Mike Wells gives top tips to prepare garden for 2023 Chronicle Garden Competition in the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers

With only a few weeks left to enter the 2023 Chronicle Garden Competition, our liaison Mike Wells has given his list of ‘must dos’ for entrants, and some helpful tips to win extra points. Find out what he says here.

With only a few weeks left to enter the 2023 Chronicle Garden Competition, residents are busy preparing their yards for the judging period.

However, returning 2023 Chronicle Garden Competition liaison Mike Wells has some helpful tips and must dos for those wanting to impress the judges.

“By now, they should have just about everything planted and making sure they’re growing well,” Mr Wells said.

The Chronicle general manager Erika Brayshaw and Mike Wells, garden liason. Chronicle Garden competition launch at Cobb+Co Museum. Saturday, June 11, 2022. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Regular liquid fertiliser should be applied to annuals, and Mr Wells said it was important to be removing flower buds to get the plants to bush out, grow thicker and cover the soil.

“One of the things from a garden competition point of view is when they’re judged, covering the ground with plants is a good idea,” he said.

“You don’t want to see any bare soil.

“Taking the buds off the annuals forces the plants to bush out and grow a little more leaf before they come into flower again. But, if they flower early, they’re likely to finish before September when we want them at their peak.”

Tulip bulbs should be in the ground now ahead of the September judging period, and gardeners should be pruning their deciduous trees and shrubs.

For those looking to add more colour to their gardens, Mr Wells suggested buying advanced seedlings.

“If they’re putting a flowering shrub in, they’ll want something fairly large so it will produce enough flowers and cover the ground,” he said.

Entries for the 2023 Chronicle Garden Competition close on August 11, with the judging period to take place September 1 to 7.

Visit the Chronicle website to enter before it’s too late.