Grand designs for local Gardening Olympics

A regional gardening festival could soon become a nationwide event, reports the Burton Mail.

The annual Gardening Olympics festival in Burton was launched three years ago and has been a success each year.

This 2010 edition will take place in June and has been deliberately designed to engage local school children with the idea of producing their own food in gardens and greenhouses.

As well as promoting the value of eating healthily, there is also a competitive element to proceedings.

Paul Steed, who works for East Staffordshire Borough Councils horticultural team, claimed that this years festival will be bigger than ever before.

He told the news provider: "If the Olympics became a national event it could involve tens of thousands of primary school children and it would be marvellous to see this linked with the 2012 Olympics."

According to research by the Food Standards Agency, people living on a low income budget are less likely to eat vegetables.