Grow and Eat your own Sunflower seeds
It's fun and easy!
So you like sunflower seeds and you have a garden. Why not grow your own Sunflowers and harvest the seeds!! It's easy and if you choose one of the large varieties you get a ton of seeds per flower.
Planting the seeds
Buy some seeds. I go for the American giant which can grow easily to ten or twelve feet and has a big head that gives plenty of seeds come harvest time.
So you got your seeds, sow them in some small pots, I start mine off in the house on a warm windowsill. I am not going to go into detailed instruction on this because sunflower seeds are eeeeeaaaasy to germinate.
Within a couple of weeks they should have started to grow. Quickly transfer them into bigger pots. Then when about a foot high I usually stick mine into a final massive one like this. They don't really need a cane but in Scotland you don't take any chances with our shrieking winds.
Or you can also transplant then straight into the ground. If so you should allow at least a foot between plants.
Then you let them grow
random family included for height comparison
And grow
more random family
You get the idea, then they flower.
The flower is the yellow one on the right
So now we get to the fun bit!!
Harvesting the seeds
So you have your big Sunflowers!! They last a couple of weeks then they start to droop and also lose some petals. Once they have lost just over half their petals or are drooping alarmingly it's time to chop em off.
Cut the flower and about a foot of stalk off. Then hang this somewhere dry for a couple of weeks
After a couple of weeks they should be nice and dry. Time to pluck the seeds out!!
Get your sunflower head and run your thumb briskly over the outside of the head as below.
Start from the outside and work your way in
Eventually you will have a big pile of sunflower seeds!! Tada!!
Eat them whilst fresh or leave them to dry so that they keep for ages the choice is yours!!
I used to grow them as a kid. It's super easy and the flowers look awesome in the garden. Gave the seeds to our chicken. Never really ate a lot of them to be honest.
I love your pictures btw!
Aw thanks man. I love peppering a post with lots of them!! That's excellent you had a chicken! Great use of the seeds!
The taste from home grown is really amazing. I used to eat home grown sun flower seeds when I still lived at home.Now I don't have a garden.
The taste really is great compared to shop bought. Have you tried a little pot grown one?
No. I used to sprout the seeds and eat them like that, organic of course. I only grow strawberries , basil, mint in pots. And I have a few avocados, but I don't think I'm going to eat an avocado from it pretty soon :)
Hehe, yes I think I am going to try growing some avocados, but given that they will be inside might be the same!!
Every time I've grown them the seeds are empty! Do you know if some types don't seed well?
That's truly bizarre, I have never came across thatT.hosee were some fine looking flowers too!! No chance birds could have pecked them?
Great photos! Thanks!
Thank you!!
you make gardening looks so easy, i swear if plants watched movies i'd be the monster in their horrors.
I refuse to believe it! If plants watched movies they would be movies with flowers in them and you would star as a rose!!! :0)
wow big aport thanks¡¡¡¡
You are welcome!!
Growing your own stuff to eat is one of the most fulfilling things in life. Great post!
It definitely is, I try and grow as much as possibly can be grown in the harsh Scottish climate!!! Cheers!!