Garden scheme boosts health

When the tomato plants you’ve lovingly tended refuse to bloom it can be occasionally frustrating and every so often the weather will do its best to dampen spirits, but recent studies have shown that digging the dirt is definitely good for the health.

Gardening has been shown to reduce stress levels, improve mental health and it can also play a part in increasing levels of activity and so reducing dreaded obesity levels.

Of course it all depends on how much time you spend outdoors, but in a bid to boost the number of community gardeners across Yorkshire, the Royal Horticultural Society has just announced a £100,000 initiative.

The scheme, which is being championed by the Yorkshire Post, will run over the next three years and the RHS aims to give away a large number of small grants to get new gardening groups up and running as well as investing a number of flagship projects, which could benefit from up to £10,000.

“Gardening out in the community really helps me keep fit an active,” says Richard Gill, horticultural and floral initiatives officer at Leeds City Council. “I’m not the type who goes to the gym and you won’t get me jogging. Gardening is my main source of exercise and it does the job.

“It’s not just physical health that improves either, I work with lots of older volunteers, some of whom live on their own, and being involved in a community gardening scheme is great. It not only keeps them active, but the fact they are doing something worthwhile has a real impact on their mental health.

“It’s the same for youngsters. Gardening gets them outside and away from computer games and they learn so much about fruit and vegetables. So many parents have told me their children now insist on eating fresh produce from the garden and that’s because they have seen something they have planted grow.” The RHS Yorkshire in Bloom fund is the first of its kind in the country and those wanting a share of this year’s pot need to act quick as the deadline for applications is in just over a week’s time.

Yorkshire was chosen to pilot the new fund as the county has already seen success in the national Britain in Bloom competition and also because it is home to the RHS garden Harlow Carr.

Crucially, as well as being awarded grants to buy equipment and plants , successful projects will also have access to expert advice and support through a new regional development team which is now based at the Harrogate gardens.

“We know there is a real appetite for gardening in this part of the world,” says Richard, who has been involved in RHS Britain in Bloom for the last 35 years. “But this fund will allow the RHS to reach out to even more people. There are so many benefits to being involved in the RHS’s community gardening schemes.

“There’s the sense of pride, there’s the fact you can transform disused spaces, but for me the biggest is the difference it makes to our health. I know if I wasn’t involved in community gardening, my waistline would probably be the twice the size it is now.”

Sowing the seeds of change

Over the next three years, the RHS Yorkshire in Bloom fund will give away £100,000 to support grassroots gardening projects.

Small grants of between £300 and £500 are available for groups looking for start-up funding and each year the organisation is also looking to invest up to £10,000 in a larger project. A panel of judges will choose the two best large project proposals, with the ultimate winner being decided in April by Yorkshire Post readers.

The deadline for all applications is March 15. To download and entry form go to rhs.org.uk/rhs-yorkshire-in-bloom-community-fund