Week 49 – Sow A Sunflower Garden

With the sun popping up every now and again it’s got us thinking about the next few months. Inspired by a lovely post on Buzzfeed, this weeks project 52 is all about creating a lovely garden retreat flagged with Sunflowers. Perfect for getting a little shade or creating a child’s camp.

You will need:

Some sunflower seeds

Watering can and water

Spade or garden fork

Small wooden posts or similar

Bamboo canes or similar

Garden twine or string

You will need to:

Choose an area in your garden suitable for growing sunflowers, as their name suggests the like the sun 🙂

Dig a trench about 30cm wide either in a circle, square or triangle into your grass (plants growing here will make up the walls). Leave a part of the shape un-dug (this will be the door).

Image courtesy of Lets Lasso The Moon on Pinterest

Plant your seeds (SEE BELOW for the RHS guidance on planting sunflowers)

Use your small posts and string to “cordon” off the area from little feet

As the plants grow you may need to support them using bamboo canes or similar

Once they are established, place some comfy mats inside and  open up for hours of fun.

Image Courtesy of Buzzed.com

How to grow sunflowers

Sunflowers can be sown straight in to the ground where they are going to flower, so make sure the space you are going to sow is weed free, by using a trowel to remove the weeds.

1. Rake the soil to a fine tilth (a fine crumbly texture) and make some drills 12mm deep. Leave a 10cm space between each seed.
2. Place the seed in carefully and cover them up with soil. Don’t forget to water the seeds gently. As they grow, if the plants are crowded, then thin them out to about 45cm apart leaving the strongest, tallest plants.
3. Be careful, as slugs and snails like to eat the new shoots. You may like to protect the seedlings by cutting the top off a plastic bottle and placing it over your seedlings.
4. As your sunflower begins to grow taller than you, you will need to help support the stem, by placing a cane near the stem and loosely tying the cane to the plant with string.
5. Watch your sunflower grow and grow and grow.