Ward 6 in bloom

After 10 weeks in lockdown and my trips to Grantham hospital out of bounds, I visited the garden with some trepidation.

Martin and I weeded it the Saturday before lockdown so hopefully it wouldn't be too bad!.

We planted the garden last autumn, so at least it had had time to settle in and plenty of wet weather over the winter. But from March onwards there wasn’t a drop of rain for weeks, just very hot sunshine… then a horrendous late frost... followed by ferocious winds!

Well I'm thrilled... look at these

Good old Geranium Rozanne looking great.

and Allium Giganteum as statuesque as ever!

Salvia caradonna with her elegant black stems and brilliant blue flowers

But this is my favourite - the wildlife have discovered the garden...

Ward 6 was closed down during COVID, so the garden hasn’t been used very much, but as ULHT are now implementing 'back to business' plans - we should soon see it helping patients recover and our staff for their wellbeing.

Gardens at Grantham Hospital

Never have gardens been more important than now for our NHS staff and their patients.

Like so many other charities, G.R.O.W. sadly cancelled some early fundraising events but we still very much hope to host our dog walking challenge on 14th June. See our events page for details. This could be great fun after lockdown, and I am sure with everyone using their common sense a fun walk could be had in our "new normal life"

A 2m social distancing dog walk?

Update on the Outpatient Hospital Garden

Bachelor’s Landscapers have estimated all the costs for its creation.... it's a monumental task. We hadn't realised just how tricky this build would be.

The Outpatient’s garden is probably the most inaccessible open space at Grantham hospital and this poses multiple problems for father and son team, Ian and Sam. All the work will have to be done by hand – back to the old days of spades, forks and wheel barrows – no mini diggers or cement mixers on this job!

Also this means the majority of their work will have to be done at weekends to reduce inconvenience to patients and staff.

However, we still need to raise £4000 to reach our target.

To help provide this much needed long term benefit for our nurses, doctors and patients to rest, relax and recuperate in; please could you share this post with your friends so we can raise funds and complete this garden.

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/Outpatients

Outpatients outreach...

Whilst the north wind does blow GROW has been busy behind the scenes.

Happily we are well underway towards our next project, a resting garden adjacent to Outpatients in Grantham Hospital. Under their own initiative, and long before GROW was around, Outpatients staff were busy making their own improvements to a neglected eye sore outside their waiting room.

Elaine and her team in Outpatients have been busy raising money over the last couple of years for a garden, and have already built raised flower beds to hide some of the uninspiring weeds. But they need serious help!

Many of us have spent time in outpatients waiting for a diagnosis or answers to anxious questions. How much nicer it would be if patients could sit outside in a calm garden, enjoy a cup of tea, and relax in a peaceful environment rather than in a grey and gloomy waiting room.

The design for the garden uses tall ornamental grasses to create divisions which will provide both secluded areas and special places for Mediterranean planting with lavender and Rosemary, a reminder of quiet summer days. How much better would that be before our blood pressure test!

The design has been sent to landscapers to get quotes to find out exactly how much money we need to raise. The difficulty with this project is that the garden is right in the middle of the hospital so all materials will have to be taken through by hand and this means the work must take place at weekends.

But thanks to donations and help from many GROW supporters we already have £10,000 in the pot. We would love it if you could tell friends about our projects so we can spread the word and raise more funds to build many more gardens in the hospital