How To Grow A Sunflower

Who doesn’t love a sunflower? Known as ‘happy’ flowers, they bring smiles to our faces and can instantly lift our mood. Bees and insects love them too and their seeds make great food for birds, making them the perfect plant to attract wildlife to your garden.

To celebrate the arrival of Spring and to encourage everyone to get in touch with nature, PMP are hosting a competition to see who can grow the tallest sunflower! Send us pictures of your flowers and measure the height to be in with a chance to win a fantastic prize!

But how do you grow a sunflower? Well, we’re glad you asked…

You will need: 

Plastic cup
• Compost
• Garden sunflower seeds
• Large flower pot
• Watering can/hose
• A sunny and bright indoor space. You don’t need a big garden to take part!

How to grow your sunflower

It will take around eight weeks for your sunflower to grow from a seed, so be patient!

1. Fill a plastic cup almost to the top with compost.
2. Poke your finger in the soil to make a hole and pop in your sunflower seed. Cover with a little more compost and give it some water so that it is nice and damp.
3. Place your cup on a bright and sunny windowsill and give it water whenever it feels dry.
4. Your plant should poke through the soil after one or two weeks, which means it’s time to get the measuring tape out! You can measure how much your plant grows each week and make a log of its progress
5. When it grows too big for the cup, transfer it to a larger flowerpot. You can put it outside if you have somewhere warm and sunny enough, however it is worth bringing it inside overnight for a few weeks until temperatures rise.
6. Enjoy watching your sunflower grow! Take lots of pictures and measure your plant regularly to be in with a chance to win.

When your sunflower head begins to turn brown, cut it off and hang it somewhere dry and airy. Once the seeds are dry, you can rub them together to loosen them and put them in a bird feeder or put them back in the soil ready for next year.

We will be posting regular updates and announcing the winner in May. Get planting!

Don’t want to do your own gardening? PMP have experienced gardeners standing by to provide you with a free quote today.