The Gardener of the Year winners have been announced!

Then came the anxious wait for the judges to visit, but finally, for hundreds of GN readers, it’s now time to relax. The 2009 Gardener of the Year competition has been judged and the winners are ready to take their places on the winners’ rostrum.

The standard of entries was excellent this year, especially when you consider the baking hot start we had to the summer and then the very wet weather gardeners have had to contend with. Despite these tricky conditions, the gardens and displays were looking fantastic, even by August.

Our judge, Geoff Hodge, had a tough time deciding on the final winners, and all the classes were very fiercely contested. Nearly all the categories had at least five or six excellent entries that were worthy of a top prize.

You can enjoy reading about the winners’ gardens over the coming weeks in Garden News.

MEET OUR JUDGE

Our judge for this year’s competition was Geoff Hodge. Geoff might be a familiar face if you’ve been reading Garden News for a few years; he was Gardening Editor between 1993 and 2000, and judged Gardener of the Year during that time so he’s an old hand and knows just what to look for.

Since leaving GN, Geoff worked for the RHS for eight years and is now a freelance garden author and broadcaster. Look out for his new allotment book in spring.

ROLL OF HONOUR

GARDENERS OF THE YEAR
1st Maurice and Vilma Green - Whitwash, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
2nd Christine and Keith Littlewod - Sheffield, Yorkshire.
3rd Marie and Tony Newton - Walsall, West Midlands.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS It was great to meet this gardening-mad couple again and have the privilege of looking around their garden. It’s been 10 years since I last saw the garden and it looks as good as ever. New areas have been created, old plants removed and new ones introduced. Beds of conifers, that had reached their peak, have been pruned bonsai-style to provide new features. Mauriceand Vilma’s attention to detail is immaculate, their plants’ requirements noted, met and then grown to perfection.

BEST SMALL GARDEN
1st Mauren and Sid Allen - Walsall, West Midlands.
2nd Louise and Digby Aston - Kidderminster, Worcestershire.
3rd James Regan - Wigan, Lancashire.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS Sometimes people moan about small gardens: they’re too cramped, it’s not possible to grow the plants they want and everything looks a muddle. Not in Maureen and Sid Allen’s small garden. Everything has its place and that place is full of interest and colour. Maureen’s enthusiasm is infectious as is her love of plants. If you’ve got a small garden then you couldn’t do better than take inspiration from the Allens.

BEST FRONT GARDEN
1st Eric Overall - Ipswich, Suffolk.
2nd Chris Perks - Wood Farm, Oxford, Oxfordshire
3rd Bijal Mistry - Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS Eric Overall’s front garden is a corner plot that sweeps around his bungalow. Despite its size and awkward shape, it’s full of colour and interest. Eric loves his plants and it shows in the care and attention he takes looking after them all.

BEST PATIO
1st Beryl Meyrick - Codsall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands.
2nd Susan Solomon - Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire.
3rd Sue Baines - Caterham, Kent.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS Beryl Meyrick’s patio is made up of two different areas. Immediately outside the back door is a relaxed area with beds of hostas and a water feature. This joins a more formal, seating area with a climber-covered pergola.

BEST CONTAINER
1st Diana Eastwood - East Grinstead, West Sussex.
2nd Susan Edwards - Downham Market, Norfolk.
3rd Janet Grainger - Sittingbourne, Kent.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS Diana Eastwood loves planting up the containers and hanging baskets that take pride of place in her tiny front garden. Her use of plants and colour is superb and she cares for them with great diligence.

BEST HANGING BASKET
1st Gareth Davies - Talybont-on-Usk, Brecon, Powys.
2nd Eric Hind ,- Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
3rd Diana Eastwood - East Grinstead, West Sussex.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS Gareth Davies has an uncanny knack with all manner of containers. The whole length of the front of his bungalow is festooned with beautiful hanging baskets, all lovingly planted and tended with care for detail and an eye for colour.

BEST VEG PLOT/ALLOTMENT
1st Jane Wells, Marlpool, Heanor, Derbyshire.
2nd Sue Wade , Mosborough, Sheffield, Yorkshire.
3rd Nata lie Sted and Ian Rogers , Birstal, West Yorkshire.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS Jane Wells’ allotment is close to a cemetery and is often visited by people in need of cheering up. They all receive a warm welcome from Jane. Her veg is grown to perfection and the plot contains some great features including a home-made ‘salad bar’.

BEST GREENHOUSE/CONSERVATORY
1st Bary and Pam Gray - Knaphill, Woking, Surrey.
2nd Susan Edwards - Downham Market, Norfolk.
3rd Derek Broks - Worsley, Manchester.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS Pam and Barry Gray use their two greenhouses to great effect. The first is full of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and basil plants – all full of health and cropping prolifically. The second is crammed with flower and foliage plants creating a riot of colour and all in fine fettle.

BEST PUB/HOTEL
1st Davenport Arms , Woodford, Stockport, Cheshire.
2nd The George & Dragon , Mosborough, Sheffield.
3rd The Ship, Portishead, North Somerset.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS In these days of recession and financial cutbacks, many pubs are bereft of colour – the landlords no longer able to spend money on the exterior. The Davenport Arms is definitely not one of these. Landlady Yvonne Hallworth ensures a kaleidoscope of colour welcomes all her clientele.

BEST NEWCOMER
1st Michelle Grant - Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS Michelle Grant became ill 11 years ago and, at that time, was restricted to a wheelchair. Three years ago she moved to a ground floor maisonette and shortly after that got the gardening ‘bug’. Now it’s a passion and her small garden is testimony to that. It’s packed with containers, hanging baskets and there’s even room for some veg.

BEST COMMUNITY PROJECT
1st Dena Murphy , New Moston, Manchester.

UNSUNG HERO
1st Dena Murphy , New Moston, Manchester.

JUDGE’S COMMENTS Dena Murphy is a community dynamo. You may remember reading about her in GN in July. She started a veg garden at the Northfield Day Centre in Moston, Manchester, two years ago and grows food for a weekly luncheon club. She also shows residents and local children how to grow their own and runs Grow, Cook & Taste classes. If that wasn’t enough, she has also transformed the alleys at the back of her and her neighbours’ terraced houses. From a rundown, rubbish-strewn, graffiti’d area to a horticultural haven, now called Atherley Gardens, it’s a lovely spot for residents to meet, talk and have barbecues together. The project has worked so well Dena now advises others in Manchester on how they can do the same. A very worthy winner of both Best Community Project and Unsung Hero categories.