Wilkinson Sword Garden Tools has launched a campaign designed to get primary schoolchildren in Oxfordshire gardening.

Pupils are being invited to design a fruit and vegetable garden for their school and send their design in by 30 November 2016. The winning school will receive £180 worth of tools and a visit from Lucas Hatch, who was voted Young Gardener of the Year by the RHS when he was 10. Lucas, now approaching his 14th birthday, already has a wealth of experience under his belt and knows all about what encourages children to garden. He spends time at his old primary school helping children to develop their gardens.

Whilst many of the schools already have flourishing gardening projects, initial talks with them made it clear that they would appreciate more direction, so Wilkinson Sword enlisted the help of garden writer Martin Fish to provide top tips and to be on the judging panel. Martin, an RHS Garden Advisor and a judge of show gardens and nursery displays at RHS shows, chaired the panel that judged the school gardens at the RHS Hampton Court show.

Nick Hills, Garden Division General Manager for Wilkinson Sword, commented: “We are really excited about this project. We are passionate about getting children in the garden, and are confident that this will get them inspired and motivated about getting their hands dirty, and their tummies full of home grown food! We are really looking forward to seeing the designs.”

While this year’s competition is open only to primary schools in Oxfordshire, the company hopes to hopes to roll it out nationally in the future.