GROWING a garden of edible plants along the High Street is one suggestion to turn Whitstable into a flowery oasis.
Whitstable Improvement Trust has been given a pot of money worth up to £12,000 to encourage people to beautify the town for gardening competition South East in Bloom.
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BLOOMING BRILLIANT: Whitstable Improvement Trust chairman Roger Seijo has high hopes for the town GIIS20121114B-002_C
Residents and community groups are being challenged to come up with ideas to turn neglected corners of the town into horticultural havens.
Chairman Roger Seijo said ideas included wildflower seeding on Tankerton Slopes and felling “badly maintained” trees outside the library but that it was up to the community to decide how to spend the cash.
He said: “Whitstable is not a traditional seaside town with floral displays on the promenade and floral clocks. I’m interested much more in large-scale landscaping and taking up the Transition Town idea of edible landscapes.
“There’s an edible garden outside the library and I don’t see why the medical centre shouldn’t grow medicinal herbs.”
He added he would like to see the “bland, harsh industrial scapes” such as Gorrell Tank car park made into something special.
Mr Seijo added: “There are all sorts of neglected patches of land that could be used by the community.”
A landscape architect and teacher of eco-living by trade, Mr Seijo designed Deadman’s Corner in Whitstable harbour and seeds have now been planted in the back wall.
The trust also created planters in the harbour, seating at Cushing’s View, signs around the town and the tearoom gardens on Tankerton Slopes.
It plans to improve the garden in front of its shop as part of Whitstable in Bloom.
Mr Seijo said: “The trust has run Whitstable in Bloom for a number of years and this is about upping the ante and entering South East in Bloom. Herne Bay and Canterbury have been very successful and we have been left behind.
“Once we’ve identified the various groups that want to take this forward we’ll come up with a strategy.”
The trust expects to put the town forward for the contest in two to three years’ time but work needs to start as soon as possible.
To get involved, call 01227 770060.
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