Press Release

6 April 2023

Online Fareham in Bloom competition open

Fareham Borough Council is pleased to announce that its online Fareham in Bloom community gardening competition is welcoming entries from gardening enthusiasts in the Borough.

The competition, proudly sponsored by Fareham Shopping Centre and St Margaret’s Nurseries, is now open for entries. With six categories to choose from, there is an opportunity for anyone to enter, regardless of the size of residents’ outdoor spaces. Each entrant will receive a 10% discount voucher for St Margaret’s Nurseries.

There will be one winner in each of the following:

Best Garden – A residential garden of any size, front or back
Commercial – Shop fronts, pubs, cafes, restaurants, businesses, schools, children’s nurseries
Something Small – Hanging baskets, window boxes, potted plants, unusual garden features, a small area of your open space that you are proud of
Community Floral Display – An area of open space within your road/street that the community looks after, community centres, sheltered housing grounds, care/retirement homes, outdoor communal areas
Young Green Fingers – Something the children have planted or grown, a unique area that they have created within an outdoor space
Sustainable Garden – Planting to encourage wildlife, grow your own fruit and veg, allotments, recycling materials and using minimal resources

The winner of Best Garden will receive an annual subscription to the Council’s garden waste scheme. Other prizes up for grabs include vouchers to spend at St Margaret’s Nurseries, and a bug hotel or gardening tools for the children.

Entrants must complete a short online form, accompanied by a short description and one photograph by Monday 3 July. The competition is free to enter and anyone who lives or has a business in the Borough is eligible to submit an entry. In order to determine the winners, a member of the judging panel, along with a community volunteer, will visit the two gardens in each category that received the highest number of votes from the public, with the exception of the Something Small category where judgement will be made by photographs alone.

A special reception will be held in the Mayor’s Parlour at the Civic Offices in Fareham, where winners will be presented with prizes and certificates.

Executive Member for Streetscene at Fareham Borough Council, Councillor Ian Bastable, said: “As well as being great fun, gardening is a rewarding and beneficial activity, both for individuals and the local community. I hope residents with a passion for plants will once again enter the competition and show off their wonderful outdoor spaces.”

For more information and full details of how to enter visit: www.fareham.gov.uk/inbloom

ENDS