An allotmenteer from Beckenham has been rewarded for her fruit and vegetable lockdown growing efforts at Beckenham Place Park Show.
Marina Stenning, 48, won both the Best in Show prize and the prize for having the best array of at least five varieties of fruit and vegetables at the show on Sunday.
After only deciding to enter the week before, her finishing basket included a whopping 17 types of produce.
The mum-of-three loves gardening and has had her Harvington Estate allotment for seven years – but she had never done a show before this one.
Marina boasted about how much fun she had in entering this year.
She said: “I didn’t think I was going to enter this year as weather-wise it’s been a funny year for growing anything.
“I didn’t have anything to show for but as we got nearer I thought I might so I decided to enter the week before.
“I was really panicking that I wouldn’t have at least five vegetables but in the end I had 17 – and I spent the week beforehand trying to ripen some things up and slow others down.
“It was really good fun and I loved putting the display together.”
Marina’s vegetable array included cucumbers, a 1938 courgette, yellow and red onions, blueberries, a summer squash, a multitude of tomato types and a thought-to-be-extinct bright pink passion chard.
She bought all her seeds over the winter months from various different countries.
Marina added: “I do what I do for a hobby as usually people don’t actually grow to feed themselves but it’s just good for mental wellbeing, especially during lockdown.
“It’s been a lifesaver for so many as we have a lot of older people at the allotment and its given them the opportunity to get out of the house and see people in a safe environment.
“Since winning I have actually eaten the fruits and vegetables from my display and the flavours and taste you get are absolutely awesome.
“Once you have grown things yourself you do turn your nose up at most things sold in a supermarket – even for the simplest things like runner beans which have so much flavour when you grow them yourself.”
Marina's prizes included two rosettes, a goodie bag and Hugo Boss notebook donated by a local estate agent, and a painting called The Secret Garden created by a local resident artist.
She added that the rosettes were the key to her heart.
“I loved the goodies but for me I’m most chuffed with the rosettes because I’ve never had anything like that before,” Marina said.
“I was just thrilled and all the nerves and hard work were worth it.
“I’m also a bit proud of myself because lots of months of work went into it because it was all grown from seed.”
Beckenham Place Park Show is community-based and the competition encourages anyone, adults and children alike, to enter.
Other competition categories included best floral displays, displays based on rainbows and the best misshapen vegetable.
Marina added: “I’d definitely like to do another show now as when I won I really was like ‘oh my gosh’.”
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