Gardens and Health Week 2019

Gardens and Health Week

Last week was Gardens and Health Week and we had gardens across the country welcoming community groups to celebrate the physical and mental health benefits that being in a garden can bring.

Afternoon Tea on the Allotment

In Edinburgh, Craigentinny Telferton Allotments offered afternoon tea to residents of Lauder Lodge, their local care home and volunteers from Edinburgh City Mission. It really was quite special hearing the residents reminiscing about gardens they grew up in or tended themselves through their lives. With a promise from them to get involved in their yarn-bombing, it looks like this could also be the start of a lovely relationship between the allotments and the home.

The Cubs are in Town

Also in Edinburgh, Merchiston House welcomed a group of eager cub scouts from Juniper Green - they had such a fun-filled evening finding out about bees and beekeeping, and of course some sampling of the honey. They got to hold frogs, newts and millipedes, help water the roof-top vegetable garden as well as planting seeds and making kokedamas. It was such a delight to see their interest in the natural world.

Hooray for Horatio's

In Glasgow, Horatio’s Gardens in the National Spinal Injuries Unit at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital hosted patients and two charities, Back Up and Spinal Injuries Scotland for an afternoon of games and crafting in the garden, with plenty of cakes and refreshments on hand. We also got to see a game of Boccia (pronounced Bocka), a Paralympic sport, in action - it’s a bit like Boules played with leather balls on a smooth surface and it can get very tactical.

Healing Garden Treats Carers

On the beautiful Isle of Lismore, Physic Garden Baile Geamhraid hosted a group of carers from North Argyll Carers Centre in Oban - they spent a wonderful time learning about the herbs and even brewing up some fresh tea - everyone was so happy to be there and have a break from the stresses of a caring job - one of the visitors said “it was fabulous, so beautiful, like paradise”, I think we can safely say ‘mission accomplished’!

Green Routes at Thorntree

Near Stirling, a group of budding gardeners from Green Routes, a social enterprise that provides horticultural training and work experience to young adults with additional support needs, visited Thorntree. They enjoyed a tour of the garden and of course, tea and cake - a bit of a common theme with these visits.

Scotland’s Garden Scheme champions health and wellbeing through gardening and garden visits so we’ve decided to extend the campaign. If you’re a garden that would like to offer a visit, or you know a community group that might benefit from a visit, please get in touch.