Torquay Open Gardens calls for entries

THE Torquay Open Garden festival is gearing up to return this spring, with event organisers on the hunt for locals willing to show off their space.

Following the success of last year’s inaugural festival, event organisers are bringing it back for a second year.

Organiser Matt Knight said they are looking for a variety of spaces ranging in sizes, styles, edible gardens, native gardens, wildlife-friendly gardens and more.

“The key things are for a variety of different gardens, things to inspire people, so not just big, impressive blocks, but also smaller blocks,” he said.

“Last year, one of the gardens was a small edible garden in Torquay North and they packed so much into the space, they had fruit trees, chickens and people absolutely love that.”

To make the event viable and successful at least five gardens are needed to allow people to spend a day going around looking or choose which ones to see.

The festival was designed to give fellow garden owners the opportunity to show off their garden to the community while also enjoying what’s around the Surf Coast at the same time.

As a keen gardener himself, hosting the Open Garden is a personal interest for Mr Knight.

“I think there’s some fantastic gardens and open spaces in Torquay and it’s a way of showcasing those to a wider community group,” he said.

The 2024 event was well attended, with many embracing the spirit of the day while also raising funds for local charity Ocean Mind.

“It was also quite a social day; there’s a lot of people that came up from different organisations to look at the gardens and there was a nice vibe of people connecting over a shared interest.”

Mr Knight is hopeful he can make the Open Gardens festival an annual event on the Surf Coast.

People keen on showcasing their gardens can get in touch by heading to torquayopengardens.weebly.com