Sunflowers

KIDS love to grow sunflowers. After all, how many other flowers do you know which grow so well, so easily, so quickly – and so tall?

It’s great fun to watch and you can even have a competition to see whose grows the tallest in a specified amount of time!

So, how best to grow them? We asked the Royal Horticultural Society for tips.

Growing conditions: Sunflowers like to grow in full sun in well drained soil.

When to grow: See individual seed packets for details. Sunflowers are mainly sown from mid-April to the end of May but you can still try now.

What you need: Choose a packet of sunflower seeds – remember to look to see how tall it might grow; gardening gloves; rake; trowel and plant label and pencil.

How to grow: Sunflowers can be sown straight into 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 any weeds.

Rake the soil to a fine tilth (a fine crumbly texture) and make some drills 12mm deep. Leave a 10cm space between each seed.

Place the seeds 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.

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 them.

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.

Watch your sunflower grow and grow and grow.