Luckily, sunflowers are one of the easier flowers to grow and there are great benefits of having them in your garden too! (See last blog) Sunflowers should be sown from April to May and are best in a multi-purpose compost. Also, as their name suggests, sunflowers like to be grown in a sunny spot so keep this in mind when planting it outside, thinking about access to light at your sunflower’s varying height.
Here are some simple steps to grow and take care of your sunflower:
1. Start off by sowing your seed in a pot (one per 7.5cm pot), 1.5cm deep into the compost, making sure it is covered. Keep in a frost-free place until germinated.
2. Water regularly and wait for the seed to germinate.
3. At the end of May, plant the germinated sunflower outside. Tip: Let it grow quite tall before planting out as young seeds are vulnerable to damage from slugs/snails!
4. Keep watering frequently as sunflowers need a plentiful supply of water.
5. If your sunflower becomes tall enough (fingers-crossed!) then you can stake it with a cane to keep it upright.
6. On 1st September send us your final measurement of your sunflower to be in with chance of winning a prize!
We ask that you grow your sunflower using only organic natural pesticides and fertilisers, and please us peat free compost-let\’s look after those precious peat bogs!
It’s not too late to sign up for our sunflower growing competition, all you have to do is email pip@districteating.com with your name and address.
Share your sunflowers with us!
