This year's competition is officially over!

Thank you so much to everyone who took part. It was great to see so many of you get involved during lockdown - the weather was perfect for sunflowers this year.

Winners were announced at Saturday's socially distanced Autumn Show.

First place went to an incredible sunflower measuring 457cm - a new competition record that also won The Richard Garman Cup!

Second place was a mammoth 370cm.

Third place came in at a whopping 344cm.

The Nicest Flower award went to a beautiful bee-attracting bloom!

We also gave away some Great Growing! awards for people who did really well this year, and a Super Seedling! award for our youngest entry, who grew a 260cm giant!

Only a few days left!

Just a reminder that entries for this year's competition need to reach us by 1st September.

If you've been cultivating a monster Sunflower, now's the time to let us know!

Winners will be announced at the Gardeners' Association Autumn Show, Victory Hall, Balcombe on the 5th September.

There are some changes to the Autumn Show this year, more details can be found on the village website.

We've had some great entries already - Thanks everyone for taking part!

Balcombe Sunflower Competition is back for 2020!

SKY'S THE LIMIT!
Balcombe Sunflower Competition is a fun, friendly challenge that encourages village residents to go head to head in a bid to see who can grow the tallest flower.  

Why not get your neighbours involved and encourage some friendly rivalry?

HOW DOES IT WORK?
Open to children and adults, families and individuals, the competition is completely free to enter. If you live in the village we'll even give you some free seeds to get you started (if they don't run out!)

  

DUE TO COVID-19, THERE ARE A COUPLE OF CHANGES THIS YEAR 

• A limited amount of free seeds will be available on flyers at Balcombe stores
• We also have some willing volunteers who are happy to deliver seeds to your door 
• Competition runs until 1st September 
• 1st prize will go to the tallest sunflower 
• Runner-up and nicest flower awards also up for grabs

PLEASE ENSURE YOU TAKE THE NECESSARY PRECUATIONS TO KEEP YOURSELF SAFE WHEN COLLECTING FLYERS OR HANDLING SEEDS SUPPLIED BY US.

GET INVOLVED
If you're up for the challenge and fancy taking part then let us know - you can email us at balcombesunflowercompetition@gmail.com.

Entries close 1st September and winners will be announced at the Balcombe Gardeners' Association Annual Show on 5th September. We'll be in touch nearer the time to see how everyone's getting on and make arrangements to confirm the tallest entries.

Feel free to email us if you've got any questions. 

Keep us up to date with how your sunflowers are doing - share your photos with us and we'll post them here so everyone can see what they're up against!

  SEEDS THE DAY!

This year's competition is officially over!

Winners were announced on Saturday at the Balcombe Gardeners' Association Autumn Show.

First place went to a giant of a sunflower measuring 340cm!

Second place came in at an impressive 310cm.

Third place was close behind at 293cm.

We also gave away a couple of Great Growing! awards for people who we thought did really well this year, and a Super Seedling! award for our youngest entry, who did amazingly well at 202cm!

The Nicest Flower award went to a beautiful multi-headed sunflower, and we also awarded The Richard Garman Cup for the tallest sunflower grown by a child.

Nicest Flower 2019

Thanks again to everyone who took part, competition was tough this year but we hope you all enjoyed yourselves - we're in our third year now and it's been great to have so many of you getting involved!

Balcombe Sunflower Competition

Winners Announced Tomorrow!

This years competition is nearly over!

Winners will be announced tomorrow at the Balcombe Gardeners' Association Autumn Show, Victory Hall, Balcombe. More Details here.

We'll be announcing the winners at around 3.30pm but the show is open to the public from 2.30pm, it's definitely worth a look, and there's plenty of tea and cake!

Hope to see you there!

Only a few days left!

Just a reminder that entries for this year's competition need to reach us by 1st September.

If you've been cultivating a monster Sunflower, now's the time to let us know!

Winners will be announced at the Gardeners Association Autumn Show, Victory Hall, Balcombe on the 7th September, more details here.

We've had some great entries already - Thanks everyone for taking part!

Planting your Sunflowers

For those of you who haven't planted your seeds yet - now's the time!

The seeds we've given out this year are Helianthus Mongolian Giant - if you're not sure how to plant these, read on...

• Firstly, pick a nice sunny spot for your Sunflowers.
  
• Make a note of the date so that you can keep a good record of their progress.
  
• Plant a few seeds in a pot or directly into the ground leaving around 10cm between each seed.
  
• Make a hole around 12mm deep for each seed, drop the seed in and cover lightly with soil or compost.
  
• Water lightly.
  
• You should see the seedlings growing in about 7-10 days, but don't panic if they take a little longer.
  
• Give your Sunflowers plenty of water - but be careful not to over do it!
  
• Discard the weediest looking plants - nurture the strongest looking Sunflowers for the win!

If you're worried about your Sunflowers getting eaten before they're reached there full potential, we have some handy pointers on protecting your Sunflowers from slugs here.

Good Luck!