Good Thymes Gardening

Aim

Engaging the community with gardening to positively impact physical and mental health. #wellbeingthroughgardening

• Let's start at the beginning...

I’ve always had a passion for gardening, and like many, I obtained a lot of my knowledge over the years through gardening at home. In 2019 I experienced a spell of poor mental health and unfortunately needed to take some time away from my employment. Naturally I was drawn to the call of the garden during this period. I realised the positive impact that it was having on my wellbeing; it provided an escape and a focus. I had unearthed the perfect platform to practice mindfulness and support the management (and most importantly the improvement) of my anxiety and depression right outside my back door. I have since been driven to create an accessible platform for others to experience the benefits of social and therapeutic horticulture.

As a self-confessed horticulturist in my spare time, I chose to pursue a Level 3 Royal Horticultural Society: Practical Horticulture to refine my knowledge. This has sparked a key interest in the mental and physical benefits of social and therapeutic horticulture, leading me to enrol on an MSc Psychology, enhancing the therapy side of the business. In addition to this, I have completed diplomas in Garden Design and Mindfulness. As you can tell I am a keen learner, on top of the mentioned retraining, I hold an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, a Masters in business Administration and PRINCE2 Project Management qualifications. I am always learning and will continue to refine my skill-set to provide you highest standard of service. 

Wellbeing through Gardening

In order for us to improve our wellbeing, we should understand what it is and how we measure it, but there are many different interpretations of what ‘wellbeing’ is. It is often compared to happiness or feeling good, for example our Oxford English Dictionary makes this very comparison – however it is determined to be much broader than that. According to (Slade et al 2007), wellbeing can be considered on many levels, however more commonly when we refer to wellbeing we are talking about mental health. There are multiple factors that impact our mental health for example educational performance, physical health, income, friendships and social interactions all influence a person’s quality of life and wellbeing for the better or worse. However individuals vary, educational performance could be of greater importance to one person’s wellbeing, whereas another person may prioritise physical health over this – so it remains subjective!

Whilst the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence reports the significant progress the NHS has made over the years to achieve equal footing between mental and physical care, they acknowledge there is still some way to go in making services accessible and more widely recognised to those requiring such support. The exciting thing is there is a lot we can do to keep on top of our mental health and wellbeing ourselves, and it just so happens gardening is proven to be an effective method. According to the Thrive charity, leading educators and practitioners of social therapeutic horticulture, “Gardening can bring profound positive change, from improvements in physical and mental well-being to gaining skills, knowledge and abilities’. 

“There is an ever-increasing body of scientific evidence that gardens and gardening are good for our physical, mental and social wellbeing.” Professor Alistair Griffiths, Director of Science and Collections at RHS (extracted from ‘Your Wellbeing Garden’ RHS). 

Good Thymes Gardening will work with you to create your ideal outdoor space, crafting a garden around your wishes, requirements and abilities. Perhaps you want a relaxing low maintenance space to enjoy, or an area to socialise in and untangle your brain after a long day in work? Maybe you want to be able to grow and harvest healthy fresh edibles straight from garden, or a space to improve your physical health? You may even want a higher maintenance garden to learn more about horticulture and improve your confidence in the garden? 

Most importantly, in addition to gardening services Good Thymes Gardening is developing structured programmes, workshops for individuals and groups depending on needs, abilities and physical/mental health and fitness, designed to accommodate you.

What do will I do with the support?

As for any new business there are upfront costs in beginning a start-up and for a such a business much of the early expenses include Health and safety, PPE, tools (hopefully will also contribute towards a vehicle increasing accessibility and reach across Wales) in addition to marketing and engagement costs. 

Funds raised will also go towards piloting a number of workshops and sessions engaging the community in gardening to improve wellbeing, funds will be able to cover costs for advertising, supplies, hiring venues etc.

This project successfully funded on 27th July 2020