ON your marks...get set... grow! A flower-power plan to set Colchester ablaze with summer colour has been launched.

Volunteers have taken over the annual Colchester in Bloom contest and want the whole town to get involved in making the scheme a success.

The aim is to attract as many entries as possible – whole streets, as well as individual gardens.

Gardening greenhorns will be welcomed just as warmly as gardening gurus – and it doesn’t matter if you have a couple of acres or a window box. Many local schools schools have signed up for fun categories such as best-decorated wheelbarrow.

Colchester Allotment Association is also encouraging plotholders to show off their champion veg as part of the competition.

And the organisers want shops and businesses to enter the commercial classes and also put in money to fund public displays.

If enough cash is promised, there may be scope for bold schemes such as giant floral statues in the town centre or even grassing over a residential street for the day. Pam Schomberg, chairman of the Colchester in Bloom committee, said: “This is something we can all do to make ourselves feel good about Colchester.

“We already have the whole of the Dutch Quarter putting in an entry and the whole of New Town. The council is right behind us. The parks people will be planting up Balkerne Hill for the first time in a long while.

“The more people get involved, the better it will be.”

If the initiative goes well, the committee will enter Colchester in the regional Anglia in Bloom competition.

GMTV gardener Sven Wombwell has become an official patron of the town’s contest and turned out for yesterday’s launch.

He said: “All you need is imagination, a packet of seeds, some water and sunshine, and you will help improve your part of the world.”

For details and entry forms, call Dave Harris, on 07876 445236, or e-mail dave_harris@msn.com