Best kept allotment competition

Well, the result is out in our allotment competition and... I got a silver gilt award! Pretty pleased with that since it's my first time in the competition and only one down from the prestigious gold award. And does that note at the top of the second image below really mean I just missed top spot?

For the uninitiated it isn't really a competition as such. There aren't any 'winners' or 'losers'. Everyone gets a certificate and an invitation to shake the Mayor's hand at afternoon tea in the gardens of the Norris Museum. But sure as eggs is round consumable products each allotment holder who entered will be gagging to know who got what award.

So here's a bit of detail about how the scoring went and what it looks like I need to do to have a chance of the being awarded the yellow lustre next year.

My total score was 74 out of 90. The scoring bands are...

AWARD	POINTS
Gold	81 to 90
Silver gilt	63 to 80
Silver	48 to 62
Bronze	30 to 47
Commendation	0 to 29

For most items I either scored the maximum or lost one point. I lost most points for...

Evidence of catch cropping... only awarded 1 point out of a possible 5. I had to look up what catch cropping was... raising fast growing crops such as radishes simultaneously or in between main crops. Fair enough, that's easy to sort for next year. We were raising quick growing crops, but in pots in front of the shed.

Evidence of successional planting/sowings... awarded 3 points out of 5. We did have lettuce, radish and carrots growing, but only one lot being raised for each.

Ingenious devices or modes of recycling... awarded 4 points out of 6. Now that's right up my street, thinking up whacky things that might just work. Have to get the thinking cap on for next year... my water storage system of overflowing from one water butt to a other isn't enough in itself.

So if I get, say, 1 point off the maximum for each of the above I'd gain another 5 points, total 79 points. Still 2 points off being awarded a gold. And that's where I suspect the real challenge is for next year, getting those extra 2 points from items where I already scored highly... without losing any points where I scored the maximum.

Oh the agony! All good fun though. I've given myself a reminder for the Christmas holidays to plan what I'm going to do in 2012 to win that gold!

Images below giving more detail on my scores.

Above is first summary of the scores

This is the second summary of the scores.

And the detail behind the second summary.