One of my readers asked me if I sprouted seeds beforehand on the window sill. The short answer is no. I have no window sills (nor any surfaces or shelves to put any seed containers) and a cat, two factors that aren’t conducive to this sort of thing. Also, my one experience with gardening is from childhood. We always put seeds directly in the ground, so I knew of no other way. Besides, I’d probably kill them during the transplant. Of course I now know that in cooler zones you can sprout them indoors for earlier blooming times, and that some seeds do not like direct seeding.
As you can see above, the sunflowers that we seeded outdoors in the planter on April 30 look quite healthy after only 14 days. I know that pretty soon I will have to thin them out. That is not a part I enjoy, but I know that the nutrients need to go to the strongest plant. We also seeded some sunflowers in two flower boxes in front seven days ago, but nothing has appeared yet. The thing with seeding directly is that it’s a crap shoot of whether they’ll sprout or not, I know that. That is why we have a plan B.
Regardless, Tom and I could not resist picking up a few more seeds at the store (don’t tell the uber gardener Glory Lennon) that went in the ground today to fill some holes.
T and A Travel Almanac 
I adore sunflowers.
They are my favorite flower and have been since childhood.
Are you going to dry the heads and save them for the birds, after they’ve bloomed?
LOL, I haven’t even thought that far ahead yet!
Oh, I can’t pass by a seed display without saying, “Ooh, seeds!” and Tommy has to pull me away saying, “You have quite enough of those!” I do understand! 🙂