March 3rd: I bought a windowbox planter and first planted these indoors, until they got to about 6 inches high. I then transplanted them into the flowerbed in the backyard. Two years ago, Eric removed the Lantana and daisies that had been growing here for his hop experiment, and significantly tilled and amended the soil then. With that experiment abandoned, the bed was pretty much open, so I claimed it for the sunflower patch.

The sunflowers were planted in two staggared rows, separated by 18 inches horizontally and with 12 inches between rows. This essentially leaves 10 inches between plants, which is tighter spacing than the package recommends. My thought was that the spot was windy and the plants could support each other, but I wonder if in fact the tighter spacing has caused the wind to buffet the plants more, not having any intermediate space to pass through. But so far they're doing alright.