Schools encouraged to design a garden

Environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful has launched a search for green fingered pupils to participate in the fourth annual Pocket Garden Competition - which challenges pupils to create a garden design which could feature as part of a major display at Gardening Scotland this summer.

Schools are being encouraged to take part in the Pocket Garden Competition by designing a garden that celebrates Scotland’s landscape by linking plants and place with water and changing climate.

Participants will be asked to consider a range of themes in their entries, including gardens that can withstand drought and flooding or that would thrive in coastal or wetland locations.

Schools are invited to submit their entries no later than February 8. There will be a team of mentors on hand for schools that would like some advice and the winning schools will be selected by representatives from Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Garden for Life Forum.

All winning entries will be created to form the main feature of the Living Garden area at Gardening Scotland, which will take place in June.

Anthony McCluskey, Chair of the Garden for Life Forum, said:“Extreme weather events are becoming more common as our climate changes. We need to adapt how we garden and grow food, so the competition is a chance for children to engage with the ways in which climate change may affect Scotland. Water – and the lack of it - is one of the key elements in growing plants, so we can’t wait to see what the children come up with.”

Further information on entries and the requirements can be found at www. keepscotlandbeautiful. org/pocketgarden.