I was interviewed by Naomi Kent on BBC Radio Leicester to talk about the mental health benefits of gardening, the challenges of lockdown and what inspired me to start my own social enterprise Garden to Wellbeing.

You can listen to it here:

We’re really pleased to announce that Hozelock are supporting Garden to Wellbeing to help us achieve our goal of improving people’s health and wellbeing through social and therapeutic horticulture.

They have donated a range of gardening products and we’re very grateful for their support.

Today I donated my homegrown veg to The Hope Centre in Derby whose services support people in crisis, including young people, the elderly, low income families, children, single parents, refugees and asylum seekers. The veg will feed families hardest hit by the pandemic. As World Wellbeing Week comes to an end, it’s important to make sure that we continue to look after each other – physically, socially and mentally.

Gardening doesn’t need to be complicated and it’s easy to get carried away buying tools and gadgets that we don’t really need. But it’s not about creating a picture perfect garden. It’s about getting muddy and having a go – seeing if stuff grows.

The current pandemic has certainly encouraged me to get my thinking cap on and I’m finding all sorts of imaginative new ways of doing things. For me, one of the nicest things about gardening is that it doesn’t judge you. If you make a mistake, you can just try something different. It’s made me more resilient because, just like every day life, things don’t always go to plan. My carrots are sometimes weedy and my onions won’t win any prizes, but that gives me even more cause to celebrate when people compliment me for the sauces I make using the tomatoes I grow.

I love working with new client gardeners. Their apprehension gives way to laughter and smiles as their confidence grows. That amazing feeling they get when they pull a potato out from the ground? That’s pride.

So I won’t just show you my successes – I’ll show you when things don’t go quite so well so you can laugh about it too.

This is my very first post for my new venture – Garden to Wellbeing. I came up with the idea after training to be a social and therapeutic horticulture practitioner and thought it would be brilliant to help organisations set up therapeutic gardening programmes within their own grounds.

Maybe you’re a company with a bit of outdoor space that you’d like to turn into a small garden to help reduce stress in the workplace? Perhaps you’re a women’s refuge that would like to grow vegetables to help foster a sense of belonging and community? Or you might know about the general health benefits of gardening but aren’t quite sure where it fits into your organisation. Either way, I can help.

We’re currently working on an exciting new project and will keep you updated as it progresses.

Please do keep in touch by posting a comment or sending us an email. We’ll be adding social media channels soon too.