Growing Sunflowers

Growing sunflowers is easy, just remember, their roots secrete a substance which inhibits the growth of any plants around them, so find a separate place for these majestic centennials.

Where to Grow?

First, you need to think of a place to grow your sunflowers, as you will want to grow THE biggest one. And the place you choose will need a little bit of work doing while your seedling grows.

Sunflowers are one of the speediest plants to grow, they can reach a whopping 3 metres in just 6 months. so they do need a wall, or fence, or a good long stick to stop them being blown over in the wind.

Find a sheltered place which is sunny all day, and watch their heads as they move from East to West following the sun through the day.

Your soil needs to have plenty of compost and manure, this makes for thicker, fuller seeds. Ask the stables for some OLD horse droppings, this makes the best fertiliser and is the quickest of the manures to breakdown into humus which retains moisture but does not get too soggy.

Weed the area and place the compost on tip of the soil, if you have some grass clippings put them on top of the manure, then cover the whole lot with some mulch, you may be lucky to get some from the stables!!

If you are going to need a stake for your sunflower/s now is a good time to put it/them in place, if you do it later you may damage the sunflowers roots,

Sowing Your Seeds

Fill a 8cm plant pot with seed raising mix, then water it until it changes to a darker colour. This is the colour you need to keep the soil from now on.

Push in your seeds into the soil up to your first finger joint, this is approx. 1cm or 1/2 an inch deep. The pointy bit should be facing upwards.

Put the pot/s on a window sill that gets good light and some sun, you don’t want it too be too hot. But, sunflowers do need a soil temperature of 70°F / 21°C.

Then you will see a little seedling in 2 to 10 days time, depending upon the variety. It is a good idea to keep turning the pot a little bit every day, this will make the stem grow straight.

When your seedling is 8cm tall, it should be strong enough to plant outside, and the soil area you made will have warmed up.

Planting Outside

The day before planting outside, water the outside soil where you are going to put your sunflower until it changes colour (this is the colour you need to keep the soil from now on) and water the seedling in the pot.

Choose your spot and move the mulch away with your hands and gently scoop out a hole that is double the size of your pot.

Gently hold the sunflower seedling between your first and second fingers, and ‘cup’ the palm of your hand over the soil in the pot. (If your hands are too small, you may have to ask Mum or Dad help you I don’t know if this is allowed!!)
Carefully tip the pot until it’s nearly upside down and let the seedling fall smoothly into your hand.

With your other hand carefully hold the seedling by a leaf and pop it into the hole, fill in around the seedling with the soil you scooped out and put back the mulch.

Now, all you have to do is watch and it may be fun to measure how much your sunflower grows each week!

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