Planting vegetables.
The greenhouse and vegetable beds at Hopkinson House
Customers watering vegetable bed
The gardeners hit gold when they uncovered an unexpected load of potatoes!
The team have worked for a year with mental health charity Mind and gardening charity Thrive to deliver the service. Hopkinson House supports single homeless people aged over 25 with histories of rough sleeping and complex needs.
‘[The programme] will provide customers with the opportunity to learn how to garden… it will also benefit all residents at the hostel whether this is by growing vegetables for our cooking classes or simply improving customers’ overall feeling of wellbeing!’ Seamus Manley, Contract Manager, Hopkinson House Hostel
In December the new gardeners planted beans, peas, and a selection of herbs in their newly built greenhouse. They also built some ‘bee hotels’ to encourage pollination, and planted daffodil bulbs and other flowers in the outside bed, ready to bloom in the springtime.
