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Futures Grow Sunflowers

27 April 2021

Last year during the lockdown, Futures young people grew the most spectacular giant sunflowers. They brightened up the newly redesigned Futures garden which wasn’t yet planted as our gardening volunteers couldn’t come on site. As you can see in the photo, they were so tall and had really big beautiful yellow heads.

This year the garden has been planted up and is blooming with signs of spring. The two cherry trees have shed their confetti petals and there are dozens of different coloured tulips appearing. The allium heads are creeping taller getting ready to explode in fireworks of purple. It’s a fantastic space for alfresco dining and competitive games sessions and we’re looking forward to using it for events this summer. We’re once again growing giant sunflowers, which will join in the orchestra of colour.

Each young person was given the opportunity to plant seeds which were harvested from the dried sunflower heads in the autumn last year. Each young person seemed to enjoy different parts of the process. Some showed their preferences between the texture of the compost and the texture of the gravel which we put on top to stop slugs and other unwanted things. One young person spent a while splashing in a tray of water after he’d planted and watered his seeds. Following the lead of the young people with their preferences I handed the box of seeds to a particularly musical young person, who shook it like a maraca. He also tried out the swing in the Futures garden and was tapping the metal poles to create sounds.

The seeds have been planted for a little while now and are starting to gain height, so watch this space for fabulous photos of tall sunflowers.

If you’d like to plant your own sunflower seeds, follow the instructions here.

planting sunflowers
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