Gardening is such a gentle pastime. There you are in your own little domain, communing with nature, relaxing with the worms and generally having a whale of a therapeutic experience. Surely such a salutary activity brings out the good in all of us: patience, perseverance and devotion.
But add a whiff of rivalry, and the most docile earth-person can metamorphose into a hard-nosed, steely-eyed strategist. After all, those endless hours of transforming the bare soil into a horticultural paradise deserve some reward, don't they?
Well, a cornucopia of rewards - and awards - is exactly what's on offer in the Shamrock All-Ireland Gardens Competition. There is a prize fund totalling £14,000 - with the top garden in Ireland gathering a bounty of £1,000, plus a whopping Waterford crystal trophy. The best garden in each of the four provinces will win £500 and a slightly more modest Waterford trophy.
There are also prizes in 25 different regions for "best ornamental garden" and eight further categories ranging from "large summer garden" to "hanging basket", so there's scope for the tiniest gardening operation to bag an award. Beginners, meanwhile, are catered for in the "first time entrants" and "new gardens" (three years or younger) sections. And this year, a new - and much-needed - class has been added for a "small urban garden within a housing development".
This is Shamrock's fourth year of sponsoring the event, which has been running for 24 years. Last year, there were more than 500 entries, the previous year saw 435 hopefuls, while a couple of years before that there were a mere 200 or so. Gardening is finally muscling into position as one of Ireland's more popular competitive sports.
And as in all intensely-fought tournaments, some contestants have been known to resort to wily ploys for winning. One judge (who shall remain necessarily nameless) says: "I've been to several gardens where there are bags of Shamrock products left in obvious, eye-catching positions". In others, the judge has been treated to the gardener musing artlessly: "Without Shamrock peat moss, my garden would be nothing!" Such shameless tactics are likely to earn nothing more than a raised eyebrow.
Still other gardeners believe that peppering their patch with gnomes, cartwheels, miniature houses and cast-stone donkeys (with and without carts) will garner points. Not so. Nor will the gangs of Molly Malone sculptures roaming rural Ireland - even with their breasts painted with yoghurt, to encourage a decent clothing of moss. "People spend so much money on statues," says our anonymous judge, ruefully.
As a matter of fact, evidence of money does not impress the judges. "Last year I gave a "best garden" award to a woman who couldn't afford to build a wall," says one. "She was only starting out and she hadn't been gardening long. But she had put together her plants with great flair," she adds appreciatively.
Gardens are judged on the following five criteria: design, plant content, cultivation, special features and general effect. Winning gardens will be nicely-planned, well-loved spaces, filled with interesting, beautifully-grown plants. "Special features" should be simple things - such as a discreet pond, a lovely lawn, a rose pergola, a well-placed patio, a raised bed of treasured alpines. All must be tastefully-integrated into the bigger picture and not aimlessly scattered or desperately crammed in. More may be merrier, but it's not necessarily meritorious.
Another point worth remembering - and stressed by two of the judges - is that those who enter and don't win one of the 100-plus awards, shouldn't be down-hearted (or consider litigation, as has happened in the past). "Even by taking part," says one of the judges, who was once an All-Ireland winner, "you upgrade your garden. It raises your standards and keeps you on your toes."
Entry to the competition is free, just send three photographs depicting an overall view of the garden along with the special entry form (see below for details). The official closing date is June 16th, but a spokeswoman for Shamrock says entries will be accepted up to the 20th.
Interestingly, it has almost always been a Cork garden that has taken the top prize. And this year, "chances are it will be Cork again," says one of the judges. Now that sounds remarkably like a call to arms for the other 31 counties. So gardeners, wherever you are, raise your tools and fight the good fight!
Entry forms are available from: Shamrock All-Ireland Gardens Competition, FREEPOST, PO Box 20, Newbridge, Co Kildare; Kinsealy Garden Centre, Kinsealy, Co, Dublin; Newlands Garden Centre, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, and other participating garden centres.
Jane Powers can be contacted at: jpowers@irish-times.ie