A POPULAR annual gardening competition in Inverclyde is going ahead despite Covid-19 - thanks to Cardwell Garden Centre.

Gardeners will be able to show thousands of people how their green-fingered skills have turned their gardens into a colourful cornucopia of plants and flowers after organisers moved the annual contest online.

Entrants will be competing for the much-coveted Cardwell Gardenfest Trophy and a £50 voucher.

Anyone from Inverclyde can enter the competition by taking photographs of their garden and posting a maximum of three pictures on the Cardwell Garden Centre Facebook page.

There will be a public vote to find a shortlist of six gardeners whose plants and flower displays will then go on to be judged by the centre's experts to find the outright winner.

Cardwell director Kieran Gallagher said: “With the coronavirus restrictions that have been in place for the past few months, it hasn’t been possible to organise the annual Gardenfest contest as usual with a team of judges visiting gardens throughout Inverclyde.

“We were keen not to let down all the gardeners who put so much work into their gardens and normally enter the competition, so we came up with a different way of seeing and judging their gardens."

Closing date for entries is September 4.