"Growing Sunflowers"

Sunflowers are wonderful and very majestic flowers to grow in your garden. Children love them, and they are fairly easily grown. If your garden is in a windy spot, it's probably best to choose a shorter growing variety, but if you can grow the tall ones - they are stunning!

They can be grown against a fence and then tied gently to hooks to prevent wind damage, or you could use canes, as long as they are strong and very firnly placed in the ground. This should be done at the time of planting, to prevent any damage to the roots later on.

Try a couple of different varieties to see which one is the most suitable for your garden space.

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There are many different varieties available at Thompson and Morgan, a world-wide seed distributor. Click on this link for US supplies... Growing Sunflowers in the US and here for UK supplies... Growing Sunflowers in the UK There are more than one page in both countries so have a good look before you choose!

And for everywhere else in the world go to their homepage and follow the links to your country... Thompson and Morgan

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Planting: Sunflower seeds are best planted in situ, but can be re-planted if necessary. If you do want to sow them early in pots in a greenhouse, grow them in biodregradeable pots so you dont have to disturb them too much. And always get them used to the outside conditions by leaving the pots out during the day for a week or so before planting in the garden.

Prepare the ground by digging over, and removing any perrenial weeds and non-organic material. Take out any large stones as well to let the roots have a clear space to grow. They like a sunny position. If you have the space, try and grow a couple of flowers close to the house in view of a window. Later on in the autumn, when the seeds have formed, local garden birds will feast on the sunflower seeds, and you can watch them from inside the house!

Place stakes in the ground at the same time as planting the seed. Plant seed according to the recommendations on the seed packet. Generally, you should plant the seeds about 1 inch or 2cm deep. When the seedlings come up they will need about 20inches or 50cm of space between plants so plant the seeds every 8 or 10 inches to allow for non-germination. It happens! Plant when the ground has warmed up a little, but again check on your regional recommendation for exact dates.

Keep watered and weed-free and your plants should germinate fairly quickly.

Caring for sunflowers Sunflowers are fairly hardy and will just get on with growing, sometimes at a remarkably quick rate! Keep an eye on them and support with a natural twine tied round the stem and attached to support canes or a fence or windbreak.

Keep weed free, although once they have started to grow, they tend to be able to cope with a few weeds around the base. It's always nice to keep the weeds from seeding though, so keep weed-free as much as possible.

Enjoy them- take pictures of the smallest members of the family next to the huge blooms! When the petals start to drop, the centre of the flower will produce hundreds of seeds. These seeds are edible and should be stored for a good supply of vitamin E during the winter months, or let the birds enjoy them.

You can find more about growing food and even a few recipe ideas in my book recently published with Findhorn Press. Grow Your Own Pharmacy You really can grow enough fruit and veg to keep your family glowing with good health!

Happy Gardening!

More "Sunflower" reading

http://www.flower-and-garden-tips.com/sunflowers.html