Project Sunflower

[Unicorn]

I have had to abandon my would-be tomatoes as although I watered them the wind has been so relentless they just keeled over.
The geraniums, however, are doing OK, so I turn to a new gardening project.

What about sunflowers? Do you just plant shop bought seeds? Are they quick/easy to grow, and when do you plant them?

Cheers and thanks for any advice.

[Gasman]

Sorry - been off line for a few days and only just seen your note ... what a shame about the dear old tomatoes, and now we will never know if they were indeed toms or weeds
As to sunflowers - they may prefer to be in ground rather than pots, but if you can get some deep pots to help stablise them, they may do well. The plants you see in the fields, grown for oil production mostly, tend to be shorter at full height than the ones you buy in a packet for "ornamental" garden plants. The garden varieties grow to 6 feet and more so will need supporting - tie up to the balcony railing perhaps? They will need watering of course but otherwise should be fairly resilient - not much to worry about in the way of bugs and beasties here. Planting time would be early spring say March or April at latest, and they will flower in june - if you have a parrot or a cockatoo you could let the flowers go to seed and then the heads drop as they dry and you can save the seeds .... Of course if you see a stray "dead" flower head on the edge of a field, you can plant seeds from that but they will be shorter than the "garden" ones from a pack - separate the seeds out from the head and dry them off before keeping overwinter in a dry place.
Meanwhile keep those geraniums going, and you can take some more cuttings at the end of the year to bring on for next summer. Cut back excess growth on the old ones to rejuvenate them over winter.