How to Plant Sunflowers

Spring time planting is an annual tradition enjoyed by people through the centuries. It’s easy, fun and rewarding, but never plant until Jack Frost leaves the premises! Sunflower seeds need little preparation to bring your garden a colorful flower and bountiful harvest in the fall.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Sunflower seeds
• Peat moss
• Potting soil, if needed
• Organic compost or manure
• Fertilizer
• Small garden shovel or hoe
• Ruler
• Water

1. Purchase sunflower seeds from your local greenhouse or garden store. No doubt you’ll see many seed packages from the well over a hundred varieties to choose from, even hybrids. Pick either perennials or annuals. The annuals grow the tallest and yield the most sunflower seeds. Perennials are smaller plants averaging two feet high.
2. Select the nutrients. Buy a bag of fertilizer suitable for the seedlings and early growth. Don’t forget a bag of peat moss for drainage if your soil is poor. Add organic compost or manure to mix in with the soil.
3. Determine an area for planting the seeds. Remember sunflowers love full sun and need at least six hours exposure.
4. Prepare the soil. Work the ground clearing away weeds with your shovel or hoe adding compost or peat as needed. Figure mixing and turning the ground about a foot deep. For larger sunflowers till the soil at least two feet to each side, but remember to read the directions on the seed package!
5. Place fertilizer two inches beneath the seeds and at the surface two inches away from them.
6. Read the instructions for your particular sunflower to measure the recommended distance between each seed.
7. Drop each seed into a short depression. This varies between one and two inches depending on the plant.
8. Cover the sunflower seeds with soil and gently press down then water. Make sure the soil is kept moist during this early stage.

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