Scarecrow and Sunflower Festival 2023

Why not get creative (perhaps with your neighbours, community or support staff) and make your own scarecrow? You can use anything you have at home to make it like old clothes, gardening gloves, plant pots, garden canes, straw or things from your recycle bin.

You might choose to make a traditional scarecrow or one inspired by your favourite character. You could even make some scarecrow themed art, or a mini indoor scarecrow.

Grow a sunflower

If you fancy growing a sunflower, you can enter a competition to grow the tallest. Last year our tallest sunflower entry was grown by our tenant Stephen, reaching a whopping 325cm!

Sunflowers can take a long time to grow, so if you would like to take part, you will need think about planting your sunflower seeds in spring. Here are some tips to help them grow:

1. Put some compost in a plastic cup or plant pot, almost to the top. Put your finger in the soil to make a hole for your sunflower seed.
2. Put a sunflower seed into the hole then cover it with a little compost. Give it some water so it is damp.
3. Put the cup somewhere sunny like a windowsill. Give your sunflower a little water whenever it feels dry.
4. After about one or two weeks a shoot should poke through the soil.
5. When your plant grows too big for the pot, plant it in a bigger flowerpot or somewhere warm and sunny outside. Place a marker with your name next to it.
6. Keep checking on your sunflower, making sure it doesn’t dry out (but no need to overwater it) - how tall will it grow?

If you would like us to send you a free pack of sunflower seeds to get you started, please email community@progressgroup.org.uk or contact the Progress Involvement team on 0333 3204 555.

To enter, please take a photo of your scarecrow and/or sunflower and send it along with your name, address and height measurement (for sunflowers) to community@progressgroup.org.uk 

All entries received between 1 July and 3 September 2023 will be shown in our newsletters and on our website. There will be prizes for the ten tallest sunflowers and the scarecrows that make our judging panel smile the most. We can’t wait to see them all!