Sustainable garden winner.
The winners of First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO)’s Budding Neighbourhoods summer gardening competition 2025 have been announced.
The popular online event allows the housing association’s customers to enter three categories to showcase their horticultural skills and win vouchers.
The categories this year were: Sustainable Garden to show off eco-friendly gardening practices, Edible Garden for grow your own food enthusiasts and Wildlife Friendly Garden to help nature thrive.
Winners receive a £100 Love2Shop voucher and second place £50 vouchers.
Wendy Bal from Shaw won the sustainable garden category and second was Aliyah Jabbar from Hollinwood.
Saiqa Zulfiqar from Oldham came first in the edible garden category (pictured below) with Kathryn Holland from Shaw runner up.
Paulin Norden from Chadderton won the wildlife garden category and second was Paul Martin Jarvis, from Failsworth.
A delighted Mrs Bal said: “My garden is an absolute haven and I spend most of my time here in the warmer months.
“I am Eco Schools and Forest Schools lead at a local school Crompton Primary School and this has inspired my sustainable approach to gardening.
“I use a water butt to collect rainwater, make my own compost and grow edible plants in my greenhouse. I also installed a dead-hedge and a small wildlife pond this year to attract wildlife. I recommend that everyone with some green space introduce some measures to protect the environment. It is very rewarding.”
FCHO stronger communities manager Naomi Martin-Smith added: “This year’s competition had an increased emphasis on helping the environment and biodiversity and many congratulations to the winners and runners up who really embraced this.
“Here at FCHO we’re delighted to have received so many excellent entries.
“We love to encourage our customers to celebrate their outdoor space and show off their gardens, patios, balconies, window boxes and more.”
She added: “The new categories in 2025 reflect FCHO’s ongoing work to make neighbourhoods great, green and nature friendly places to live. It was fantastic to see the ways customers are connecting with nature and we have a set of very worthy winners.”
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