Garden Competitions

By Noel Wise

Gardening is one of the oldest and most popular hobbies around the world. Although attaining perfection at it is impossible, competitions encourage and help promote excellence bringing out your best.

Constructing an outstanding garden would be a cinch if one had unlimited funds! A phone call could work the oracle by obtaining the services of a garden architect and a landscaper with a team of skilled workers to implement your blueprint. What a delight it would be to see an ordinary yard turned into a work of art replete with ornamentals, decorations and lighting, all within a week. Features incorporating water, rock, roses, lilies, irises, and other vivacious perennials against a backdrop of trees and shrubs with a lush lawn, can also be worked in with due consideration to climate, exposure and surrounding terrain.

Unfortunately, the average person can only dream of such grandiose garden projects because of financial constraints and other obstacles. Notwithstanding, homeowners and amateur gardeners have devoted their time and energy to beautifying and improving their environments patiently and diligently. The best example is perhaps the Butchart husband and wife team who transformed their 'rocky' home into a national horticultural monument.

The recipe for winning is knowledge, skill and a lot of donkey work called dedication! To help novice gardeners improve and win their first trophy, here are some tips:

Use your library. A wide variety of good books are readily available covering all aspects of gardening. The Internet is equally good especially for locating plants on your wish list. Videos too are a great help.

Visit prize-winning gardens in your area to ascertain what grows best. Make notes. Ask questions.

"Growing for Showing" should be your aim. Ensure that you have good soil, drainage, appropriate pH, adequate rain water and organic matter like compost and manure for robust growth.

Pay attention to plant characteristics, form, colour, texture, height, spread and balance to avoid placing a round peg in a square hole!

Cleanliness is absolutely essential. Deadheading, removal of dried branches, twigs and yellowing leaves, weeding, pruning, fertilising, hoeing, feeding, mowing and other garden chores must be tended to once a week or on an ad hoc basis.

Most gardeners try to maintain interest through all seasons. Regrettably, one cannot display the brightest gems of spring and fall in summer! To compensate for unsightly gaps and loss of colour, grow more plants that attain their peak to coincide with the garden competition. Use annuals for fillers.

Curb appeal and foundation plantings are important to set off your home. The overall landscape design must complement the structure and colour of your home. Concrete, brick, wood, paving tiles and other building materials must be carefully selected to match or contrast with the surrounding colour scheme.

Gentle curves are more natural for informal gardens than regimented lines of plants. Don't clutter the lawn. Clusters of three and five of the same variety look better than single specimens, except for the odd large tree. Do not overcrowd.

Destroy diseased plants by burning. Transplant as often as necessary to allow for better air circulation and to enhance good looks, be they small or large specimens. Garden improvement is an ongoing process and never ends. Learn shortcuts to save time. Fortunately, today's equipment and improved tools greatly facilitate garden construction projects and renovations.

Start your final clean-up, clutter removal and tidying, well in advance of the competition incorporating all suggestions. Read the rules. Avoid contact with judges.

In the final analysis, your aesthetic sense based on priorities and the size of your pocket book, should be your best guide.

Having your own niche amidst nature's green with birds, bees and critters appreciating your handiwork, is not only gratifying but therapeutic. The peaceful and tranquil setting is ideal for curing jangled nerves or holding a garden party. The beer and barbi fare will taste better in a congenial atmosphere amongst friends and relatives. Small wonder that gardeners everywhere are such kind, helpful and happy people.

Join your local Horticultural Society and compete to achieve your full garden potential. By improving your garden, you will be a good influence in your neighbourhood. More importantly, you will be helping fight pollution.

Click Here for NEW Photos of Noel's Garden (Summer 2003)

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