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Cygnet Hospital Woking’s Occupational Therapy Garden

At Cygnet Hospital Woking, service users are able to apply for paid positions working in their Occupational Therapy garden. Ben, pictured, has taken on one of the roles and is working hard to make sure the plants are thriving!

Cheryl Fox, Occupational Therapist at the service, told us about the project.

“In the garden, we have courgettes, brussel sprouts, peppers, radishes, cauliflower, sweetcorn and a number of other vegetables. Ben has also helped to plant some beautiful hanging baskets which have brought a splash of colour to the garden. The hanging baskets have petunias, geraniums, verbena and some trailing plants in them.

“We’ve had a problem with white fly on our brussel sprouts, which we’re a bit upset about and lost half of our crop, but we hope to replace them soon with new plants and will keep an eye out for garden pests that might like a munch on our produce.

“We currently have about 15 courgettes coming through and our tomato plants have just started to produce tomatoes, but we might need to wait a bit longer for them.

“Overall we’re pleased with our garden and how it’s coming along. Whilst we know that we have some insects to deal with we’re not going to let it upset the progress we’ve made. We’re looking forward to our first crop of courgettes in the next few weeks.

“We all know that gardening has a therapeutic benefit to our health and well-being and that regular gardening can reduce mental health problems like depression and anxiety, but it can also reduce stress and combat high blood pressure, as well as improving overall physical fitness.

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