The inaugural Community Garden Festival held at HortPark on 5-6 and 12-13 September 2015 saw 433 vegetable- and fruit-entries submitted for judging as part of the Community Garden Edibles Competition over the first weekend!

Our champion gardeners posing with the fruits (and vegetables) of their labour!

During the Edibles Competition, 215 entries were awarded prizes in each of 12 group/individual categories of edibles: bitter gourd, brinjal, chilli, cucumber, lady’s finger, lettuce, long bean, papaya, pumpkin, tomato, watermelon and winter melon. In our previous article “So Far, So Huge”, we asked gardeners about the horticultural techniques they used to grow large edibles. In this article, we find out more about the gardeners themselves.

Kamisah Atan (right) receiving the first prize in the Heaviest Papaya (Individual) category from Mr Chew Hock Yong, Second Permanent Secretary for Ministry of National Development.

To Kamisah and her friends from Jurong Central Community Garden Zone D, gardening helps rekindle the kampung spirit. Moreover, she treats gardening as a form of therapy. She talks to her plants and treats each of them “like a baby” so it is no wonder her tender care, and generous use of compost and coffee powder resulted in the Heaviest Papaya (Individual) at 1.9kg!

Similarly, the gardeners of Kent Ville Garden RC who turned in a hefty 15.22kg winter melon – which received a runner-up (Group) prize – fertilised their plant weekly for two months leading up to the competition. They also meet up for group exercise sessions before gardening, keeping them fit and healthy. It seems teamwork, friendship and hard work did translate to success for the gardeners!

All smiles for the close-knit gardeners of Kent Ville Garden RC who were one of the first to submit their edibles for judging.

Gardening is, however, not just an activity for neighbours. The runner-up of the Heaviest Papaya (Group) category was a group of colleagues, led by Mike Lim, from System on Silicon Manufacturing Company Pte Ltd in Pasir Ris.

Unlike community gardeners who have fixed gardening schedules, this group tended to the gardens whenever they were free. According to Mike, each staff instinctively knew their duties as machinery and plants are similar: be it engineering or horticultural issues, patience and observation skills will reveal what needs fixing. No wonder the colleagues were able to win prizes for their chillies, cucumbers and papayas even without a firm schedule!

Mike and his colleagues grow a variety of crops on their manufacturing plant including long bean, brinjal and lettuce.

This year’s Community Garden Festival was attended by more than 11,000 visitors. In addition to the Edibles Competition, gardening enthusiasts were spoilt for choice at the Gardeners’ Market, while foodies could buy healthy foodstuff at the Food Bazaar.

Free talks and demonstrations touching on topics ranging from garden design to floral and even culinary showcases were well-received. Young families were delighted by the array of child-friendly activities such as painting, storytelling, vegetable-harvesting and pony rides. The free guided tours of Pasir Panjang Nursery and HortPark’s latest theme gardens such as the SG50 Community in Bloom Gardens were highly popular too. HortPark is already planning more gardening and nature-related events including Gardeners Day Out – which will take place monthly from January 2016 – so look out for more exciting activities coming your way!

Visitors on a tour around Pasir Panjang Nursery to learn about its operations that support the propagation of plants for the National Parks Board. Evening programmes over both weekends included a power-packed concert line-up of seven popular local artiste groups and a movie screening

Text by Herrick Ong