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Ready Steady Grow

Ready Steady Grow 2024

Welcome back to Ready Steady Grow! Our annual gardening competition launches on Monday 4 March 2023. This year, we’re thrilled to introduce two brand new and exciting themes: Keep Calm, Love Plants and Best Fruit and Veg Patch. Plus, we’ve added a new category for the Tallest Sunflower. 

Whether you’re a resident at one of our supported living services or retirement communities, or a technology enabled living customer this competition is for you! Transform your communal garden, allotment, or courtyard in any way you like. With some fantastic prizes up for grabs, this is your time to shine.  

There’s only one entry per person and you can submit your entries anytime from the launch date up until 15 July 2024, so you have plenty of time to plan and plant.  

For more information, download the information pack from the resources below. 

Ready, steady, grow! 

Register your interest
A close-up of flowers surrounds the text "March to July 2024 Ready Steady Grow"

What are the deadlines for the competition? 

Monday 4 March 2024: Competition opens. Confirm your participation by sending an email to speakup@sanctuary.co.uk. 

Monday 15 July 2024: Deadline to submit final photos and entries for the competition. 

Monday 12 August 2024: Monday, 19th August 2024: Online public vote is open. 

Monday 2 September 2024: Winners announced via email to managers and service mailboxes, and on our website. 

What are the prizes for the winners? 

We’ve added extra prizes for this year’s competition based on your feedback. Every participant will receive a certificate of recognition. In addition, all winners will be awarded a trophy and a gift card. Here are the details: 

Keep Calm, Love Plants 

  • First Place “Best Garden and Flowers”: £200 gift card 

  • Runner Up “Highly Commended Garden”: £100 gift card 

  • Spot Prize Chosen by our Resident Advisory Panel and Resident Scrutiny Panel: £30 gift card 

Best Fruit and Veg Patch 

  • First Place Best Fruit and Veg Patch: £200 gift card 

  • Runner Up Highly Commended Fruit and Veg Patch: £100 gift card 

  • Spot Prize Chosen by our Resident Advisory Panel and Resident Scrutiny Panel: £30 gift card 

Tallest Sunflower 

  • Winner: £50 gift card 

All winners will be asked to have a photo with their trophy, certificate, and voucher, which will be published on our website. Winners will receive a B&Q gift card, the perfect prize for garden enthusiasts! 

How will my entry be judged? 

Your garden will be judged by public vote between Monday 12 August and Monday 19 August 2024. Highlighting the transformation of your garden is crucial. Voters will be keen to see how your garden has improved. Therefore, make sure to capture some ‘before and after’ photos.  

Keep Calm, Love Plants 

Judging for this category will be based on the overall positioning of displays and designs, as well as how colourful and vibrant your garden looks. Consider factors like colour, impact, composition, and plant health. The transformation from the ‘before’ to ‘after’ photos will significantly impact judging. The size of your garden doesn’t matter; what counts is how you’ve developed it and the effort you’ve put in to showcase your transformed garden. 

Best Fruit and Veg Patch 

The primary factor in judging will be the quality of your produce. We’ll consider all factors that influence quality including maturity, freshness, as well as resilience to disease, insect damage, and blemishes. Remember, it’s not about the size of your space. If you’ve managed to grow a variety of ripe, ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables, and can show the transformation with ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos, you stand a good chance of doing well in the competition.

Tallest Sunflower 

This is an extra category this year. The winner of this category will be determined based on the height of your sunflower. You’ll need to measure your sunflower and provide a photo showing the measurement. This will allow us to verify the height of your sunflower. Measurements are taken from the bottom of the plant (at ground level), up to the base of the Sunflower head or green bud using a tape measure. You can enter the Tallest Sunflower category along with one of the main themes.      

Resources  

To help you plan your competition entry, we’ve provided several printable documents.

Download these resources to get started: