Competition
Productive Patch Competition
The 2020 explosion in home food gardens must be one of the greatest unexpected outcomes from a seriously challenging year.
At OGV we’re convinced there are some seriously impressive productive patches in backyards (and front yards) across Victoria and we want to share your creations! For this month’s competition, OGV is looking for the best examples of home food gardens created by Victorian gardeners.
Do you have a veggie patch you’re particularly proud of? Perhaps your food garden is all in pots? Have you used artful or recycled items as climbing supports for beans or home-made cloches to protect crops from pests? Maybe you’ve been clever with companion planting or combined flowering plants to make a pretty productive patch? Are you growing heirloom or unusual varieties of fruit or veg or a fabulous herb picking garden? We’d love others to feel inspired, so rather than submitting photos of individual produce we’d love to see broader shots of your patch and inspiring aspects of its design.
We’re delighted to announce that productive gardener extraordinaire and long-time OGV committee member Helena Buxton will be judging the competition and the winner will receive a $100 gift voucher for @thediggersclub. Helena is OGV’s ‘Queen of Compost’ – she regularly hosts a ‘Cooking Up Compost’ workshop, shares gardening tips on OGV’s website and is an experienced chook and bee keeper. Helena’s Instagram feed @spadeandtrowel has great information for home food gardeners and you can also take a virtual tour of Helena’s stunning Geelong garden from an Instagram Live hosted by OGV. The date will be announced shortly.
So, for the month of February, we’re asking you to send in pictures of your ‘Productive Patch’ showing what’s special about your home food garden. Follow the conditions of entry below to enter the competition. Entries close at 5pm on Sunday 28th February 2021 – we can’t wait to be inspired by your patch and the ‘fruits of your labour’!
CONDITIONS OF ENTRY
- This competition is open to Victorian home gardeners only. Images of gardens designed by professional gardeners, or of commercial or public spaces, may be sent in for us to share online for inspiration. These will not be included in the judging.
- Send high resolution photos (min. 500KB) via email to operations@opengardensvictoria.org.au. Do not send images via social media.
- No more than 5 images per entry per person.
- Save each image file name as your family name followed by the competition name. If there is more than 1 image then add the number of each image at the end of the file name to match the description you write (see next condition) eg. SmithProductivePatch1.
- Write a short description including how you’ve constructed your productive garden, techniques and features that help you to grow food, what crops have been particularly successful and where in Victoria your garden is. Include all plant names of the plants in the image/s supplied. If you are sending more than 1 image, number your descriptions to match your image numbers.
- Include the competition name in the ‘subject line’ of your email.
If your garden has already won a competition this year you are free to share new images of a different part of your garden according to the competition theme. While you won’t be included in the judging, you may be recognised as a runner up or given a special mention by the judge.