Growing Sunflowers from Seed: Step-by-Step Guide

Follow this step by step guide to how to grow your own sunflowers from seeds.

Sunflowers are very rewarding to grow from seed and they have very attractive flowers. They are easy to grow, and it is an ideal plant for children and schools to get involved in.

The Haith’s team are currently in competition with each other to see who can grow the tallest one!

Sunflowers look amazing in your garden when they start to grow and they will also brighten up any house when they are cut and placed in a vase.

Here is a step by step guide on how to grow them from seed

• Use a good compost to fill small pots to 1cm below the rim, then firm down the soil.

• Place one sunflower seed in each pot and push seed down a couple of centimetres in the soil.

• Cover over the sunflower seed with the compost and moisten them with a little water so that the soil is damp throughout.

• Place the pots in a tray with a lid to cover over to keep them warm and until they start to sprout.

• Sunflowers need a lot of water as they dry out very easily, so keep them moist at all times.

The best time to re-pot your Sunflower seeds outside in the garden is around June time when all the frosts have finished. They do like warm and sunny days to help them grow and plenty of water too.

Why not keep a record of each one you grow as some can get up to six feet tall and the flowers will start to blossom between late summer and early autumn.

At the end of the flowering season you will see that the Sunflower heads will start to die off and turn brown, you can then either save the seeds to plant again for next year or they will make a mouth- watering snack for the wild birds.

Good luck everyone in growing your sunflowers – please share your photos with us by emailing them to enquiries@haiths.com 

Written by Chris Smith