KIDS GET THEIR GREEN THUMBS ON WATERMELONS

Junior Masterchef winner, Isabella Bliss, and her twin sister, Sofia, a top four finalist, are encouraging children across the country to grow Australia’s heaviest watermelon!
Open to all kids aged 16 and under living in Australia, it includes a category for schools and youth groups, and one for individuals and families.

As part of the Yates Junior Landcare Watermelon Challenge, a free packet of Yates Candy Red Watermelon seeds will be sent to everyone who registers on the challenge website by Sunday, September 25th.

According to Judy Horton, Yates Communications Manager, encouraging young people’s interest in gardening is incredibly important: She explains, “The challenges that we run with Junior Landcare have become increasingly successful each year, and we hope that this challenge will continue to encourage a new generation of junior gardeners. We look forward to seeing the enthusiasm of the participants as they discover the amazing results they can achieve with their watermelons.”

Free seeds will be sent out in October and can be planted anytime from October through to December. Yates Candy Red Watermelon seeds are regarded as one of the fastest growing and largest watermelon varieties.

Kids can grow their watermelons at home or at school and will need to care for their plants during the hot summer weather. Once their watermelon has reached maturity, they will have to log onto the Yates Junior Landcare Watermelon Challenge website to upload the weight of their melon and their favourite watermelon photograph.

There will also be a creative photo category as part of the challenge, so everyone can be in with a chance of winning a prize!

“The Yates Junior Landcare Watermelon Challenge is such a fun activity for kids to get involved in, either at home or at school”,says Isabella Bliss.
“Getting out into the garden and growing your own food is one of my favourite things, and you can make some really tasty treats from watermelons,” she added. “I know Sofia and I can’t wait until we get our seeds and start getting our
hands dirty!”

In 2010 the Yates Junior Landcare Sunflower Challenge was incredibly successful with over 66,000 children around Australia taking part in a competition to grow the tallest sunflower and the sunflower with the widest head. Eight-year-old Lachlan Hillas from Wodonga, Victoria won the tallest sunflower prize in the individual and family category with his 270cm giant. The widest sunflower head was grown by Sam McVilly, aged 6, of Wy Yung, Victoria, and his sister Tess, aged 10, with a very impressive head width of 46cm.

To register for your free watermelon seeds and participate in the Yates Junior Landcare Watermelon Challenge visit www.juniorlandcarechallenge.com.au. Registrations close on Sunday, September 25th, and the winners will be announced on March 5th 2012.

www.juniorlandcare.com.au
www.yates.com.au