As part of the Horticultural Trades Association’s (HTA) industry exhibit at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, ‘The Great Escape’, garden retailers have the opportunity to enter a ‘Build a Compost Robot Competition’.

The Robot Composter will be one of the key features on the exhibit, which will be situated within the Discovery Zone in the Great Pavilion at the show. ‘The Great Escape’ will highlight some of the ways in which people of all ages enjoy their outdoor space – for relaxing, growing, playing and engaging with nature with supporting information about the health and wellbeing benefits that this brings.

Garden retailers are encouraged to gain inspiration from their centres and use materials found in it. These could be mini propagators, gardening tools and plant pots - the only limit is their imagination. There is opportunity to involve their kids gardening club or encourage staff to take part.

For more information about the competition and how to enter please visit www.hta.org.uk/chelsea_compost_robot. The closing date is Sunday 15 April 2018 at 9pm. The winning robot will be chosen by designer of ‘The Great Escape’ and National Children’s Gardening Week Ambassador Chris Collins, alongside Matthew Appleby, author of The Children’s Garden.

HTA Director of Operations Martin Simmons comments, “This is a really fun initiative that ties together industry involvement in both the Chelsea exhibit and National Children’s Gardening Week. With the RHS Chelsea Flower Show having such a high profile this represents a great opportunity for garden retailers to get involved and link to the Chelsea activity.”

The winning garden centre will receive two tickets to attend RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the day as guests of the HTA and have the opportunity to talk on the stand about their contribution to the exhibit. They will also feature in the exhibit leaflet and accompanying PR. All other entries will have a great robot composter exhibit to showcase instore and demonstrate their link to the Chelsea exhibit.

This project will help showcase the role of UK garden centres and initiatives such as National Children’s Gardening Week, in helping to spread the message about the wider benefits of plants, gardens and gardening. Through the National Children’s Gardening Week website (https://www.childrensgardeningweek.co.uk/), the HTA are encouraging the retailers to host events in their centres to inspire visitors to build their own compost robots and be more creative in their outdoor spaces.

For further information please contact events@hta.org.uk.