Salad on your windowsill? Free starter kits to boost wellbeing

Norfolk and Waveney Mind is offering free micro-gardening starter kits and online workshops to help people enjoy the wellbeing benefits of gardening, even if they don’t have much outdoor space.

The Seed To Feed virtual workshops will run every Tuesday from 11.30am to 12.30pm, from February 9 to March 16.

They will include sessions on micro-salads, sprouting seeds, transplanting seedlings, and herb cuttings.

And Yarmouth residents can apply for free starter kits of salads and herbs that can be grown in small pots on a windowsill at home.

Norfolk and Waveney Mind’s horticultural projects manager Caroline Fernandez will offer live support over video platform Zoom with advice on how to sow and grow.

FLASHBACK: Caroline Fernadez at Community Roots when it was awarded a £9,000 grant to introduce willow weaving. (Image: Archant)

She said: “Gardening is incredibly beneficial for our mental health – it has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, it gives us a sense of achievement, and it helps us feel more connected to nature and our community.”

Last week it emerged Mind's community garden at Queen Anne's Road, Great Yarmouth, was having to shut due to a lack of funds.

The garden/allotment area had been hailed as a real asset to the charity allowing people to mingle and enjoy time outdoors with others who understood their issues.

Bringing people together through a shared, creative experience was helpful in boosting confidence and combatting isolation, the charity had said.

A spokesman said the service had closed to new referrals on January 11.

From March 17 service users will no longer be allowed on site, after which it will be cleared and finally closed on March 31.

To sign up and request your starter kit for the online gardening project email caroline.fernandez@norfolkandwaveneymind.org.uk or call 07814 116698.