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Sunflower Competition

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Welcome to our Sunflower Competition

Did you know that the tallest Sunflower ever grown was by a man in Germany.  It measured 9.17metres high!

What you will need is

  • A cup or tin or why not remove the top off a water bottle and use that.
  • Compost
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Large flowerpot
  • Watering can

It’ll take about eight weeks to grow a sunflower from seed.  The competition ends on 31st August so get growing and here’s how:

  1. Put some compost in a cup/ tin or water bottle with the top removed, almost to the top. Poke your finger in the soil to make a hole for your sunflower seed.
  2. Pop a sunflower seed into the hole then cover it with a little compost. Give it a water so the compost is nice and damp.
  3. Put the cup/tin somewhere sunny like a windowsill. Give your sunflower a little water whenever it feels dry.
  4. After about 1 or 2 weeks your seed should germinate, and a shoot will poke through the soil.
  5. When your plant grows too big for the cup, plant it in a bigger flowerpot or outside in the garden if you have somewhere warm and sunny.
  6. Keep checking on your sunflower, making sure it doesn’t dry out (but no need to overwater it) – how tall will it grow?
  7. Having looked after it all summer, it is time to measure it or just before the 31st August.  Take a picture of the sunflower, email clerk@sherfieldparkparishcouncil.gov.uk with your name, address, height of the sunflower and photograph – good luck!
  8. When the sunflower head starts to turn brown, cut it off and hang it somewhere dry and airy. When the seeds are dry, rub them together to loosen them. Birds can eat your seeds if you leave them in the garden. You could even put them in a bird feeder.

A prize of a £30 voucher will be awarded to the person who grows the tallest sunflower.  The measurement will be verified by a local judge.  Their decision is final, no cash prize alternative is on offer.  All measurements must be submitted by midday on 1st September and will be verified by 4th September.  The winner will be announced 5th September.

Other sunflower facts

Young Sunflowers track the sun

Older Sunflowers face East

Sunflowers can self-pollinate

There are 70 different types of Sunflowers

Their scientific name is Helianthus (which comes from the Greek words for sun and flower

Each sunflower is actually thousands of teeny flowers.

And each sunflower can contain as many as 1,000 to 2,000 seeds