PFH In Bloom

PFH In Bloom

Over the last month, many residents have been pruning, weeding and de-heading to make sure their garden, hanging baskets, pots and vegetable plots were up to scratch to be entered into the Pickering and Ferens Homes annual In Bloom competition.

Sue Kingett, Housing Manager (west), at Pickering and Ferens Homes said: “This year’s competition saw entries of an exceptional standard across all of the categories. It was an incredibly difficult task to pick the winning entries, but I think all prize allocations are very well deserved.”

The Best Garden accolade was awarded to Mr. Toner of Endike Lane. “My wife entered me into the competition and I was a little annoyed when she told me, because I never thought I could actually win! However, although I am very surprised that I did, I am very proud too,” said Mr. Toner.“

I have put quite a lot of effort into the garden over the last few years. The garden was flooded in 2007 and it was left in a real mess. The pond was full of rubbish, so I decided I had to do a big cleanup of the whole garden. It was a lot of work, but I think that it looks quite nice now.“

I put a lot of work into maintaining the lawns and tend to spend about two hours a day de-heading plants. It is a lot of work to maintain the garden and keep it looking good, but I love doing it. I am an outdoors sort of person, I don’t even mind gardening in the rain.”

Best Hanging Basket winner Mr Salter, of Westgarth Avenue, said: “I was delighted when I heard that I had won the Best Hanging Basket category in this year’s competition. Hanging baskets can take quite a lot of work to maintain. It can take up to an hour a day to keep them looking their best, but I don’t mind because gardening is a great passion of mine. I think the baskets really brighten up the outside of a building, so I have about 15 of them!”

Mr Holliday, of Majestic Court,winner of Best Vegetable Plot category, added: “I was chuffed when I found out that I had won the best vegetable plot category. It’s a hobby really and it is quite time consuming. I tend to spend about an hour a day on the allotment, but it is worth it for the satisfaction of getting to eat delicious fresh vegetables. It doesn’t get much better than that in my opinion.”

Best Box or Container winners Mr and Mrs Norton, said: “We are very pleased indeed to have won this category, but also very surprised! We enter the competition every year, but we love gardening all year round, it is our favourite hobby and it keeps us active”.