Encouraging children and young people to take an interest in gardening is a major objective of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) so it was no great surprise to see Dorest Cereals Edible Playground awarded "Best Show Garden" at this year's Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

The garden was designed by Nick Williams-Ellis as an encouragement to schools to develop a small kitchen garden where children can practically learn about the food they eat. Dorest Cereals, the sponsor, has been operating a project called Edible Playgrounds, which the garden is named after, as a resource tool to schools interested in making and maintaining a garden where they can grow food.

Edible Playground is packed full of vegetables, salad crops, fruit and herbs and is cleverly hedged in by cereal crops such as wheat, barley and oats. The sponsors plan to move the garden to a local Dorset primary school after the show, which runs from July 8-13.

Last year, the RHS launched their Campaign for School Gardening initiative with the aim of getting 80 per cent of schools gardening by 2012.

Two other 'best in show' winners also had a dimension to them outside of the 'normal' show garden brief.

Best Small Garden was awarded to the Widex Hearing Garden 'Celebrating Sound', which was designed by Selina Botham to be a modern courtyard with sensory appeal. The garden has structures that create some of the enjoyable sounds found in nature, together with an interactive listening wall that uses digital recording techniques to project typical garden sounds.

Best Conceptual Garden was won by Tony Smith for his Ectasy In A Very Black Box - an unusual black, prison-like structure that houses brightly-coloured natural and man-made contents, viewable through small windows. The design seeks to visually represent bipolar disorder.

Elsewhere, Best Inspiring Space went to Pound Farm Shop & Plant Centre for its display of annuals, perennials and bedding plants in wicker baskets and pots, surrounding a chair and parasol decked with colourful climbing plants; Jekka’s Herb Farm won Best Exhibit in the Floral Marque, while Peter Beales Roses was awarded Best Exhibit in the Festival of Roses.

The Best Exhibit in the Plant Heritage Marquee award went to J Lindsay for a display of passiflora.

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