Stay up to date with our 2016 Ideal Young Gardeners of the Year competition!
Follow the colleges’ progress as six teams of horticultural students build stunning show gardens in just six days.
Excited to see which of these is going to win! https://t.co/nObGyXLTxn #YGOY Encouraging young people to interact with nature
— Prince’s Foundation (@PrincesFound) March 11, 2016
The finished gardens will be revealed on Friday 18 March 2016 at the Ideal Home Show, Olympia London. Read more about the competition here.
Here’s a stop-motion gif of our build
Before the build
Here is that the Ideal Young Gardeners of the Year site looked when we arrived! You can see how Olympia is a blank canvas for the Ideal Home Show. The backdrop is the first thing to go up. Then we measure out all the garden plots, and the colleges move in.
Meet the @capelmanor #college team behind this year’s entry for the #YGOY 2016 competition @ideal_home_show pic.twitter.com/7GGuauNGUH
— Capel Manor College (@capelmanor) March 12, 2016
The Colleges arrive
The colleges get on site as soon as they can and begin building the primary structures. The site becomes a mass of wheelbarrows, wooden pallets and high-vis jackets.
Halfway point: Tuesday 15 March
The gardens are starting to take shape! Our young gardeners are hard at work putting in the primary structures of their gardens.
Askham Bryan College
Capel Manor College
Chichester College
Pershore College
Shuttleworth College
Writtle College
Our hort students are working hard building their stunning garden @ideal_home_show for the #YGoY comp – good luck! pic.twitter.com/daoyLUzkI8 — Pershore College (@PershoreCollege) March 15, 2016
Penultimate Day – Thursday 17 March
The site looks chaotic, but the gardens are coming together.
Askham Bryan College
Capel Manor College
Chichester College
Pershore College
Shuttleworth College
Writtle College
12 hours left to finish our garden. Let’s roll. #ygoy #onitlikeacarbonnet #alloveritlikeahounddogonaporkchop pic.twitter.com/Yngx416tHb
— BrinsburyHortTeam (@Brinsbury_HT) March 16, 2016
Finishing touches – Thursday evening!
The Ideal Home Show team are laying the astroturf carpet down the aisle and students are making the final adjustments to their gardens. Everything must be ready for the arrival of the judges in the morning.
Launch day
The garden build is finished! The judges are here and students take turns to introduce their garden designs and explain the inspiration behind what they have created.
Then it’s an anxious wait for the judges to deliberate before the results and medals are revealed.
See the finished garden photos
See the awards and winners
View our competition gallery
David Domoney is a Chartered Horticulturalist, Broadcaster, and Author. David has worked with a number of the UK’s leading garden retailers as a plant buyer and strategic consultant. With more than 30 years experience, in horticulture, David is as passionate about plants now as he was when he bought his first plant at a village fete.
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