Flowers Archives - The Contractor's Castle

Easy No Fuss All Smiles SunFlowers!

by Elise | Jul 28, 2018 | Backyard Garden, Flowers

These beautiful sunflower girls just wanna have some fun in the garden sun! They are beautifully majestic but they’re not always the easiest to tame. Knowing where to plant these Garden Party Girls is key for smiles all summer long!

Hello Gorgeous Autumn Beauty!

Sunflower is such a beautiful plant but not always the easiest to grow. I’ve been trying for quite a while to master these beauties and have come to the conclusion they are free-spirited and not so easy to tame! They’re going to either play nice or give you the cold shoulder. Thank goodness they decided to play this year!

Fly on the Sun

Years of just planting sunflowers willy nilly around my house just wasn’t working. The side of the garage, which has the absolute worst soil, or just beyond the raised bed veggie garden didn’t have fertile loose soil.

Lack of sunspots perfect for these pretties finally lead us to created one just for these tall, golden wildflower beauties.

Sunflowers Are Super Easy To Grow

Sunflowers and wildflowers both like good, rich organic soil with a lot of morning sun. Water is necessary but not every day; a good soaking every couple of two or three days a week promotes strong root growth.

Also, an area where they’re sheltered from the full force of strong winds is helpful. These babies get tall and a big 70 mile an hour wind could be the end of them.

I always thought Sun in sunflower meant they liked all Sun, all the time not caring about things like well-inoculated soils or companion plants close by. Ha Ha, the jokes on me! They get their name because they resemble the Sun! Duh

two sunflowers at dusk with sunrays behind them

Sun in your shine:)

Why Grow Sunflowers

The number one benefit to growing sunflowers is not that they are beautiful and fun, it’s the healthy benefits gardening provides to your soul and to your body.
If you suffer from anxiety…any kind of anxiety…you must garden! Apparently, there is some microbe, Mycobacterium vaccae, in the soil that increases the serotonin levels in your brain! Just digging in the dirt is good for you! No wonder kids love to play in the dirt and mud. Maybe adults should try it too!
The exercise is the obvious benefit…right! The more you exercise the healthier you are! It’s really quite eye-opening how many steps and how many muscles you use when gardening.
Being in the sun is just plain good for you. Have you ever noticed how happy people seem to be when the sun is out? Lack of sun and vitamin D is a real disorder…I know…I have it! I’m from the south and I’m a Sun girl!!

The happiness you have when your end product…sunflowers…show their beautiful faces! The benefits are immeasurable!

More great reasons to grow these giant smiles!

They are really cheap (seed packets, $2.50 for around 50 seeds!) and relatively easy to grow
Can be used as a “trellis” for green beans, cucumbers, almost any vining plant
Seeds can be harvested and used for bird food during the winter
Attracts pollinators for your yard
Make excellent cut flowers
Instant mood lifter:)

tired sunflowers waiting for the birds to munch on their seeds

Still pretty but tired

How to Clean Up Sunflowers

Most sunflowers reach between 5-10 feet tall. The tallest ones will need to be staked or supported in some way. They can be somewhat of a pain to “cleanup” in the fall after they’ve wilted. My suggestion would be first to cut the flowers off and shake the seeds out for next year’s planting or use them as bird feed on those cold winter days.

Once that is done cut the stem off at ground level (no pulling up from the soil) and dispose of them in a compost bin. If you don’t have a compost bin then chop up and put under your bushes, mulch in the garden area, or dispose of them in a temporary compost bin, like an old trash can.

Sunflowers make great compost, like most vegetation, because they are very disease resistant. Our soil needs the nutrients from the spent flowers, our landfills don’t!

a variety of sunflowers outside in the backyard garden

Happy Ladies! Please disregard the paint job…it’s a work in progress:)

Sunflower Smiles

I do hope this novice blog about sunflowers has created a little interest in growing these smile creators in your garden. If you follow the few simple steps stated above I guarantee you will have sunshine all summer long!

As always, thank you for reading:)

Elise

Disclaimer: Clicking on the informative, interesting, and helpful advertisements in this post will result in a very small residual for this blog so please click away:)