Green fingers at the ready!

Get your garden gloves on and start thinking!

With planning well underway for this year's Bord Bia Bloom, organisers are calling for budding gardeners from Cork to submit entries for the popular postcard garden category.

Postcard gardens offer passionate amateur gardeners, garden clubs, community and GIY groups a chance to showcase their talents to over 115,000 visitors attending the event.

The postcard gardens are small but perfectly formed 3m x 2m plots which can be used to represent a club, locality, special person or character from your community.

Last year schools, communities, day care centres and resource centres from around Ireland brought themes such as autism, mental-wellbeing, climate change and children’s literature to life through flowers, planting, art and woodwork.

Longford Town's Irish Countrywomen’s Association received the Best in Show Award for Fork to Fork which demonstrated how we can turn the tide on unsustainable consumption by using the earth around us to feed ourselves.

Kerrie Gardiner, Bord Bia Bloom Show Garden Manager said: "The postcard gardens are such a special part of Bloom and are a personal favourite of mine! They offer emerging gardeners and community groups a chance to showcase their talents, while also inspiring other amateur gardeners to get out into nature and experience the joy of gardening."

The postcard garden application form can be downloaded from BloominthePark.com and the closing date to apply is Monday 2 March.

Bord Bia Bloom, Ireland’s annual showcase of the best of Ireland’s horticulture and food industry is in its fourteenth year, and will once again feature a range of spectacular show gardens, food features, music, fashion, and entertainment for all the family.

The festival returns this June bank holiday weekend from 28 May-1 June in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.