Therapeutic gardening project urges care homes to enter its gardening competition

Growing Support, which works with care homes, has launched its Gardening Challenge Competition so more care home residents can benefit from gardening outside in the fresh air.

Care homes will be able to enter the Gardening Challenge competition under one of four categories: Celebrating Community, Celebrating Age, Celebrating Success and Celebrating the Queen’s Birthday.

Victoria Hill, director of Growing Support, said “It is well known that spending time outdoors, being active and connecting with nature is good for us. Residents don’t need to be an expert or have a big garden to enjoy the benefits of gardening. Simple activities such as growing herbs on a sunny windowsill or sweet peas for the patio can help relieve stress and depression and develop a sense of achievement.”

She added: “We hope that the Growing Support Gardening Challenge will encourage more care home residents than ever before to get out and get gardening.”

Dale Cranshaw and Victoria Hill founded Growing Support three years ago and have seen the demeanour and attitudes of care home residents change as a result.

Ms Hill said: “Gardening gives people the opportunity to use their fine motor skills which are vital for keeping their independence as fine motor skills are needed for doing up your buttons or feeding yourself.

“It also provides the opportunity to exercise gross motor skills which are important for strength and balance and help prevent falls. Going outdoors is very important for sensory stimulation. People with severe disabilities may not be able to participate actively any more but they can still hold the earth and feel the texture and smell the herbs and flowers.

“A lot of people who live in care homes are still physically very strong but people with dementia may need some help remembering how to do some gardening tasks. The volunteers work alongside them to help break down the task into manageable chunks.”

Ms Hill has seen huge changes in some care home residents due to their therapeutic gardening sessions. At one care home, a resident called Doreen was very agitated and upset when she arrived at the gardening club.

“Staff told us that she had been ‘inconsolable all day, no matter what we try’. Initially, a volunteer walked around the garden with her and they chatted until she became calmer, a horticultural therapist then worked alongside her and they planted flowers together. After an hour Doreen was interacting with the rest of the group, laughing and contributing to the group activity. Care staff were amazed to see the change in her.”

Gardening can be tailored to the individual depending on how active they are. If they are fairly active, they can get involved in potting, digging, pruning and harvesting produce.

It is even beneficial to less active residents who can watch and enjoy others being active and feel the sunshine on their faces. Natural daylight is good for helping residents to regulate their body clock and to sleep at night.

“Our approach recognises that care homes are trying to do their best to address this but often have limited resources. We provide the skills, tools and resources to help them make best use of the resources they already have,” says Ms Hill.

One of the aims of the initiative is to engage people who might not otherwise take part in other group activities such as singing groups. “The activity coordinators tell us that the gardening sessions sometimes attract men who have had jobs where they have held positions of responsibility and they enjoy telling us what to do,” reveals Ms Hill.

“We are very much led by the group and what they are interested in. When you go into a care home, people can suffer a big loss of their independence as you don’t have much control over your environment. So I think it is really important to give them a choice over what they want to grow. We want everyone to feel a sense of achievement.”

The competition is being run in conjunction with Care Home Open Day which is on 17 June.

Prizes include plants, tools and services worth more than £100. All entrants have to do is register to take part in Care Home Open Day and submit a short description and photo of how residents have been active out in the garden by 24 June 2016.

Practical tips for running activity sessions out in the garden are available on the Growing Support website.

For more information contact gardeningchallenge@growingsupport.co.uk or visit www.growingsupport.co.uk