Community Garden Edibles Competition: Grow to Show!
If you have an interest in growing your own fruits and vegetables, you wouldn’t want to miss the Community Garden Edibles Competition, launched on 4 April 2015. The competition pits gardeners against one another to see who can grow the longest and heaviest fruits and vegetables in Singapore!

A group of Community in Bloom gardeners from Northwest CDC displaying their harvest.

Held for the first time, the Community Garden Edibles Competition is open to all Singapore citizens and permanent residents, and is divided into two categories, Individual and Group. A total of 12 types of fruits and vegetables are included in the competition, and will be mainly judged by length or weight.

The search is on for the:

Longest	Heaviest
Bittergourd, Momordica charantia	Brinjal, Solanum melongena
Chilli, Capsicum annuum (Cayenne)	Lettuce, Lactuca sativa
Cucumber, Cucumis sativus	Papaya, Carica papaya
Lady's Finger, Abelmoschus esculentus	Pumpkin, Cucurbita moschata
Long Bean, Vigna unguiculata	Tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum
	Watermelon, Citrullus lanatus
	Winter Melon, Benincasa hispida

If you are already growing any of the 12 species listed above in your garden, you can enter your produce in the competition. It’s not too late to start from scratch by using seeds of any cultivar belonging to the species listed. Here’s a tip: if you wish to grow plump and juicy tomatoes for the competition, try planting beefsteak tomatoes, which can weigh half a kilogramme each! Pumpkin lovers might wish to consider growing jumbo varieties such as “Big Max” and “Atlantic Gold”.

The fruits and vegetables are to be submitted on 4 or 5 September 2015 at HortPark. On 6 September 2015, the top 10 longest or heaviest entries in each fruit and vegetable category will be picked by a panel of judges. Prizes will be presented by Minister of Development, Khaw Boon Wan, to the top winner in each category. Winning gardeners will receive prizes, including cash awards of up to $800! The winning harvests will also be showcased at the inaugural Community Garden Festival at HortPark from 5 to 6 September 2015.

Registration is simple and can be completed online, or sent in by mail through the form available at www.nparks.gov.sg/edibles.
The closing date for registration is 30 May 2015, so gather your friends and tools, and start planting today!

This edibles growing factsheet, as well as many other useful resources, can be downloaded from www.nparks.gov.sg/edibles.
Do visit the webpage for more information on the competition.

Text by Herrick Ong
Photo of Community in Bloom gardeners by Lau Kai Ying