THE BEST ideas grow from simple seeds sown by a community keen to bring everybody together.

“We were trying to think of something that would appeal to everyone, be accessible to all, and really get people working together for a bit of fun and support,” explains Ann Laing, who – alongside Lisa Peebles and Lucy Gillie – runs Ready Steady Grow Pollokshields.

“Half-jokingly, we said it should be a mini Glasgow Garden Festival – and that was that. It all just started from there.”

Twelve years on and, although disappointed not to be able to stage their usual June event because of coronavirus lockdown restrictions, the group has come up with a novel way to brighten up the local area.

As revealed in the Glasgow Times last month, RSG Pollokshields, with the help of a Streets Ahead grant of £900, is giving five people the chance to win a marvellous makeover for their tenement front garden.

Entries are coming in thick and fast, but there is still time to put your application in before the closing date of Wednesday, June 10.

Ann, a trained horticulturalist and keen gardener, explains: “As part of one of Britain’s earliest planned garden suburbs, East Pollokshields has always had broad roads, ample backcourts and front gardens.

Glasgow Times:

“Over the last few months, residents and others have enjoyed their daily walks through our streets and we hope our efforts to revitalise some of the gardens will bring fresh life to the area, to be enjoyed by homeowners and passers-by alike.”

Bringing people together in communities across Glasgow is what our Streets Ahead campaign is all about.

Read more: "Forgotten" part of Glasgow starts to blossom for Ruchill community

The initiative has been supporting projects like Ready Steady Grow Pollokshields for nine years, backed by our generous partners Glasgow City Council, City Building, CGI and the City Charitable Trust.

Life in our city may have changed completely but Glaswegians still have plenty of heart. Now, more than ever, people are pulling together – and Streets Ahead is here to help.

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Our grant to Ready Steady Grow Pollokshields is helping to provide plants and compost for the gardens. The project has teamed up with two professional gardeners to deliver the high quality makeovers.

The winners’ gardens will receive a hard prune and clear out of weeds, a weed-suppressing membrane if possible and a range of colourful perennials such as hydrangea and dogwood.

Lisa Peebles, who regularly walks her dog around the streets planned for a makeover, adds: “It is so exciting to be able to offer this front garden spruce-up to the people of East Pollokshields, especially as we are now beginning to emerge from this period of lockdown.

“Front gardens are sometimes the forgotten green spaces in tenements, but the last few months have given people renewed enthusiasm for all usable outside spaces.

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“As well as those who get their front garden spruced up, so many others can be encouraged to tackle their own front garden. I am looking forward to see what the creative East Pollokshields residents come up with….”

The competition is open to all Pollokshield East tenement residents, whether owners, private rentals or social housing tenants. All you have to do to enter is fill out the application form on the website - www.readysteadygrowpollokshields.org.uk - and return it by June 10.

There will also be runner-up prizes of beautiful tubs of blooms to add scent and colour.

Winners will be notified in June and makeovers, to be completed within Government guidelines for social distancing, will take place in September.

Tell us how your community is responding to life in lockdown – and share your stories of the superheroes helping others in need. Email ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk