Blooming Marvellous - Paul's story

Blooming Marvellous project volunteer Paul has won three awards for his communal garden at the Rushmoor in Bloom competition. This is his story, straight from the horse's mouth! 

By joining the Rushmoor Voluntary Services gardening group 'Blooming Marvellous', my dying interest in gardening was reignited. Little did I know what I was letting myself in for!

Open to suggestions from friends and neighbours my rough plan was hatched.

Decisions about which plants, the mix of colours, where to put them and how to look after them slowly evolved. Roses, mimulus, cosmos, pansies, marigolds, echinacea, polyanthus, begonia, asiatic lillies, salvias, lobelia, verbena, fuchsia, rosemary, mint, snapdragons, busy lizzies, geranium and allysium were all chosen.

After several weeks of seed sowing, potting, digging, weeding, pruning and MORE digging, the planting finally began. This was done in record time with the help of friends and neighbours.

Time passed and the plants began to take hold, form buds and grow in all directions; up, down, in, out and round in circles! Much watering, weeding, feeding and nurturing later, the flowers started to show their appreciation and they just grew and grew and grew and grew! Their blooms and scent soon got noticed by both people and the birds and this just meant that the plants became more exciting and produced yet more flowers! 

The plants weren't the only thing blooming, so was my imagination. What would they look like? How would they smell? And I got many complimentary comments from staff, neighbours and visitors.

On 27 September 2010, at the Rushmoor in Bloom Award Ceremony in the Princes Hall, Aldershot, I received three awards. A silver in the Planted Containers section, a bronze in the Community Gardens section and a further silver as part of the Blooming Marvellous team for our community allotment. I felt Blooming Marvellous!

However, I wasn't the ultimate winner. They couldn't make it to the ceremony due to travel problems. They were, of course, the flowers!

Paul

Want to find out more?

Read Making a Blooming Marvellous difference, an article summarising the success of the project one year in.