News Take part and make Maidstone Borough Bloom

For the first time ever Maidstone Borough Council is launching a Maidstone Borough in Bloom competition and is inviting anyone who enjoys creating beautiful gardens or pots to enter.

Working with Coolings Garden Centre in Bearsted, the competition will open on Thursday 22 April and be open for entries until Monday 5 July. Judging will take place during the last two weeks of July and the Awards Ceremony will be held in September.

There are three categories, residential, commercial and community and any household entering will be given a £5 voucher to spend at Coolings.

A trophy will be awarded for the winner and runner up in each category. All winners in each category will also receive a prize of £25.00 Coolings gift voucher as well as two adult annual tickets for Leeds Castle.

Andrew Williams, Parks and Open Spaces Manager at Maidstone Borough Council said:

“We are thrilled to be working with Coolings Garden Centre on this new competition and look forward to seeing all the wonderful gardens and flower display entries. We hope this also encourages businesses to show off their premises, particularly as many will be opening for the first time since being locked down.

“It would be great if in the future, it might be possible for Maidstone to progress to enter the South In Bloom competition which would help tie in the use of public space and community activity all year round.

“We are also working with Kent Wildlife Trust to help give advice on creating pollinator, wildlife friendly gardens as we know people may be interested in how to make their gardens more biodiverse. Our partners at Leeds Castle are very kindly providing prizes, which are very much appreciated, and their specialist gardening consultant will be giving gardening tips in a monthly blog, so look out for that.”

Coolings Head Judge Neil Jackson said:

“I look forward to appreciating the beautiful gardens and environmental contribution made by the residents and businesses of Maidstone Borough. Every garden, pot, trough and community project makes the world a better place to live in and it’s important this work is recognised properly.”

The Maidstone Borough in Bloom categories are:

Residential Categories

• Best Front Garden
• Best Back Garden
• Best Planted pot trough or hanging basket
• Best vegetable garden or allotment
• Best pollinators garden

Commercial Categories

• Best Commercial garden
• Best Commercial Planted pot trough or hanging basket

Community Categories

• Best Community Environmentally Garden
• Best Community Ornamental Garden

To enter please complete a Coolings Garden Centre entry form through the Maidstone Borough Council website here: https://maidstone.gov.uk/maidstone-borough-in-bloom

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