The Giving Garden

Aim

Creating a garden that helps support peoples positive mental health and well-being

My name is Leigh (aka The Beardy Gardener) and I can quite honestly say that gardening has saved me. I suffer from ongoing poor mental health, which includes a childhood affected by trauma, depression and anxiety that catches up with me quite frequently, but it's the power of growing plants and flowers that helps me to deal with my mental health when times are bad.

I am passionate about giving other people the opportunity to explore how amazing gardening can be to improve your mental health and now I want to use my own back garden as a tool to help me do that on a bigger scale. 

The Background

In 2020, in the midst of several lockdowns as a result of Covid-19 and the forced isolation that came with it, I started sharing my garden with people on Instagram. I posted pictures of flowers, veg beds, seed sowing but then started talking about how my garden was helping my mental health at the time. People started to notice and the account took off, I was getting messages from all over the world about how gardening was helping them and how much they found my content helpful. I then started creating videos of me dancing and fooling around in the garden to help make people smile whilst talking about the benefits of gardening and growing. It was a huge hit!

When my grandmother died from Covid-19 back in 2020, I found a box of gardening seeds in her greenhouse. I decided to reach out to the wonderful Instagram community that I was a part of and gave most of the seed packets away to gardeners across the UK. This was a nice way for me to process my grief, to know that something of hers was being shared and cared for and looked after by other people. It was also lovely to receive picture updates of the flowers growing in other peoples gardens. This first sparked the idea of 'The Giving Garden' in my mind.

The Idea

I want to be bold, ambitious and to do something different and unique. According to the Office for National Statistics, 1 in 8 households in the UK has no garden, that's around 8 million people who don't have the opportunity to garden like I do. I have a garden. I am one of the lucky ones...so why can't I share it? Why can't I use it in some small way to help other people?

It is my ambition to create a 'National Collection of Positivity' in my back garden, a space full of plants and flowers, each one dedicated to someone struggling from poor mental health, low mood or just in need of a pick me up as a symbol of hope, support and inspiration.

This is not a gardening business, it's not profit making. I will make no money from this and no one will be asked to pay to take part. I want this opportunity to be as accessible to as many people as possible so there will be no charge. The garden will rely entirely on my own time, money and the generous support of other people if they wish to donate, which could be in the form of time, expertise, seeds, tools or financial contributions like this Crowdfund campaign. 

The Timeline

I will embark on this big adventure in January 2022. The first job is to measure my garden and understand how many raised beds I need and where they will go. Then I need to decide what plants and flowers to grow and order seeds, cuttings and compost, this needs to be done by the end of January. I then need to order and build the raised beds, create a growing plan and tell people what plants and flowers they can 'foster', this needs to be done by the end of February. Sowing and planting needs to happen from March onwards and that is when the fun really starts as I begin to collect stories and nominations and share the growing experience with all of you. 

How it will work

• You might know someone struggling with their mental health or in need of a positive pick me up
• You can have a look through the list of plants/flowers that I will grow in the garden this year, which I will share on my social media channels and on this website. In 2022 the plants will predominately be annuals (plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season). You then decide which of the plants you would like to 'foster' for your nominated friend/family member/colleague etc 
• You then make a request via the website and tell me about why you have chosen to foster that plant/flower for the person you have nominated and the reasons behind it. That story will then be attached to the plant forever more
• Once I have received your request and nomination you will get seasonal updates (as pictures or videos) about how the garden is doing and your plants within it. You will also be able to read my regular blog about progress in The Giving Garden which can be a nice way to connect with the bigger picture and other peoples stories within the garden
• Once your plant/flower has come to the end of its growing season the next stage of giving begins. We will save the seeds or press the flowers of your plant and send them to you as a way of continuing the giving journey. This could make a nice Christmas gift to the person you nominated!

How does it help someones mental health?

'The Giving Garden' is all about developing a sense of community. The garden, and the plants and flowers within it, become a symbol of the positive development and growth of the mental health of the individuals reflected in it. Evidence suggests there are 5 steps you can take to improve your mental health and wellbeing, these steps have been adopted by the NHS and are widely used across the health and wellbeing sectors. They are called the '5 steps to mental wellbeing' and I have outlined how 'The Giving Garden' contributes to each one of them below:

1. Connect with other people

Good relationships are important for your mental wellbeing. If you are someone living in sheltered accommodation, an older person in a care home or someone feeling isolated and lonely, imagine receiving pictures and videos of a plant that is being grown for you alongside other amazing nominees. It could help to build a sense of self worth and belonging that is vital to feeling well. 

2. Be physically active

Whilst I would love to have a garden full of people lugging bags of compost around, weeding and digging (maybe in time, watch this space) this is not in my immediate plan. 'The Giving Garden' however promotes an understanding of how gardening can get you active and contribute to your physical health and fitness.

3. Learn new skills

Taking part in 'The Giving Garden' could spark a curiosity in someone to learn more about gardening. It could give them something new to explore and an outlet for themselves that they didn't know existed. It can be hard to motivate people experiencing poor mental health and being inspired by something new could have a huge impact on their future wellbeing.

4. Give to others

Research suggests that acts of giving and kindness can help improve your mental wellbeing. It can create positive feelings and a sense of reward, give you a feeling of purpose and self-worth and help you connect with other people. The act of giving is fundamental to the garden and is what underpins its creation. There are many ways that giving can occur as part of 'The Giving Garden' and it doesn't have to be anything huge. It could be sharing details about the garden to friends and family, donating seeds, expertise or time and of course the act of fostering a plant itself.

5. Pay attention to the present moment

Paying more attention to the present moment can improve mental wellbeing. This includes your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you. It can help you enjoy life more and understand yourself better. The regular updates that are sent out about the plants will come with messages (written or filmed) that encourage people to spend a short time connecting to the present moment. This may be as simple as counting how many new leaves have appeared on their plant. In addition, when they receive their seeds, cutting or pressed flower they will be encouraged to spend some time in that moment. This could be feeling the texture of the seeds or exploring the colours of the flower.

What the donations will be used for

I have decided to create this small crowdfunded campaign because lots of people have been reaching out and asking me if they can contribute in some way to help get the garden established. The donations raised will go towards three things that are important to the garden in these early stages. They are:

• Raised beds - These are the biggest expense and also the foundation of the garden itself
• Peat free compost and organic material - To fill the raised beds so I can begin to grow things
• Domain name registration - The purchase of 'www.thegivinggarden.co.uk' so that people can find the website more easily and the garden can get more nominations

Anyone who donates will be given the opportunity to be recognised in The Giving Garden by having their name marked either on a raised bed or on the large wall on the right hand side of the garden.

Future plans

We all have to start somewhere. This is just the beginning, I am starting small this year with the aim of having one or two raised beds to start with. In time this will expand to fill the whole garden. The pictures of 'The Giving Garden' that I have created and feature in this page shows eight raised beds and is a visual representation of how I hope the garden will look in the future. 

The ultimate, long term aim is finding ways of being able to invite people into the garden itself to volunteer, connect, share and learn. I am especially keen on encouraging people from my local community who have no access to a garden or who have never done any gardening before.

I hope that you might support me and if you do I am eternally grateful. 

This project successfully funded on 3rd February 2022