A COMPETITION has been launched to showcase the wonderful transformations people in Tavistock have been making in their gardens in lockdown.

The free-to-enter contest has been dreamed up by town councillor and Whitchurch resident Graham Parker, who came up with the idea while making deliveries from The Village, Whitchurch’s shop and post office, to people self-isolating in the lockdown.

He said: ‘So many people have told me that they haven’t spent so much time in their garden in years, digging over vegetable beds they haven’t used for years and planting more flowers to create a riot of colour.

‘My wife, for example, has taken a really scruffy piece of land at the end of our garden and we’ve built four large planters and a cold frame, using recycled pallets, weedproof membrane we reclaimed from the land and recycled fence panels, adding some new wood. So far, they’ve been planted with courgettes, runner beans and dwarf beans. That’s one of the kinds of things we hope people might be doing in their gardens.’

The competition is being run with Tavistock Sensory Garden Trust, of which Graham is chairman, Tavistock Lions Club, Tavistock Town Council and the Tavistock Times.

Each of these organisations will be involved in judging entries to the competition, the closing date of which is July 31.

Graham added: ‘This is not a competition to find the most beautiful gardens in Tavistock, although beauty can be a consideration, rather it is intended to show how gardeners have used the “lockdown” period to change what they have done in the past.

‘We have set a closing date of the end of July to allow people plenty of time to enter. It might encourage people to get started now or get their children involved, planting window boxes or something.’

People could showing how they had transformed a particular area in their garden, changed to more environmentally friendly gardening practices or introduced more colour, smell, taste or sound. There will be five categories –– large garden (over 100 metre square), small garden, allotment, windowbox and planters and children under 16.

Entries should be accompanied by six photographs, preferably digital, and up to 200 words explaining what you have achieved. Email to [email protected] or post through the door of the Tavistock Times in Brook Street.

There will be a £50 voucher to spend in Lawsons for the winner of each category.