I don't remember the planting date but can look it up in a day or two. They were planted with spray, throw, and mow on the same day. Planting dates aren't as important to me as conditions. I had actually planned to plant a couple of weeks later but rain was in the forecast so I planted early.
First year I tried Clearfield Sunflowers, doing well so far. One spot is new this year so I planted some Proso Millett as a fail safe incase the deer destroy the 6 acres of sunflowers.
It's always been apparent that doves love lighting in dead trees, and of course on power lines. I tried to add similar resting places for the birds: strung a metal cable wire from one tree to another, then cut down a small tree, removed the majority of the leaves, and "replanted" it on the edge of my plot. The dead tree project was a LOT easier than the wire, as a friend had a gas powered post digger, so the only real work was removing the leaves. I hope to heck the wire attracts them as it was an enormous pain in the @$$. I am primarily a deer hunter, and have never climbed a tree in such hot, humid weather. Getting the slack out of the cable was also a challenge, but if it works it will be very rewarding.
Overall it was nice getting to check on everything, and even though I was pretty late with getting the millet in, it grows so rapidly that it might make just in time. Not expecting an amazing shoot, just trying to get a few migraters used to stopping by. Big plans for the future, but gotta start somewhere.