Sunflflower challenge
PICK up a sunflower seed, plant it in a pot and let battle of the beanstalk blooms commence. That’s the rallying call from community spirited sisters Sara and Laura Greenan who are giving away thousands of sunflower seeds as part of a fun, free competition.
The seeds are all in a little bucket in the front garden of their Victorian terraced home at Mount Road in Hinckley, a heavenly horticultural haven which is bedecked to mirror the season by the two nature lovers.
Folks from far and wide are urged to grab a few seeds and start growing their own for the challenge which aims to foster a fondness for flora while ‘greening up’ the borough and attracting wildlife.
As Laura’s poster by the seed pot says it’s free to enter with silly prizes and categories to be added later on.
Instructions are simple:
1) Take a few seeds and sow in compost, two per pot
2) Plant out into the garden or a large container at the end of May 3) Water regularly 4) Photograph progress and upload pics to Twitter using the hashtag #hinckleysunflowercompetition
Greenfingered Laura said: “We want to share as far as we can. The seeds are just by the front gate, someone gave us thousands so I thought I’d spread the love.”
The Mount Road garden is something of a local attraction with all kinds of decorations and ornaments to complement the time of year - from Christmas to Halloween and Easter.
Last year the sisters came joint first in the small spaces category of the Cultivation Street national gardening competition - no mean feat when their terraced house plot is only 25 sqm.
The garden captivated judges with its exotic bulbs, flowering plants aimed at pollination and even a pick-your-own front wall where neighbours could help themselves to tomatoes, herbs, chillies, cherries and berries.
Laura has even spread the horticultural happiness to the verge beds just up the road next to Mount Road Baptist Church which borders the jitty to the car park.
At Christmas she added baubles and trinkets, with others following her example, and this spring she has created a ‘little Hinckley’ tableaux which is delighting passers-by.
Many of the items used were donated by wellwishers responding to damage done to Laura’s festive garden during an accidental drunken stumble by a couple of seasonal revellers.