As the pandemic continues into ‘Flaming June’ we continue to reach out ‘virtually’.

June 30, 2020

The beginning of June was National Volunteers Week which takes place 1 – 7 June every year. It’s a chance to celebrate and say thank you for the contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK. We are very much missing our Gardening Volunteers Mel, Sasha, Grahame, Sarah and Ali who started back with us in February and have not been able to come onto the Unit since lockdown. They do such a good job to help us look after the therapeutic garden areas and support us with our events on and offsite.

We would have been at Gardeners World Live this month with our beautiful border garden entry ‘Make Do & Mend’. Our Gardening Volunteers would have been there with us representing team HighGround, but we are really looking forward to returning next year instead.

Gardening at home

Like so many of us gardening at home we continue to receive photos from staff, volunteers and patients of their gardening at home projects. This has been a good way to keep in touch and share the great work everyone has been doing.

Virtual Horticultural Therapy

We have continued to work with the Neuro OT’s to deliver virtual Horticultural Therapy sessions with some of their patients. This month sessions have included pricking out courgette and squash seedlings, harvesting runner beans and strawberries, dead heading roses, lifting spring bulbs and sowing lettuce and radish seeds.

The OT’s have fed back that these functional activities have been useful for continued assessment and progression of rehab goals: following instruction, incorporating affected upper limb to increase grip strength, visual scanning, standing tolerance and teamwork.

I am due to return to work on July 1st and hoping that we will be able to deliver these sessions socially distanced, but in person, over the next few weeks. This would then enable us to start delivery of Horticultural Therapy sessions to other patients on the Unit in this way.

Commanding Officer’s Virtual Coffee Morning

Andy and I were pleased to be invited to do a short piece on gardening tips for the Commanding Officer’s virtual coffee morning for June, and took a few questions. We may be back to do more in the future.

The arrival of the chickens

We are always being asked when the chickens are coming, and the original plan was to have them at Easter which would have formed part of our Easter seasonal event. Thanks to a donation from the Royal Warrant Holders Association we have started preparing the hens’ new accommodation behind the greenhouse.

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Jane

Sarah's hanging basket.

Sasha's tomatoes & beans.

Patient clearing bamboo.

Neuro group planting out Squashes and Courgettes.

Neuro group transporting seedlings..

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