How to Grow Sunflowers

First, get your seeds!

You can get a packet of sunflower seeds from your local garden centre or some supermarkets or online.

There are lots of different varieties. HBUF has a mix of heritage varieties that we’ll be trying, a mix of different shapes and colours (who knew, not all sunflowers are yellow?!)

Sunflower Seeds

Pot them up

Fill a pot with peat-free compost to within 2cm of the top and water well. If you don’t have a flower pot then you can always use another container, so long as you don’t mind getting it dirty.

Place 1 or 2 seeds well apart in the pot but not too near the edge, press gently in and cover with 1cm compost. If you can stick a clear plastic bag over the top, it will be like a mini greenhouse.

If you’re doing this at home with your family, why not use a label or a lolly stick to record the name of the person who planted it?

Find a good spot

Place the pot in a warm light place, out of direct sunlight. This could be a windowsill or any other bright spot. Keep the compost slightly moist, don’t let it dry out!

You should see a shoot within a week or two. If you put a cover over your pot you can take it off now. Rotate the pot once a day to stop the seedlings bending over.

Bring them to HBUF to be a part of our sunflower garden!

A couple of weeks before you’re going to plant your sunflowers out, it’s best to harden them off (get them used to being outdoors). Start taking the pots outside during the day and bringing them back inside at night.

Lookout for the dates and times for our planting-out sessions. You’ll find them here on hbuf.org or on our Facebook page when the dates are finalised (subject to the weather).

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