Get set, ready, grow!

Twelve year old champion gardener Rowan Williams says she hasn’t only got green fingers – she’s got green blood.

“My grandfather was called William Green and he was a prize winning gardener,” said Rowan, who lives in Huyton in Knowsley.

“I’ve been gardening since I was two and grow everything from plants and flowers to vegetables.

“Everything is organic – I gather my own seeds and make my own plant feed. I just love growing things. It makes me feel happy.”

Rowan’s a regular entrant in the Knowsley Flower Show and last year won every category in the children’s section and was overall winner.

She also won first prize in five categories at the Croxteth Hall Royal Horticultural Society show.

The Knowsley Flower Show will be on Sunday, August 5 this year at Court Hey Park and Rowan’s just about to start planting for it.

She’s hoping to get her own allotment soon so she can grow vegetables. At the moment she grows them at her grandmother’s house.

“I’ve got a small greenhouse at the side of my house but it’s not very big. The last one blew down in the storms in October and I lost everything.

 “Luckily a friend who has an allotment gave me some seeds, I saved my pocket money to buy another greenhouse and I started again.”

The Knowsley Flower Show committee is hoping lots of children will enter this year as well as adults and they would like some keen gardeners to come forward and help them plan this year’s event.
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There are new classes - the longest Olympic Runner Bean and the best hand crafted crown or tiara - paying tribute to the Olympics and the Queens Diamond Jubilee.

There’s also a new section for jams and chutneys and the best computer generated picture of a Royal or Olympic Garden.

“Its amazing how many young people are getting into gardening,” said Cllr Eddie Connor, Knowsley’s cabinet member for Leisure, Community and Culture.

“We’d like to encourage as many of them as possible to enter their flowers, plants and veg into this years show.

“Last year we had a record number of entries and visitors, so the competition’s hotting up and now’s the time to start planting!”

For advice on entering the Knowsley Flower Show and what to grow, call Christine Yates on 0151 480 8666.  For general information and the cost of running a stall or trade stand there, call Carla Simkin at Knowsley Council on 0151 443 5353. 

Pic caption: Champion gardener Rowan Williams, 12, from Huyton getting ready for this year’s Knowsley Flower Show.