Cultivation Street launched last weekend in The Sunday People to find Britain’s best turned out street. Whether your customers live on a terrace in Todmorden, or avenue in Abergavenny – TV gardener David Domoney wants to see their street and judge who has the best gardens, plants and green spaces in the whole of the UK.
The competition started on Sunday May 26 and there is prize money of £10,000 National Garden Gift Vouchers to the winning street.
Applications for the prize should be in by Monday August 26, and the final prize will be announced on the Monday September 8. There are major media outlets already confirmed – Sunday People are giving extensive coverage as are many regional newspapers.
David Domoney, the organiser of the campaign, says: “This is the Chelsea Flower Show of the UK’s streets, communities of next door neigbours all working together to share the passion of gardening and create a sense of pride to where they live. It’s the ideal place to share experience, plants and the enjoyment of gardening.
"We have achieved such widespread support for this competition. I am also delighted that the Prince of Wales, Princes Foundation for Building Community is awarding the Sustainability and Community Street category."
The sponsor is the Horticultural Trades Association with their brand ‘National Garden Gift Vouchers’. The prize money for the winners is not to be sniffed at with a standing total of £16,000 pounds worth of National Garden Gift vouchers up for grabs.
Carol Paris Director General of the Horticultural Trades Association says “Having a great line of street gardens does not only benefit the home owners, it could inspire hundreds of people who pass that street in their daily lives, equaling in a push to encourage new gardeners by good example”.
Prince's Foundation competition judge says: "We believe that green spaces form an integral part of any healthy, sustainable community and this competition will help put the spotlight on that. Making the most of your front garden can help transform a good street into a great community that everyone can enjoy. Competitions like this show us that you can make the most of any urban garden, no matter how small, as long as you're creative and committed."
The Horticultural Trades Association is supplying all Garden Centres nationwide with free POS kits ready for the launch to help to entice as many entries for Cultivation Street as possible. If each house that enters spends on average £150 on garden improvements, then one street's houses is worth a minimum of £600 to a retailer, with five streets' worth a minimum of £3,000 (based upon 4 houses in a street).
The Sunday People newspaper is behind the campaign with coverage of the competition, with the Editor James Scott saying “Encouraging gardeners young and old is a big belief to our paper, I dedicate a whole page every week for David Domoney to give great hints and tips on how to make the most of our readers outside space”. The People will be printing features on the competition throughout the summer.
As well as the HTA and Trinity Mirror, the campaign has gained some other heavy weights supporting the campaign including the Institute of Horticulture, The Garden Centre Association, and the Gardening Industry Manufactures Association.
Neil Gow, Director of GIMA said: “With the season late to kick off, this competition is perfectly timed to inspire the public to venture outside and garden, alongside manufacturers and retailers working together to encourage sales”.
Participating streets include families from across the age spectrum, involving children right through to the elderly. It’s all about creating beautiful garden spaces, making new friends, attracting more wildlife and, having fun.
With regional heats and categories of awards, we are looking for true community spirit and pride, by making aesthetic and environmental improvements to street gardens culminating in ‘Britain’s Best Street Award’.
In addition to eight regional awards there are other special award categories which include:-
Generation Street – Awarded to the street from across the whole of Britain that has encouraged the youngest people to get involved in the project.
Inspiration Street – Awarded to the street that has come together to look spectacular against the odds. It might be that the gardeners are recovering from illness, accident or addiction, but the community has still pulled together to create something very special. Judges will be looking for an inspirational story.
Multiplication Street – This award will go to the street with the most consecutive front gardens involved in the competition, so start encouraging your neighbours to take part today. The more the merrier!
Transformation Street – This award will go to the street that has enjoyed the most impressive transformation across the whole of the UK. Whether its seen driveways returned to gardens, dramatic new planting, and the greatest improvement in front gardens or all of the above.
Sustainability & Community Street – This award will be judged and awarded by the Princes Foundation for Building Community for the street that has demonstrated an understanding of harmony and sustainability. Use of sustainable planting, re use or second life of discarded products/waste, timeless land based skills, willow hurdles, eco growing, dry stone walling, building your own bug hotels whilst involving community groups.
Cultivation School – This award will go to the school that has involved children or families from the school to create an impressive garden within the grounds of the school. Whether it is with bountiful edible plants that help transform attitudes towards cabbage, soil, worms and ladybirds or beautiful flowers for decoration and harmony.
To enter and for more details, visit www.cultivationstreet.co.uk
There is a full range of Cultivation Street POS available for HTA members. Please email nggv@the-hta.org.uk for more details.
