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!

What's it all about?

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!)

• Competition runs until 1st September 
• 1st prize will go to the tallest sunflower 
• Runner-up and nicest flower awards also up for grabs

GET INVOLVED
If you're up for the challenge and fancy taking part then let us know - you'll find our contact details on the flyers and posters on display around the village, or you can email us at balcombesunflowercompetition@gmail.com.

Winners will be announced at the Balcombe Gardeners' Association Annual Show on 7th 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 make your neighbours green with envy!

  SEEDS THE DAY!

Balcombe Sunflower Competition 2019

This year's competition is officially over!

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

First place set a new competition record for tallest sunflower, with an absolute monster measuring 354cm!

Second place came in at a massive 340cm.

Third place a very respectable 312cm - for those of you who were at the show, this was the sunflower that was on display.

We also gave away a couple of Great Growing! awards for people who really got into the spirit of the competition.

The Richard Garman Cup went to the tallest sunflower grown by a child - an impressive 210cm!

And of course the Nicest Flower award, which also went to a child entry.

We also had lots of other great entries!

Thanks again to everyone who took part, it's only the second year and it's been another great competiton!

Balcombe Sunflower Competition.

Winners Announced Tomorrow!

This years competition is nearly at an end!

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 well worth a look, and there's plenty of tea and cake!

Hope to see you there!

Fun in the sun!

Wow! It's been a hot few weeks here at Sunflower Competition HQ.

Our sunflowers are all about to flower - we haven't grown any monsters ourselves, but we've had plenty of great entries!

If you're thinking of entering remember that you have until 1st September to submit your entries, and it doesn't matter if you've used our seeds or your own - everyone's welcome.

If you're worried that you might not have the tallest sunflower there are runners up, and nicest flower awards too so there's there's still everything to play for!