Haringey in Bloom 2024
Haringey in Bloom is our borough’s annual gardening competition to celebrate our creative, sustainable and beautiful green spaces.
Gardening is great for your health and wellbeing so it’s a great excuse to get out and give yourself a boost while you brighten up your corner of Haringey too!
In Bloom brings our communities, local businesses and the council together and celebrates how we shape our local spaces. That’s why we include everything from private gardens to window boxes, communal spaces and school gardens in the awards, because they all play a major role in transforming the way our streets look and feel and bring people together too.
Whatever type of space you garden, you are contributing to the local community and environment. So every person that enters In Bloom will be given a pack of free seeds to plant to say thank you.
The competition runs through the summer, with winners announced in September.
- The deadline for entries is 31 July
The panel of judges will offer a ‘sustainability bonus’ in each category – that’s extra points for entries that help to increase biodiversity, reduce pollution, or provide other wider benefits.
- How to enter
- Competition categories
- Schools
- Sustainability bonus
- Gardening advice and tips
- Haringey in Bloom 2023 gallery
How to enter
Please email us at inbloom@haringey.gov.uk with:
- your name
- garden address
- email address
- phone number
- category you would like to enter
- two photos of your garden or green space (for each category)
- any sustainability benefits that your garden or green space features (more detail below).
The deadline for entries is 31 July 2024.
Competition categories
Our panel will score all categories on creativity, sustainability and visual impact:
- Front garden – for residents who have cultivated a beautiful front garden with a variety of flowers, plants, special features, design and layout
- Back garden – for residents who have cultivated a beautiful back garden with a variety of flowers, plants, special features, design and layout
- Mini marvel – balcony (where permitted), hanging basket or window box – for residents who have used window boxes, baskets, or pots to effectively utilise their space and create a visual display of colour, creatively with design and layout in a miniature space. This may be on their balcony or as part of their garden
- School and nursery – for schools and/or nurseries that have cultivated a beautiful garden and encouraged children and young people’s involvement in and learning about gardening. Gardens in the school and nursery category will be awarded extra points for pupil involvement and learning
- Vegetable plot or greenhouse – for residents who grow fruits and vegetables on their property to showcase the sustainability of food growing and its benefits for health and wellbeing
- Communal garden – for gardens that are shared by a council estate, multi-storey block of flats, or sheltered scheme which is vibrant and has improved the neighbourhood
- Business – for businesses who have cultivated a beautiful garden which is attractive to customers and has a variety of flowers, plants, special features, design and layout
For more information, please contact inbloom@haringey.gov.uk
Schools
If you are entering the category for schools, please let us know in your email what role pupils are playing in the creation and maintenance of the garden – as well as how the garden promotes learning and life skills. Our panel will award extra points for gardens that bring some of these benefits.
Sustainability bonus
In our scoring, we give extra points to gardens that bring 3 or more of the sustainability benefits set out here:
Minimising plastic, energy use and resources
- Reducing single-use plastics
- Using non-plastic or recycled materials (for example: pots, planters and mesh)
- Using rainwater or greywater
- Using homemade compost
- Composting garden waste
Creating bee and bird-friendly habitats
- Bee-friendly planting – visit the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) page on plants to attract bees (external link)
- Wildlife-friendly planting – visit the RHS page on plants to attract wildlife (external link)
Increasing plant diversity
- A mix of plants is ideal for pollinators, with native species included – visit the RHS page on plants to attract pollinators (external link)
- Native wildflowers – visit the RHS page on native wildflowers (external link)
Improving climate-resilience
- Drought-tolerant species – visit the RHS page on drought-tolerant plants (external link)
- Rain gardens – visit the RHS page on rain gardens (external link)
- Depaving: gardens that open up the ground to improve drainage (by removing a paving slab/s or concrete)
Growing edible plants
- Edible flowers – visit the RHS page on edible flowers (external link)
Gardening advice and tips
If you want to read up about gardening, check out our In Bloom booklist at your local library and check-out our council social media channels where we will also be posting ‘top tips’ advice.
Haringey in Bloom gallery 2023
Be inspired by some of last year’s entries! Good luck!
Front garden
Back garden
Hanging baskets and window boxes
Community garden
Veg garden
School – Lea Valley Primary School
