Do You Have the Best Blog?

RHS Gardening Blogs Competition

The RHS have launched a competition to find the best garden blog for 2013 :)

Sounds interesting, tell me more

All you need to do is select one blog post about gardening you've published between the launch date (Monday 8th July) and the competition's closing date (September 30th). There's no need to offer any more posts, or your entire blog as the judges will only consider the post you've entered.

What are the judges looking for?

Your post can be about any subject as long as it's about gardening in some way. It's the quality of the writing that matters, and it should be unique to your blog, not published elsewhere. Any images used in the post must also be yours. The selected post must be from your own personal blog, not part of a group blog which publishes from a number of authors.

The judges will select a shortlist of 10 finalists, which will then be opened up for a public vote, just like the 'People's Choice' used at the RHS's garden shows.

OK, so what can I win?

All finalists are invited to visit an RHS Flower Show of their choice on press day in 2014. The winner will have the chance to blog on the new RHS website, a visit to an RHS Flower Show on press day in 2014, plus a tour of an RHS Garden with the curator.

How do I enter?

You can notify the RHS of your entry via one of three different ways:

  • Twitter: Tweet a link to your post with the hashtag #RHSGardeningBlogs - you may like to add @The_RHS for good measure
  • Facebook: Post a link to your post on the RHS Facebook page with the text 'RHS Gardening Blogs Competition'
  • Email: Send a link to your post to blogcompetition@rhs.org.uk

 I like your shiny button at the top of your post, can I have one?

Only if you enter! You can grab the code from the RHS's website. The finalists will also get a Finalists button for their blog. And of course, the winner gets an exclusive button just for them.

How do I find out more?

Visit the RHS blog competition page, especially to check out the full Terms and Conditions and to grab your Entrant button :)

Comments

  1. Shirley12 August 2013 at 11:15

    Well done in promoting this, VP :-) I only discovered this competition myself late last night and also plan to blog details at some point soon :-)

    It's great to see the RHS acknowledging the many, many garden related blogs there are (clapping my hands to them) although I do wonder if they realise just how many bloggers are out there ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP12 August 2013 at 13:01

      Hi Shirley - I've known about this for a while, but waited a little before posting because the closing date is so far away.

      It's great isn't it? I do think the RHS have an idea of the number of blogs out there, I hope for their sake that not everyone waits until the last week to enter!

      Delete
  2. Anna12 August 2013 at 12:27

    It's brilliant to see the RHS celebrating blogging VP but I don't think that the words 'best garden blog' are used in the competition details :) There are so many excellent garden related blogs out there and so much difference in content and style that it would be impossible to award such a title especially based on just one post. Still an excellent idea and good luck to the judges - they are going to need it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP12 August 2013 at 12:57

      Hi Anna - my words were chosen very carefully because of the one post entry rule :)

      It would be extremely hard to judge our wonderfully diverse range of gardening blogs, no matter if the whole blog, or the best 3,5,10 etc posts were entered. I'm assuming the one blog post rule means the maximum people can enter, irrespective of whether they're a completely new blogger (after all you can set up a blog from scratch simply to enter this competition), or very experienced. NB the blog itself doesn't have to be a gardening blog, just the post that's entered from it.

      For me, making my selection will be very hard, especially as I think my best post so far this year was posted outside the competition's timeframe ;)

      Do please enter something from yours...

      Delete
  3. Anonymous12 August 2013 at 14:15

    I think that it's extremely poor to select a best garden blog on the basis of one post! Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP12 August 2013 at 15:37

      Hi Flighty - that's an interesting observation. The thing is 'blog' can be used to refer to both the weblog itself and an individual post within it. By focusing on just one entry, I think this competition is more like the various writing competitions I've seen in magazines and online. It also maximises the number of people eligible to enter.

      I think you should select your very best post and go for it!
      xx

      Delete
  4. Angie12 August 2013 at 17:19

    What a great idea - there are so many great blogs out there, it would be very difficult to choose a winner.
    Personally, I doubt I could pluck up the courage to enter but wish anyone who is going to enter, best of luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP13 August 2013 at 20:56

      Hi Angie - yes there are loads of blogs and plenty of people who write well and take excellent photographs. I don't envy the judges at all!

      I judged the Canadian blog awards earlier this year and it was really tough!

      I think you should enter - nothing ventured. nothing gained...

      Delete
  5. Caro15 August 2013 at 18:22

    OooooooOOOOoooo! I didn't know about this! Thanks for flagging it up, I'll be having a go - and luckily plenty of time to choose. There ARE so many good blogs out there, aren't there! I'm always getting distracted by new blog discoveries and, realising that I haven't the time to read them all, find it hard to be selective. Well done RHS for recognising the value of the blogging world! (And good luck, Michelle, with your entry :) )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP18 August 2013 at 09:19

      Hurray - glad you're going to give it a go Caro :)

      Delete
  6. Anonymous7 October 2013 at 08:24

    Good luck with your entry. I agree that it is tough judging a competition on just one post.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more