Contest turns village residents into spud guns
The Stoke Retirement Village have been potting potatoes for prizes as a way to get the residents socialising.
Planted in early October, Mitre 10 sponsored the fun event by supplying the fertiliser, potatoes, buckets and prizes.
Stoke Retirement Village resident and potato competition org- aniser Ann Bell said it was the first time they had held the event.
She organised the potato growing to get all the residents together in a ‘‘social aspect’’.
The potatoes usually took 60 to 70 days to mature so they left the harvesting of the spuds ‘‘as long as they possibly could’’.
‘‘We didn’t know how the potatoes were going to fare.’’
Prizes were given to contestants with the most potatoes, including a prize for biggest potato and oddest potato.
There were about 20 participants, with first prize for biggest potato and largest amount of potatoes going to the same resident.
They grew 19 potatoes in their bucket while the second prize winner grew 17.
Bell said she had just nine spuds grow.
The competition was ‘‘fantastic’’, she said.
‘‘It was very social, everyone was interested. They all got around to see what was coming out.’’
‘‘Everyone enjoyed it and we said we must do it again.’’
Bell said they might grow something different next year.