How to grow big beautiful sunflowers in your home garden
Sunflowers are by far my favorite flower to grow in summer. Their mammoth presence and bright blooms have totally wooed me. Sunflowers are one of the easiest flowers to grow because of their adaptability to different growing environments. If you are growing in raised garden beds or just have some pots on a deck, there is a sunflower for you to grow and enjoy.
This year I'm planting a sunflower patch in the back of my garden. I've been imagining a lush hedge of vivid greens, sunset oranges, reds, and yellows becoming a living wall and backdrop to the arch trellis. I want the garden to feel like you were transported into a wild, rambling cottage garden, overflowing with veggies and flowers from every corner. Sunflowers are a perfect addition to making this space feel dreamy.
After growing sunflowers for a few years now, I've learned some helpful tips for getting beautiful blooms to enjoy all season long. Here are some good growing practices to make sure your sunflowers are happy and flourishing in the space you have.
5 Tips for growing big, BEAUTIFUL sunflowers
1. Pack your soil with rich nutrients and lots of organic matter.
2. Water deeply to encourage strong roots and larger blooms.
3. Pick a variety that suits your space.
4. Pick a full sun spot, 6-8 hours.
5. Stagger plantings every 2-3 weeks for continuous blooms all season.
Nutrient-rich soil is best
Sunflowers prefer well-draining soil for their expansive root systems to go deep and spread out. Although they prefer this they are quite adaptable to different soil conditions. Sunflowers are also heavy feeders, meaning they take up a lot of nutrients from the soil. They need nutrient-rich soil packed with lots of organic matter, so regularly feed with a slow-release fertilizer, aged manure, or fish emulsion. When adding amendments such as these make sure to work them into the first several inches of the soil, so that the plant can soak up the nutrients into their roots faster. Although sunflowers aren’t too picky when it comes to the soil they prefer less compact soil so their long taproots can spread out.
Water Deeply
Watering correctly is key to having thriving sunflowers and a flourishing garden. Sunflowers need lots of water to produce large flower heads. Don't worry too much if you forget sunflowers are resilient and forgiving and can go with a short drought and survive.
Ok, what is watering correctly? Isn't watering just watering? Well, there’s a method. I could write an entire blog post about this one topic, but here’s the short of it.
Why is watering deeply important?
Shallow watering creates shallow roots. Watering plants deeply encourages roots to seek out the water, allowing your plant to soak up more nutrients, creating a healthier plant.
How to water deeply?
Place your hose at the base of the plant, set it to the soaker setting, and keep it there for a good 30 seconds. Don’t be afraid to stick a finger in the soil and see if you watered enough. The soil should be wet at least 5 inches down.
Sunflowers from my home garden
Pick a variety
Pick a variety that works for your space. Some sunflowers can get up to 12 feet tall in the right conditions. If you have the space go for it. Larger varieties like Mammoth Sunflowers need at least 2 feet of soil room for their large root systems. For smaller spaces choose varieties that use the word "container friendly", “dwarf”, or "patio size". These only grow 3 or 4 ft tall and will be easier to maintain. Reference the back of the seed packet for height, and other information. For smaller spaces and container gardens I recommend planting multi-head sunflowers. You won’t have to plant as many and will get to enjoy more colorful blooms longer, making a larger impact in your space
2 basic types of sunflowers
single-headed:
Produces one head and the whole plant dies after the flower is done blooming. An example would be mammoth sunflowers.
multi-headed:
Produces multiple heads. Blooming time can be prolonged by removing dead or spent flowers allowing the plant to shift its energy to produce more blooms. an example would be Double Sunking Sunflowers.
Sunlight
When choosing a spot to plant your sunflowers remember the more sunlight the
larger the blooms. If you want big beautiful sunflower in your backyard place it in a spot that receives full sun or 6-8 hours of sunlight. Watch your planting spot throughout the day and keep track of the sun to determine a place that gets full sun.
Stagger Plantings
Stagger your direct sown plantings about every 2 - 3 weeks for continuous blooms. This will create a beautiful sunflower patch all summer long. Sunflowers can last well into the fall in mild climates too as long as the temps don’t go below 50 degrees. To make sure you have enough time for the plant to bloom before a frost you need to know the number of days to bloom, usually found on the back of the seed packet.
My Favorite Sunflower Varieties
New to gardening and need help understanding what seeds to buy? I made a post The Gardener Seed Shopping Guide all about how to choose the right plants for a thriving garden.
Happy Gardening!
