Enter our gardening competition!

We know there are lots of you who are very green fingered and have absolutely beautiful gardens, so we thought what better way to celebrate this than to launch a gardening competition!

We have five categories and there’ll be a winner and a runner up for each. Sponsored by our grounds maintenance partner, Groundscapes, first place will win gardening vouchers worth £75, and the runner up will win £50 in gardening vouchers.

We’re looking for entries in the following categories:

Community or communal garden

Have you worked with your community to create and maintain a garden or communal grounds you can all enjoy?

Container garden

This category could be your flowers and plants in containers, pots, hanging baskets or similar on a patio, small garden area or balcony.

Front garden

Do you have a front garden to be proud of that stands out in the street? Then this category is for you!

Back garden

Have you created a tranquil haven in your back garden with impressive borders and beds? Then we want to see your photographs!

Junior gardener

For children aged 5-16 years old to showcase any budding gardeners who have created fantastic pots or borders – it might be a fairy garden or somewhere to grow vegetables!

 

How to enter

Simply email up to three pictures of your garden, along with your name, address and the category you’d like to enter to raven.comms@ravenht.org.uk. Please mark your email ‘Gardening competition 2023’.

If you don’t have an email address, you can post your entry including your name and address to:
Raven Gardening Competition 2023, Raven House, Linkfield Lane, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1SS

All entries must be received by Friday 28th July 2023.

From the photograph entries, a shortlist will be created and then the judges will visit each of the gardens shortlisted to make their final decisions. The winners will be showcased in our September issue of Raven Times. Good Luck!

Rules of entry

The competition is open to Raven Housing Trust customers only. Nominations can be made with the owner’s permission. Please only send three photographs in for judging. There’s no cash alternative for the prize.

 

Top summer gardening tips from Groundscapes

• Install a water butt to collect rainwater to use for watering in the garden
• Water early morning and in the evening to get the most out of your water and avoid too much water lost through evaporation
• Add compost or mulch to planted areas to increase water retention in the soil
• Regularly mow the grass and consider leaving some areas uncut for wildlife
• In hot and dry weather your lawn will become stressed, so reduce how often you cut the grass to allow it to grow longer
• Early summer is the time to prune spring-flowering shrubs and hedges but be careful to check for any signs of birds nesting first!