1. Entrants to this competition are bound by these terms and conditions.
2. Prizes:
a) Overall winner award: £1,000 worth of GARDENA products and gardening vouchers, plus trophies.
b) Category winner awards: £100 worth of GARDENA products, plus trophies
3. How to enter: Entry into Top of The Plots 2026 is open to participants who submit a minimum of 6 images of their garden/plots along with text about their area. Any submissions without images after the closing date will not be eligible for entry this year. Only participants who are resident in the UK (and Ireland) are eligible to win the Overall Top Of The Plot and sub-category award titles & prizes. Entries must be submitted via Google Form (link TBC)
4.Competition categories: Categories for finalists will be selected as per the below categories.
Main Awards:
Overall winner: Top Of The Plots: Overall winner, which will be selected based on the variety, resilience to seasons, sustainability, transformation, creativity and maintenance of the garden.
Category winners:
i.Best Allotment Plot: Best plot in an official allotment*.
ii.Best Garden Plot: Best plot in a garden or yard.
iii.Best New Plot: A plot started in the past 12 months, which will be selected based on how well it’s performed over the past season.
Mini Awards:
iv. Kids on the Plot: Allotments / growing spaces mainly looked after by children e.g. in a school.
v. Best Small Plot: Best mini or indoor plot, such as a windowsill plot.
vi. Huw's Pick of the Plots: A plot chosen by head judge, Huw, for being outstandingly unique.
vii. Best Community Plot: Best allotment looked after by a community group.
5. Who can enter: The competition is open to anyone in the United Kingdom, excluding employees or immediate families or households of the promoter or its associated companies and any employee or agent or their immediate families or households of any organisation professionally associated with the competition - only one entry per post per person. Incomplete entries will not be accepted.
6. Closing date: Entries can be made between 7 May 2026 and 17 August 2026. Entries made after this time will be void.
7. Judging criteria: Key areas will be explored when judging allotment and garden area categories.
- Diverse: A garden area that is considered to have a vast variety of plants and produce.
- Quality: A garden area that is considered to have high quality of plants and produce.
- Resilience: A garden area that is considered to be resilient to weather and other external factors.
- Sustainability: A garden area where the owner uses sustainable gardening practices.
- Appearance: A garden area that is considered visually appealing and shows the beauty of gardening.
- Biodiversity: A garden area that has created habitats for wildlife to encourage biodiversity
*Criteria from the National Allotment Society must be met for those entering the Best Allotment category. The cultivation standards expected of a plot will be completely governed by the tenancy agreement/site rules:
- The Tenant shall use the plot as an allotment garden only as defined by the Allotments Act 1922 (that is to say wholly or mainly for the production of vegetable, fruit and flower crops for consumption or enjoyment by the Tenant and his family) and for no other purpose and keep it free of hazards, e.g. broken glass or scrap metal etc., and reasonably free from weeds and noxious plants and in a good state of cultivation and fertility and in good condition.
- The Tenant may not carry on any trade or business from the Allotment Site (A small amount of surplus produce may be sold as ancillary to the provision of crops for the family.)
- The Tenant shall have at least ¼ of the Allotment Garden under cultivation of crops after 3 months and at least ¾ of the Allotment Garden under cultivation of crops after 12 months and thereafter.
- The maximum amount of the Allotment Garden allowed to be hard landscaped e.g. patio, internal paths etc is 20%.
- For defining “cultivation”, we typically suggest that an area needs to be relatively weed-free and prepared/dug over ready for planting, if not already planted.
8. Judging process: Finalists for each category will be notified week commencing 14 September 2026. For main categories, one representative from a panel of judges selected by the Promoter will attend finalists’ gardens and/or allotments in person where possible for the final round of judging. Finalists will be invited to attend a competition-end event where winners will be announced, on a date to be confirmed in late September/early October.
9. Failed entries: No responsibility can be accepted for entries lost, late, incomplete, incorrect, invalid, unintelligible, misdirected, or not received for whatever reason, which will be disqualified. Neither the Promoter nor any appointed agent will accept responsibility for any technical, network, computer hardware or software failures of any kind or any unauthorised intervention in any part of the entry process or the processing of entries.
10. Void entries: All entries must be made directly by the person entering the promotion. No entrant can use their computer to enable multiple entries, (e.g. by the use of 'script' or 'brute force' or the use of automated devices or processes). In this event, that person's entry and all associated multiple entries will be disqualified and any prize award will be void. Third party or bulk registrations will be excluded from this promotion.
11. Disqualification: The Promoter reserves the right to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the operation of the promotion or to be acting in violation of these terms and conditions, and reserves their right to instigate criminal or civil proceedings accordingly. The Promoter reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to remove and disqualify any entry that does not adhere to these terms and conditions.
12. Publicity: The Participant acknowledges and agrees that, by submitting/uploading a photograph for the Competition, he/she thereby grants an exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual and royalty-free licence to the Promoter, the Prize Sponsor and the Prize Provider to use and reproduce that photograph. The Participant warrants to the Promoter, the Prize Sponsor and the Prize Provider that any submitted / uploaded photograph is the result of his/her original work and that the use and reproduction of the photograph does not and will not infringe any intellectual property rights owned by third parties. The name of the winner may be posted on the GARDENA social media pages and within the press. The name and country of the winner will be available on request for a period of 3 months after the promotion has closed by contacting the Promoter. The winner may be required to take part in any other publicity accompanying or resulting from this competition. By entering this competition all entrants hereby assign to the promoter the complete copyright and all other intellectual property rights whatsoever in any promotional and advertising material and similar which arises out of or is in connection with this competition.
13. Data Protection: By entering the competition, you hereby warrant that all information submitted by you is true, current and complete. Any personal data relating to entrants will be used by current UK data protection legislation and will not be disclosed to a third party outside other than is necessary to fulfil the prize offered under this competition without the individual’s prior consent. If entrants elect to receive marketing information (where the option is available), we shall provide such communications in line with the data protection legislation.
14. Liability: Under no circumstances will entrants be permitted to obtain awards for, and entrants hereby waive all rights to claim, indirect, punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages, other than actual out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages otherwise increased. To the extent permitted by law, the promoter is not liable for any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, by any entrant’s participation in the prize draw or from any prize. For any other matter, the promoter’s entire liability is limited to one thousand pounds.
15. No endorsement: This competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by or associated with Facebook or Instagram or any other social media platform.
16. Disputes: In the event of any dispute regarding the promotion, the decision of the Promoter is final and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into. The Promoter reserves the right to disqualify any entrant if it has reasonable grounds to believe the entrant has breached any of these terms and conditions.
17. Change to promotion: The Promoter will take all reasonable steps to avoid causing undue disappointment to consumers but reserves the right to amend or withdraw this promotion where necessary if circumstances arise that are beyond its control.
18. No waiver: The Promoter’s failure to enforce any of these terms and conditions shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.
19. Jurisdiction: All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the parties hereby agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
20. Obscene and offensive material: The Participant will not submit obscene or offensive material. Any obscene or offensive material will be removed and the Participant's account deleted.
21. Promoter: Husqvarna UK Ltd, Preston Road, Aycliffe Industrial Park, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, DL5 6UP. All communications regarding this competition should be forwarded in writing to the same address.