Skip to content

National Trust's Sky Gardening Challenge 2025

Sky Gardening Challenge 2025 Web Banner
Sky Gardening Challenge 2025 | © Jump / Sky Gardening Challenge

Let's green Greater Manchester's Skyline together. Help nature thrive from your balcony or window box.

Whether you’re a gardening novice or a planting pro – if you have a balcony or window box, you can green the city above the ground. The sky really is the limit.

That’s why we ran Sky Gardening Challenge 2025 - to encourage Greater Manchester residents to welcome nature into their skyline space.

To help balcony gardeners get started, we worked with growing experts to create inspiration, guidance and gardening challenges to have a go at. You can still access the balcony gardening guide where all of this is available.

 

NB: Make sure you check the terms of your lease and get relevant permissions from your housing provider/building owner before making any changes.

Sky Gardening Challenge Competition

We also ran the Sky Gardening Challenge competition, which closed 31 July 2025.

The competition received so many fantastic entries, including a balcony that housed a whole brood of ducklings, memorials for beloved family members, a mixed pot of seeds from discarded fruit and vegetables, and many more. Out of all of the brilliant entries, there were five top prize winners - one for each category.

• Emily Bush in the One Pot Power category.
• Harry Gray in the Wild about Wildlife category.
• Lana Dang in the Urban Farming category.
• Gary and Maureen Kynaston in the Greener Ground Floors category.
• Sadia in the Cultivating Creativity category.

2025 Garden Gallery

These are just some of the brilliant entries from the Sky Gardening Challenge Competition 2025.

Contestant balcony for the Sky Gardening Challenge.
National Trust Sky Gardening Challenge 2025 Balcony Entry | © Paul Harris

2025 Sky Gardening Challenge Entry

Greener Ground Floors

1 of 7

Can you help us improve Sky Gardening Challenge? 

If you have any feedback for us, fill out our survey below. 

Follow Us

Get updates about National Trust's Sky Gardening Challenge and access extra balcony gardening advice by following us on Instagram and Facebook @NTSkyGardeningChallenge

Essential Information

key facts

33

Together, all the balconies in Greater Manchester cover an area the size of more than 33 football pitches.

1.4 million

Greening just ¼ of Greater Manchester’s balconies could host enough flowers to support 1.4 million pollinator visits.

152

In 2024, 152 types of garden plant were grown on 60 balconies across Greater Manchester.

Image of a balcony from Sky Gardening Challenge 2024 Pilot. Drone shot from above, balcony with lots of plants on it.
Sky Gardening Challenge Pilot 2024 | © National Trust Images / Paul Harris

Contact us

Email

Email us for any other questions.

skygardeningchallenge@nationaltrust.org.uk

Call

Call us with questions 9am-5pm weekdays, or 9am-5pm weekends.

03448001895

You might also be interested in

Balcony Gardening Guide 2025 

We’re thrilled to have you on board. Now we can get growing together on balconies and window boxes, to green Greater Manchester’s skyline.

Contestant balcony - Over 100 residents of five neighbourhoods across Greater Manchester signed up to the competition. Its aim was to encourage people to 'green up' their balconies and window boxes with the goal of improving people's connection to nature.