Posted By Kimberly Turner on May 4, 2014 in Cooking How-To Videos, Cooking Shows, Cooking with Kimberly, Fruit & Vegetables, Healthy, How To Cook, Kitchen Gardening, Organic, Snacks Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian | 0 comments

If you love these sun-worshiping flowers, then here’s How to Start Sunflower Seedlings Indoors for the Vegetable Garden.

If ever there was a flower that just looks happy, sunflowers are the right choice.

Whether you want to brighten up your kitchen garden‘s countenance, you enjoy harvesting & snacking on their seeds, or you want to make the birds happy, you will be happy you started your sunflowers early, so you can enjoy them for as long as the season will allow.

How to Start Sunflower Seedlings Indoors for the Vegetable Garden:

As with our other seedlings we planted, we used seedling trays. Check out our show:

How to Start Seedlings Indoors for the Vegetable and Herb Garden

The tools needed & instructions are listed below the video for directions. Please enjoy this webisode of Cooking with Kimberly:

Tools Needed:

untreated sunflower seeds in their shells
planting or seedling trays – these are very inexpensive
potting soil
skewers or sticks for labels
spray bottle of water

Instructions:

Fill seedling trays with a potting mix, using leftover plant soil together with potting soil, to about half full. Gently pat the soil down.
Make furrows ready to receive the seeds, which we have sprayed with a little water. Use cardboard separators to separate rows of seeds.
Plant the sunflower seeds about 1 inch apart for now.
Make sure to label the rows.
As the sunflower seedlings start to grow well, about 4 – 5 inches high, they can be transferred to their own individual pots. By May 24th (in our gardening zone in Southern Ontario, Canada) or later, they should be ready to plant outside in the garden.

Tips:
- I like to remove the seeds from their packages cutting the bottom of the package, so that when you put the envelope on a stick, the package is upright and easy to see what seeds are where.
- Plants should be sprayed lightly when they begin to dry, but do not over-water or soak the plants because they will rot.
- After the plants reach a about 4 inches in height, they can be fertilized using Miracle Grow diluted with twice the amount of water called for on the package. Once they begin to thrive outdoors – getting more leaves and looking stronger, it is okay to use a regular mix of Miracle Grow and water to feed the plants.