you purchase this material, you are not getting a nutrient level high enough to grow a good crop of plants. There is also a high salt level in most spent mushroom compost that has to be leached out before the crop is planted. General analysis of nutrient levels are (N=0.7% , P= 0.3% , K= 0.3% ) which is to say  negligble. By contrast, bagged manure sold in most garden shops is N=1%, P=1%, K=1% (bagged manure has approximately 3X more nutrients than this compost). You will not get a major nutrient benefit from this material. ~james

If you want to keep them out of the trees when they do get loose you will need to cut off the edge of the wing feathers. Someone at the poultry swap should be able to tell you how much if you elect to cut the feathers. If you don't you may find your beauties up in trees roosting. My neighbor when I was young had guineas and they roosted in our trees not the house he had built for them. They make excellant watch dogs(birds).