How to Grow Sunflowers
We talked a bit about the design we wanted, and got straight to work. We figured a large outdoor room would be the most accommodating for our needs. A clubhouse for the kids, but also a space large enough for me to pull in a table and chairs and host a fabulous dinner party.
We measured out our space with a yardstick and got to digging with some simple spades. The kids did most of this job, I just supervised to make sure the lines stayed straight!
When we had our rows dug out & cleared of debris, I used the kids footsteps to plant the sunflower seeds. Each kid walked a line and we dug a small hole where his foot fell, then we planted a seed inside the hole and covered it up with a bit of dirt.
We watched carefully and waited (fairly) patiently until we saw our sunflower first sprouts, about a week later.
The kids were hooked.
Once they saw their hard work paying off in sprouts, I didn’t have to do much to remind them to tend their sunflowers. They watered diligently and kept track of the growing progress.
We had some sunflower blooms in about a month and in less than 2 months we had sunflowers as high as 14 FEET TALL!
This has been the most fun outdoor project we have ever taken on and we have big plans on how to make it even bigger & better next year!
We are planning to install a trellis of twinkle lights across the top to act as a “ceiling” and provide an awesome extra something at night. We want to hang an outdoor chalkboard in the back and next year, we will line the outside of the house with colorful flowers and add some spinning pinwheels to the entryway.
Have you ever built a sunflower house with your kids or an outdoor clubhouse?
How else could I make this space extra magical for our kids?
The Quirky Mommas are a part of the Lowe’s Creative Network. As a Lowe’s Creator, we receive information from Lowes along with gift cards to cover purchase expenses. All opinions expressed are our own. The seeds used to grow this sunflower clubhouse were purchased at Lowe’s for less than $6. Transform a trampoline into a cute backyard playhouse!
My daughter and I did this last year as our first ever planting. This summer we moved on to pumpkins. I saved the seeds from our farm purchased pumpkins last year and dried them. This year we added a space in the yard for a pumpkin garden and planted away. So far so good, they are growing like crazy!
Awesome! It really is a beautiful way to spend time with your kids. Had seen the “start” on your blog. Love how it turned out.
Very cool! Was it hard mowing around them? I’m so inspired!
Oh my goodness, how fun! I can’t believe how fast they grew so tall! Amazing!! LOVE this!
Just magic!!!
What a wonderful idea!
This is such a great idea! And wouldn’t it just be perfect to have an arbor for the door and plant scarlet runner beans (or some other vine) around it? I love your idea!
oh Elya, I LOVE the arbor idea …. and the runner beans! I purchased climbing morning glories to intertwine with the sunflowers but my in-laws scared me with stories of how they can take over your yard. I still wanted to try it … but hubby not so much 🙂
*gasp!* Morning glories would be so pretty! But your in-laws are right- they do tend to take over! But I bet if you planted them in pots you could contain them a bit more!
This is so cute! I can’t wait to grow sunflowers with my kiddos now 🙂
oh thank you Kim, I know you guys will love it too
What a fantastic project, sunflowers are so beautiful and perfect to grow in the hot summer. I love your son’s big plans for your yard.
Thank you Neven! He certainly got his “BIG PLANS” gene from me … love the way he thinks. He has a 15 page detailed instruction manual on how we will complete each step … his pergola is pretty darn cool if I do say so myself 🙂
wow impressive. he can come over my house anytime!
This is brilliant – it’s on our to do list when our garden gets done over the autumn and winter to do next spring. I’m really looking forward to it.
can’t wait to see it Cerys!