Winners of sustainable home garden competition rewarded |18 October 2023
Giselle and Desire Pointe, winners in the balcony and medium garden categories
Winners of the annual sustainable home garden competition as part of a national campaign for a cleaner Seychelles, have been rewarded.
Organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, the competition also promotes the implementation of the 17 UN sustainable development goals that set a target of the future of the world. However this competition focuses more at a home and community level.
The prize giving ceremony was held yesterday afternoon at the Camion Hall where there was also a plant bazaar to give the home gardeners an opportunity to sell their plants, which included flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs.
Present for the ceremony was Minister Flavien Joubert, who commended the participants and stated the ministry wanted to increase the interest in the act of planting and gardening at home.
“I am proud to see that more people are interested in taking these sustainable practices at home such as recycling and avoiding the use of some harmful substance,” he said.
The aim of the competition is to bring sustainable practices in homes, such as recycling to maintain their garden. It was divided into four categories which were, large, medium and small garden as well as balcony.
Taking home first prize in two categories, namely balcony and medium garden, was Giselle Pointe who said she was very grateful for having won two overall prizes, for her garden which she maintains with the help of her husband, Desire Pointe.
“In my garden I love having vintage flowery plants because the ones I buy nowadays die as soon as I get home, and I try my best to incorporate recyclable materials that we get from trash bins. Anything we find that we can plant in we are taking it home,” she said gleefully.
Giselle had always had a passion for gardening and her love for it has grown over the years to a point where taking care of her plants everyday has become second nature to her.
She explained that the joy of seeing a beautiful garden is what fuels her ambition to plant.
“I love my garden honestly, I love it so much. Every morning I wake up I have to see how my plants are doing,” she added.
The winner for the small garden category was Bernadette Samson who said she was overjoyed because it was her second time participating. Last year she came in fourth place and this year’s first position indicates the great progress made in her little sustainable garden.
“I have actually redone my garden since last year’s competition and decided to add more practical and recycled products such as planting in half cut buoys and empty oil containers,” she explained.
Terrence Vielle won first prize for the large garden category. “It is my fourth time participating. Last year I got fourth place in the same category and today is evident that I have done much better to improve my garden to be more sustainable,” he stated.
His garden consists of fruits and vegetables, a wide variety of flowers and medicinal plants.
He explained that one factor that makes his garden stand out is that he does not use any fertilisers.
“My garden is near a marsh and that makes the soil rich and I use that to my advantage by keeping my plants and soil all natural.”
He concluded by saying that gardening serves as a form of therapy for him and he does it for his pleasure.
Other awards included best effort on Mahé, won by Martha Mathiot, Ruth MoÏse for the inner islands and a special award dubbed the ‘Youngest participation Motivation award’ which went to Kiara Anacoura.
The accompanying photos show the main winners.
Diane Larame
Photos by Joena Meme
