A small and beautiful garden that adds a splash of colour to a Brighton street and makes the most of recycled materials is this year’s winner in the annual gardening competition for Brighton Housing Trust tenants.
The garden is the work of Derry O’Sullivan-Baker who wins a £30 garden voucher.
He scored highly on the garden’s visual impact and design and plant variety and health.
“It really is a lovely garden,” says Juliet O’Brien, Tenant and Client Involvement Co-ordinator, “and we were very impressed with the way Derry has used old water tanks and recycled wood for his planters and old gate posts for his hanging baskets.”
First prize in the communal garden category and a £30 voucher went to the Trust’s Archway Project in Hove. Clients and staff have worked together to produce “an extra quiet room” in a large back garden with flowerbeds and a thriving vegetable patch. Says Juliet: “We were very struck by how much added value the garden gives to the project and its residents in so many ways.”
Kevin Towner has won a Highly Commended for his pretty raised-flowerbed garden in
St Leonards-on-Sea, which has transformed a drab space into a colourful and peaceful retreat. He received a £10 gardening voucher.
“Kevin has made a beautiful garden from a difficult sloping site,” says Juliet O’Brien, Tenant and Client Involvement Co-ordinator, “and were very taken with the variety of plants he is growing.” Neighbours Kelly and Darren won a £10 voucher for their garden, which includes a trail of different coloured lights to guide Kelly, who is partially sighted around the small space.
Frances White won a £10 runner’s up voucher for her rescue operation that has breathed new life into her garden in Ore.
The transformation of a balcony high above an Eastbourne street by Lucy, a committed recycler, was highly commended in this year’s gardening competition for Brighton Housing Trust tenants and residents.
“We were highly impressed with the way Lucy produced a garden from nothing, with few resources and inspired recycling,” says Juliet O’Brien, Tenant and Client Involvement Co-ordinator. “Concerned about plastic pollution, she is setting up Plasticycle, a community not for profit venture, re-using and upcycling plastic bottles into useful every day items for home and garden, among them the planters in her garden.”
Lucy’s pretty garden wins her a £10 garden voucher. It’s also helped her lose weight. “Since I have had my balcony garden I have lost 8 pounds. I have always struggled with my weight. Gardens are great for mental and physical wellbeing.”
Communal garden runner up was the Trust’s Recovery Project and the Shore House Project in Brighton, which received a £10 voucher for work so far on a new ‘secret garden’ in Marine Parade. Watch this space for next year’s awards.
BHT gardening contractor Southern Land Services sponsors the annual awards, which are open to all BHT residents.
